Kathy 's Reviews > The Summer's End

This is a fitting end to Mary Alice Monroe’s Sullivan Island trilogy. Having read the other two books in the series, I was eagerly awaiting this one. This book proved to be every bit as good as the other two. Now that summer is almost over, Mawmaw, Harper, Carson and Dora, have realized that their beloved family home, Sea Breeze will be sold. Mawmaw, the girls’ aging grandmother, has concluded the family home Sea Breeze, must be sold because she can no longer afford its upkeep. Each of the three girls, Harper, Carson and Dora came to the island with different hope s, aspirations and conflicting emotions. Harper had just left her job working for her narcissist, unloving mother. Carson had left her job in the film industry after career ending actins while on a drinking bender and was battling her own drinking demons. Dora was picking up the pieces after her marriage ended and trying to figure out what life will hold for her and her son, who has Aspergers syndrome. This is the do or die time for the three girls It is also a sad time for all four in Sea Breeze, especially for Mawmaw, since the death of her best friend and housekeeper Lucille (in the last book). This book covers the last weeks of their lives at Sea Breeze, how each copes with the impending sale, how they cope with Lucille’s absence, and how each one ties up the loose ends that now make up so much of their lives. In particular, this book focuses on Harper, who has some big decisions to make as well as some interesting growing up to do now that she is finally free of her domineering mother and can learn to accept and lover her sisters and to accept the fact that she is capable of loving and loving life to the fullest. However, I want to point out that all four main characters, not just Harper, learn this as the book progresses.

This is a book I read almost in one sitting. I knew the sisters and their beloved grandmother from the other books, but the reader can also easily read this as a stand-alone book, and catch up on the rest of the story later, if he/she wishes. As I read, I was transported to the Low Country once again, to its enchanting culture and setting. The author definitely has a fabulous way of bringing the area and its subtle nuances of culture and life out to the reader. In addition, though I had read the other books and was familiar with the characters, the author did such a superb job in developing them in this book, I again felt was part of their larger family and looking in at their daily life and routines from a close distance. In this book, I found it fascinating to watch how Harper and Carson each approached love interests in their own different but endearing way. Both girls finally are forced to look at themselves in the new light of an adult, separate from their immediate family and face all the wonderful facts and nuances of love right in the face. This is the story of Harper, in particular, and her newly met love, a former marine coping with his own set of problems in dealing with life. Together they learn when and how to rely one each other for support and love, and relying on anyone else because each has been burned in different ways in their own pasts is difficult, but they manage to overcome the obstacles.

I would give this book more than five stars if I could. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the author or who is looking for a fantastic read about a fabulous area of the country while still enjoying a good story. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.