Girls of July

by Alex Flinn

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beastly comes a contemporary novel about four completely different girls and the life-changing summer they spend in the beautiful Adirondacks.

Four girls. One unforgettable July.

Britta is the bubbly drama queen. She needs to get away—and a peaceful cabin in the woods sounds like the perfect escape.

Meredith is the overachiever. She’s spent her entire life preparing for college, but at what cost? Now she’s wondering if that’s all there is.

Kate is the reluctant socialite. She’s searching for a reason to begin again after fleeing her small Georgia town—and a shameful family secret.

Spider is the quiet intellectual. She’s struggling with pain that has isolated her from her peers for much of her life.

When these four very different young women stay together for a month in the mountains, they discover that sometimes getting away from it all can only bring you back to who you really are.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Audiobook, Friendship

480 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2019

About the author

Love Jacaranda is out in the world! Hope you'll check out this fun wish-fulfillment romance!

Now, bio:

I grew up on a street called Salem Court. This probably influenced my interest in witches. When I was five, my mom said I should be an author. And when I was eight, I got my first rejection letter from Highlights Magazine.

I learned to read early. But I compensated for this early proficiency by absolutely refusing to read the programmed readers required by the school system -- workbooks where you read the story, then answered the questions. When the other kids were on Book 20, I was on Book 1! My teacher, Mrs. Zeiser, told my mother, "Alexandra marches to her own drummer." I don't think that was supposed to be a compliment.

My family moved to Miami when I was in middle school. I had a really hard time making friends, so I spent a lot of time reading and writing then. By high school, I'd made some friends and gotten involved in various "gifted and talented" performing arts programs. I studied opera in college (I'm a coloratura -- the really loud, high-pitched sopranos.) and then went to law school.

It was law school that probably helped with my first novel. Breathing Underwater deals with the serious and all-too-common problem of dating violence. I based the book on my experiences interning with the State Attorney's Office and volunteering with battered women. I thought this was a really important topic, as 27 percent of teenage girls surveyed have been hit by a boyfriend. I'm happy that the book is so popular, and if you are reading this bio because the book was assigned for school, I'm happy about that too.

I think I write for young-adults because I never quite got over being one. In my mind, I am still 13-years-old, running laps on the athletic field, wearing this really baggy white gymsuit. I’m continually amazed at the idea that I have a checking account and a mortgage. So I try to write books that gymsuit girl might enjoy. It’s a way of going back to being thirteen . . . knowing what I know now.

Right now, I live half a mile away from my old middle school, in Palmetto Bay, a suburb of Miami, with my husband, daughters, dogs, and cats.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss for providing me with an eArc of this book. It has not affected my opinions or my review.

Unfortunately, this book is one that fell flat for me. I feel like the storylines of the four girls turned out to be stereotypical and cliche without enough depth to bring them to life, and the story revolved around the messages (too obvious) instead of the characters taking me on a journey to discover them along the way. We had: the overly studious girl who needed to learn to have fun; the rich girl who needed to break away from high society's expectations; the very chatty, dramatic, annoying girl; and a bitter girl who needed to learn how to not make her disability define who she was.

Don't get me wrong. If done well, these can make compelling stories. In general, though? The writing felt shallow, their personalities felt shallow. They didn't seem as intelligent as I thought seniors (and one junior) can be, and the way exclamation points were often used to try to push a point out or make the reader excited didn't help.

I also thought, from the synopsis, that this would be a book without a romance. However, it was still added in, and I didn't enjoy it. All it served to do was take away attention from the four girls together, when I felt a big point of the book was to show their growing relationship. In fact, the girls didn't spend as much time together as I would have liked, instead embarking on their own storylines (with the exception of one pair) but somehow still ending up close.

I do wish I could rate this higher. The message, yeah, is good in theory—but it's not a groundbreaking one, and its execution didn't satisfy me.

[Andria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charming and empathetic story of friendship and overcoming differences. Four girls share a cabin for a month in the Adirondack mountains - each has her own reasons for wanting to escape to the middle of nowhere and is facing important decisions about her future. Chapters alternate between the girls' perspectives, but their characters are distinctly and deftly drawn, making it easy to keep the various storylines separate. Sweet but not cloying, with a title and cover art that perfectly match the feel of the book, and a vivid sense of place that made me want to drive to the mountains immediately, this broke me out of my reading funk and made me crave more stories about non-toxic teen friendships.

[Samantha (WLABB) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four very different young women, looking for an escape, find themselves sharing a cabin in the mountains. At first, they only seem to see their differences, but as they take the time to scratch beneath the surface, they find they share a lot more than just pierced ears.

This was such a lovely story of friendship and finding your inner strength. Each young woman was dealing with something, be it scholastic pressure, an absent parent, a scandal, or an illness, and they were trying to take a break from their situation. Maybe running wasn't necessarily the answer to their problems, but it gave them the space to gain a new perspective on their lives, as well as on the way they view many things.

Things I loved:
• The friendship
• Grandma Ruthie
• The setting - it was beautiful!
• Romance with the boy next door
• A love, who wouldn't give up and his Latin letters
• Board games
• The search for lost love

The page count comes in a bit high for a contemporary romance, but Flinn had a lot of story to tell, and I didn't really feel like there was anything I would cut. I am happy that I got to spend this July with this wonderful group of young women, who took the month to explore and reclaim themselves.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[Maven_Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girls of July by Alex Flinn is a heartfelt contemporary young adult novel about four very different teenage girls who meet almost by chance, share a rustic Adirondacks cabin for one unforgettable month of July, and discover through nature, friendship, and shared vulnerability that stepping away from their busy, pressured lives might be the first step toward truly finding themselves. Each girl arrives with her own reason for escape and transformation, and together they learn that friendship can reshape who we thought we had to be.

When I opened this book, I was gently swept into a summer world that felt both wholesome and real: Spider, a quietly brilliant cinephile living with chronic pain who is trying to keep her family’s summer home; Britta, the vivacious aspiring actress fleeing the shadow of an uncomfortable home life; Meredith, the overachieving student worn down by relentless pressure; and Kate, the reluctant socialite trying to recover from her own family’s scandal.

What I loved most was watching these voices, so distinct and human, evolve from awkward strangers into supportive friends through hikes, quiet nights by the lake, shared secrets, and the kind of cross‑campfire conversations that feel like they leave permanent marks on the heart. As they navigate internal pressures, parental expectations, budding romance, and self‑doubt, I found myself pulled into a narrative about growth, empathy, and the unexpected beauty of imperfect friendships.

Emotionally this story made me think about how life’s pauses are sometimes what steer us back to who we truly are, and how connection can bloom in the most surprising places. There were moments that made me smile, some that pulled gently at my heart, and others that filled me with longing for my own summers of freedom and discovery.

Because of its warm character work, immersive sense of place, and sincere reflections on identity and belonging, I would give Girls of July 4 out of 5 stars. This is a wonderfully hopeful, genuine summer read that celebrates friendship and self‑discovery in ways that stayed with me long after the last page.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girls of July was surprisingly really easy to listen to. Never knew this book existed until I came across it. The characters were pretty easy to like and I'm glad that they ended up going on this adventure. It was a good choice for them all and a way to learn something new about themselves.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuuuuutte. So cute that on a day where I planned on reading a ton of books for a sales meeting I read the entirety of this nearly 500-page tome. The characters read a little young but this is just purely sweet. A little bit of a Traveling Pants feel.

[Zoë ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this blind but I actually really enjoyed this!

[Janelle Hackbarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a long book, but worth reading.

Four very different girls rent a cabin in Northeast New York State (owned by a girl who goes by the name Spider and her grandmother). The three girls who end up joining the two for the month of July are all trying to figure out what they want out of life. The girls are Britta (aspiring actress) and classmate Meredith (overachiever preparing all her life for college) from Miami, and socialite-almost-debutaunte Kate who's fleeing a family secret.

I liked that these girls didn't start off as instant friends and had to work to become friends, just like in reality. I also enjoyed that no two were alike, even the Miami girls.

I felt as if I was reading four short stories that intertwined with each other. The surprises were unexpected, but yet enjoyable. The side characters were a fun addition to the story. I honestly don't think I would change anything about this book, including the length (even though it was VERY long).

This book has some growing friendships, summer relaxation, discovering who you really are, and maybe a touch of romance or two in it. If you are into any of those type of teen reads, you should definitely grab a copy of this to read.

[Kaytee Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was a pretty fantastic summer read. I've loved Alex Flinn since I read her book "Beastly". If you need a feel good book about finding yourself featuring relatable characters, this one is for you. It reads so easily it's almost like reading my own thoughts for what I would want in a book. I loved it.

[Angie Quantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great YA read! I totally enjoyed this story of love lost, and four teens who spend the summer at a cabin, disconnected (for the most part) from social media and societal problems. I love the nature focus and how the girls work to discover themselves and friendship. Great read! Kept me up too late last night to finish it.

[Karina Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girls of July by Alex Flinn was such a perfect summer read! This book is about four girls who meet at summer camp and create an unforgettable July together. There’s Britta who is social drama queen and a quiet cabin in the woods sounds like the most perfect July to her. Meredith who’s an overachiever and has spent her whole life preparing for collage. Kate who is trying to find her purpose in life again. Lastly, Spider who’s a quiet individual who enjoys creating movies. When these four girls stay in a cabin together all of July they discover they have much more in common than they thought and might actually bond and have a great summer together. The only reason I didn’t give this book a five out of five stars was because I sometimes got confused with which girl was doing what because the point of views switched back and forth pretty often. Other than that it was a great read and I would recommend reading it if your thirteen or older and looking for a perfect summer read.

[Rhiannon Rabby | 31 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It certainly wasn’t an intense page turner, but I didn’t expect it to be. It was a sweet, heartfelt story and it totally turned my insides into mush. The characters were complex (while slightly predictable) and I loved the way they all came together by the end of July. Ruthie & Janet were the best part!

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this one. So many great threads woven together. It's overtly a story about friendship, and how the four protagonists find it as they are thrust together. Moreover, though it's a story about each girls, and even Ruthie's, journey of self discovery and overcoming what she is expected to be for who she truly is. And of course, it's a summer adventure. It does all three things well, and weaves them together for an excellent story.

Spider is an aspiring filmmaker living with an autoimmune disorder. Every summer she comes to her grandmother's cabin in upstate New York to enjoy nature. Normally, it's a family affair, but this year, Spider's family has other plans. So she and Grandma Ruthie decide to rent out the other rooms to girls near Spider's age. They get Kate, a debutante from the deep South who is escaping her father's small town scandal; Britta, a fiery Latina aspiring actress from Miami, who is running away from her mother's skeevy boyfriend; and Meredith, a devoted academic who is looking to vacation.

At first, the girls don't get along well, but over the course of the summer, they swim and hike and get to know each other. Their friendships grow, they discover secrets, they find who they truly want to be, and one of them even falls in love. Read girls of July to follow along on this journey of one epic summer of friendship, self discovery, and even first love.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My full review can be found on the Epilie Aspie Chick blog!

 I loved this book from page one and couldn't put it down! These four girls are so real that you can feel what they're going through. Each one has a dynamically different personality and problem to navigate. In the process, they not only find solace on the things bothering them, but even come to solutions and become friends (which is a harder mountain to climb for some). 

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This was sweet! Better than I expected since I’m not really into this kind of contemporary anymore. I didn’t LOVE it, but I’d recommend it to people who like contemporaries about girls bonding despite initial judgments who spend a summer coming of age.

[Andria Sedig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the overall character growth and character connections in this book. This book didn't feel as plot driven as I typically like, but the character driven storylines really drew me in and this was a book that I enjoyed quite a bit.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three very different young women, still in high school, decide, independently, to share a cabin with another young woman and her grandmother for the month of July in the Adirondack mountains with no cell coverage, no malls, and none of the other advantages of city life. Each told themselves they needed to get away from their lives. None of the three city girls are prepared for what they find in the mountains. For instance, the grandmother decides she’s not doing all the cooking not knowing that two of the four girls don’t know how to boil water much less how to prepare entire meals.

This is such a delightful read. The author maintains the different voices of her characters throughout the book and in alternating chapters. While the book is being promoted as a book for teens, it can easily be enjoyed by anyone who loves a good book.

Even if you don’t have teens in your life, this well-written book should be at the top of your to-be-read pile just for the opportunity of reading a well-put-together story of the joy of new and very unexpected friendship and experiences.

Thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for a free eARC.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girls of July by Alex Flinn, 470 pages. HarperTeen (Harper Collins), 2019. $18.

Language: R (38 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content PG13; Violence: G;

BUYING ADVISORY: MS HS – ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

After an ad is placed on social media, four girls with wildly different personalities, are seeking seclusion from issues at home, and room together in a secluded cabin in the Adirondacks. This could be a recipe for disaster or a “traveling pants” in the making. Though the girls don’t seem a good fit, the more they learn about each other, the more they learn about themselves. They discover that maybe they are strong enough to face the life circumstances that led them to a mountain retreat.

The characters are likeable and we learn along with them. Mature content may be the grandmother’s same sex attraction, but it was handled discreetly. There weren’t many surprises, but it was a fun read and Flinn’s writing doesn’t disappoint. It will make you want to find your own mountain getaway.

Michelle in the Middle, Teacher
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2019...

[Kari]

dnf

[Kara King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish this was a series!

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 stars (that's a legitimate rating, right?)

This is the perfect July read - what a wonderful book to finish this month with. I received it as part of Shelflove Read's "Under the Stars Read" in July 2019. (No Shelflove Reads does not exist anymore. Yes that means I have had this novel in my room for just over a year. Yes my TBR pile is ridiculous).

The July Girls is told from the perspective of four alternating voices of teenage women who meet in response to an advertisement posted for a rural cottage getaway: Britta, a Latinx theatre obsessed social butterfly trying to escape the overzealous attention of her mother's sleazy boyfriend; Meredith, a studious redhead occupied by the stress put upon her by her mother to make it into an Ivy League college; Kate, a southern blonde debutante fleeing the small town rumours of her father's political scandal; and Spider, a firery raven haired aspiring filmmaker who suffers from an autoimmune disease and just wants her summer cabin to stay in the family.

There were so many things that I loved about this novel that listing them all would be difficult. I loved the unique narratives and the realistic thoughts and feelings that each character portrayed and their heartwarming growth and development; I loved that my teenage self could connect with Meredith on a personal level - she was me and I was her, so I GOT it; I loved ALL of the love stories portrayed between the different characters, friendship and romance alike. (Harmond - be mine. You're perfect); but most of all, I loved the summery feelings of nostalgia that melted my heart and made me feel like I will return to this novel years from now with a sense of comfort and wonder. I wanted (want?) to have the experiences these girls did for an entire summer.

So...why not five stars? Because as much as I wanted the story to go on, it did feel a little too slow and meandering at times - especially for Kate's part of the story. (Sorry Kate!) I don't think Kate's storyline and contribution to the narrative made much of a difference - the three others would have been sufficient, and her voice felt drowned out by Britta, Meredith and Spider's portions. This would have been a perfect read otherwise, and is regardless a beautiful addition to my shelf. Thank you July Girls for making me jealous and nostalgic for a time that I never experienced at your age ;)

[J.T. Dutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometime in about seventh or eighth grade, I lost the brash confidence I had as a ten to twelve year old and at thirteen devised new ways to keep people around me. Instead of relying on common interests and mutual affinities and making friends that ranged from book nerds to animal lovers, from quiz bowlers to basketball players, I chased what I thought I was supposed to chase. I bought shoes I couldn't really walk in and used words that sounded and tasted garlicky as I spoke them. I began to believe people were social collateral for buying the interest of others higher on the food chain. I wasn't a mean girl (or at least I hope I wasn't), but I desperately wanted to be. The misperception of how friendships worked cost me self-esteem. My grades plummeted. I was depressed and hardly knew it. Nothing felt natural.

Alex Flinn's novel The Girls of July describes four young women on their way to reclaiming their uniqueness after a period in which group acceptance matters more to them than self-acceptance. Set in the Adirondacks, The Girls of July is a coming of age novel which addresses the social challenges teens face in becoming responsible, affectionate, powerful, and independent adults. The obstacles to maturity are not artificial or imposed. Cancer does not rob them of their vitality, nor do demons. The every-day nature of the problems in this novel strike to the heart of human fragility. Instead of the stakes being high, they are deep.

Perhaps my favorite embellishment in Flinn's bright, clear prose is a cameo appearance by the brilliant actress Ruth Gordon, or at least, I am reminded of Ruth Gordon in the portrayal of Ruth Green, a wise, witty, gnomish maven who like Gordon in her films Harold and Maude and My Bodyguard acts as a purveyor of quirky wisdom. Ruth Green rents rooms in her cabin to three of the young protagonists as a way of helping her socially isolated granddaughter cope with an inconvenient autoimmune disease. Gordon, like Green, possess some, if not all the answers. She winks at the transitions and newness of the girls' experiences, assuring them this is just the beginning of the wild and wonderful journey that will be their adult lives.

Flinn's novel likewise assures readers that aging, whether from childhood to adulthood, or in the later stages is less about attaining and achieving than it is about continually surprising and amazing ourselves. Flinn invites readers to remember that high and beautiful instinctive summer in our souls, where life came naturally and like the Girls of July we can laugh and learn at the same time.

[Hope Winters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was actually amazing. I usually don't give five stars but wow this impressed me. The characters were all well developed and complex. I think I could relate to at least one aspect of each one of them, and I never skimmed anyone's chapters out of boredom, which I do occasionally for some books like this. They were all different, but not so different that it was annoying and stereotypical. Britta, the perky actress, was my personal favorite. She was kind, extroverted, and energetic and I thought her character was pulled off very well (sometimes girls like Britta are portrayed too much as the loud fun girl, therefore making them a nightmare). I also loved Kate. She was rich and pretty, but she wasn't all spoiled and high and mighty or anything. She had lots of character development. Spider I thought at first was close-minded and condescending, but in the end she got a lot better and I think she evolved a lot. Meredith was kind if getting on my nerves at first with her whole "look at me I'm the perfect good girl who knows everything" persona, but about halfway through she stopped having that effect on me. All of these characters are independent and smart. The setting in a cabin in the mountains was amazing and there were lots of cute adventures and moments that were both sweet and important to the characters. I actually read this one 3 times, and every time it was just as exciting. I highly recommend. Also, no sex or underage drinking so I was so thankful.

[Nicole Targia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light and easy summer read, a little cheesy but in a less traditional way than some other YAs. Overall liked it and probably deserve 3.5 stars instead of just 3.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great YA summer read. It's compared to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which I completely agree with. I listened to the audio, which had different narrators for each of the 4 girls. If you go in wanting a story that feels like summer is different than the rest of the year, you'll get what you're looking for.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about following your own dreams instead of someone else's.

[Joann M · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Four girls. One unforgettable July."

[Morgan Moomey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was slow and long but okay.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

at what point will i realize i am too old for books about girls in high school - also they literally all hated each other until the end and rarely spent time together ??? also the singing ?????????

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Review is of an advanced reader copy

I have long enjoyed books about summer camp. Much more so than I enjoyed the actual summer camp experience myself. (Because it is awfully nice to have the comfort of my own bed and a non-communal shower with ample hot water.) Girls of July, although not exactly a summer camp story, has the summer camp feel. (How many times will I use the term "summer camp" throughout this review?) The novel is akin to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, focusing on four somewhat different teen girls spending a month together at a rustic abode in the Adirondacks.
Each teen has escaped to the mountain retreat with the hopes of both taking a break from something in her life and experiencing something meaningful. Predictably, although at the outset all they can see are their differences, before the novel's conclusion their bond is strong. In spite of the familiar plot line the month long trial is a throughly enjoyable summer read. It did not however, entice me to visit the Adirondacks as the cool temperatures were frequently mentioned. This chickadee prefers warmer climates!