The Summer Wives in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 23, 2022 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, historical-fiction, womens-day, era-mid-20th-c, audio

At one point, near the dock and the shelter of the small Fisher cove, our eyes met. I’d been looking over his shoulder and so had he, judging the distance to shore, and when he turned back his gaze made right for my face and stayed there, so that I couldn’t help but succumb to its human gravitation. Instead of looking away, he smiled, as if we’d just shared a secret, the nature of which I couldn’t have guessed, so young as I was in the early days of that summer.

This was totally sappy but I

At one point, near the dock and the shelter of the small Fisher cove, our eyes met. I’d been looking over his shoulder and so had he, judging the distance to shore, and when he turned back his gaze made right for my face and stayed there, so that I couldn’t help but succumb to its human gravitation. Instead of looking away, he smiled, as if we’d just shared a secret, the nature of which I couldn’t have guessed, so young as I was in the early days of that summer.

This was totally sappy but I loved it anyway. Williams has a talent for creating characters I love to spend time with. And, nothing gets to me like a tale of star-crossed lovers, their true love ripped asunder by events out of their control.

I mean, anyone who has read a book like this before will see all the plot twists coming. They aren't there to surprise you, the reader. They are just there to show the characters being surprised, and then how they handle that surprise.

I found both the title and the cover art to be kind of unappealing, and I put off reading this because of that. I wish the cover art showed a crumbling mansion on the Long Island Sound, with a sailboat or fishing boat in the water in the foreground. Something more like the German cover

Unser Traum von Freiheit Roman (Die East-Coast-Reihe 5) by Beatriz Williams

or the cover of Along the Infinite Sea

Along the Infinite Sea (Schuyler Sisters #3) by Beatriz Williams

.

The "summer wives" of the title are the local young women who live on the island year-round, and engage in dalliances with the rich and dashing young men who visit for the summer ... Yes, this is a key plot point. Yes, you will guess all of it right away. But for me, that didn't take away from the heartbreak of the story. (view spoiler)

Any Williams fan knows that she loves taking characters from one book and putting them in another book. It made me laugh to discover that this book was about yet another Schuyler!!: Miranda Schuyler, only daughter of the deceased Thomas Schuyler. She seemed unaware of her passel of second cousins, but I suppose they were all a bit younger than her. I have to wonder if perhaps Miranda's Uncle Henry will pop up with a family in a future book, or perhaps Miranda's young half-brother Hugh Fisher Jr will have his own story, and we'll get to see Miranda (and Joseph) again.

When I started reading this, for some reason I had it in my head that it was set on an island that's off the coast of Rhode Island, but I was a bit too far east. It is set off the coast of Connecticut. In the author's note, Williams explains that Winthrop Island is a stand-in for Fisher's Island, which is just off the coast of Connecticut, but for some reason part of New York. Fisher's Island even has an Isabella Beach - very clever, Ms Williams!! It's even got a lighthouse (Race Rock Lighthouse). ...more

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Aug 14, 2018 Kat rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018

Solid 3.5 Stars

Once you got the characters straight and timelines figured out it was smooth sailing. That being said it took about a third of the book for me to understand who is who and for that reason I have trouble giving any more stars.

The story was good albeit a tad slow, the characters were all faulty in some way but it all came together plot wise.

I look forward to more books by this author.

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