Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE SUMMER PLACE by Jennifer Weiner
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
* * * * *
My selection for this week is THE SUMMER PLACE by Jennifer Weiner. I’m kind of laughing at myself right now because I just wrote on Sam’s discussion post about pandemic books last week that I was not ready to read any books set during our current pandemic. Well, that was before I heard that Jennifer Weiner has a new book coming out this spring that is, according to the blurb, set during the pandemic. It’s Jennifer Weiner though so it’s irresistible to me, especially when I read that it’s about family, secrets, and the ties that bind, and that’s it set in Cape Cod.
THE SUMMER PLACE by Jennifer Weiner
Publication Date: May 10, 2022 by Atria Books
From Goodreads:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of That Summer comes another heartfelt and unputdownable novel of family, secrets, and the ties that bind.
When her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is shocked. But the wheels are in motion. Headstrong Ruby has already set a date (just three months away!) and spoken to her beloved safta, Sarah’s mother Veronica, about having the wedding at the family’s beach house in Cape Cod. Sarah might be worried, but Veronica is thrilled to be bringing the family together one last time before putting the big house on the market.
But the road to a wedding day usually comes with a few bumps. Ruby has always known exactly what she wants, but as the wedding date approaches, she finds herself grappling with the wounds left by the mother who walked out when she was a baby. Veronica ends up facing unexpected news, thanks to her meddling sister, and must revisit the choices she made long ago, when she was a bestselling novelist with a different life. Sarah’s twin brother, Sam, is recovering from a terrible loss, and confronting big questions about who he is—questions he hopes to resolve during his stay on the Cape. Sarah’s husband, Eli, who’s been inexplicably distant during the pandemic, confronts the consequences of a long ago lapse from his typical good-guy behavior. And Sarah, frustrated by her husband, concerned about her stepdaughter, and worn out by challenges of life during quarantine, faces the alluring reappearance of someone from her past and a life that could have been.
When the wedding day arrives, lovers are revealed as their true selves, misunderstandings take on a life of their own, and secrets come to light. There are confrontations and revelations that will touch each member of the extended family, ensuring that nothing will ever be the same.
From “the undisputed boss of the beach read” (The New York Times), The Summer Place is a testament to family in all its messy glory; a story about what we sacrifice and how we forgive. Enthralling, witty, big-hearted, and sharply observed, this is Jennifer Weiner’s love letter to the Outer Cape and the power of home, the way our lives are enriched by the people we call family, and the endless ways love can surprise us.
* * * * *
I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Ooh! Adding!
Sounds great, doesn’t it? 🙂
I would probably forgive Jennifer Weiner for writing a pandemic story too😁 At least the pandemic doesn’t seem to be the focus!
Tammy @ Books, Bones & Buffy recently posted…Future Fiction #156 – Cover Reveals & Newly Discovered SFF Books
Right? I’m thinking it’s just going to be mentioned in passing. At least I hope so anyway, lol.
Sounds like a mix between a fun read and a emotionally one. Happy reading.
Vi @Inkvotary recently posted…Waiting On Wednesday #174 – Book Of Night by Holly Black
Thank you!
The cover is very pretty!
Kappa recently posted…Can’t Wait Wednesday | December 22nd
It really is. 🙂
Although the pandemic thing puts me off a little, I do love books about weddings!
Me too. I’m just so glad the pandemic sounds like it will only be mentioned in passing. That I think I can handle.
Yeah, I am still struggling with the idea of pandemic stuff too! I hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to read it!
Cindy Davis recently posted…Can’t Wait Wednesday-A Stranger’s Game
Thank you! 🙂
Oooh! This sounds like a cute read! Great pick!
Ronyell (a.k.a Rabbitearsblog) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday #211: The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Tiffany Brooks and It Will End Like This by Kyra Leigh
Thanks!
I have read several Weiner books, and enjoyed them all, but was most struck by how varied they were. “Pandemic boyfriend” — oh, boy!
Sam@WLABB recently posted…Best of 2021: Throwback Books
I agree. The earlier books of hers I’ve read were mostly fluffy chick lit, but her more recent ones have been a lot less fluffy but still fantastic reads.
I think this might be the first book I’ve seen where the pandemic is mentioned as a ‘part of life’ and not the entire novel revolving around it — not from the blurb at any rate. I hope you enjoy it Suzanne — as a beach read,dealing with the pandemic and lots of other family issues — this actually sounds like a good way to relax!
Yes, it definitely seems like more of a background element here, which is good because I’m not ready to read books where COVID is the focus.
I’m hopeful to get an arc of this one because otherwise May 2022 seems like a looong wait! 🙂
Tanya @ Girl Plus Books recently posted…The Sunday Post #272 | December 19, 2021
Right? Feels like forever, lol.
I would be nervous about writing anything pandemic related but I have thought seriously about writing about the virtual world since the pandemic. We are entering different worlds of writing now-a-days and its okay to lean in.
trin carl recently posted…Snow in britain
It’s definitely a different world now than it was.
I love her books and should get back to her universe!
I’ve really enjoyed her last few books so I’m hoping to have similar luck with this new one. 🙂