The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop

May 17, 2023

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop

Before starting college, Rachel and her best friend Caroline spent a summer traveling in Europe, ending up working at a dive bar at an upscale resort on a Greek island. Eighteen years later, she returns with her husband to find the place greatly changed, now a tourist destination rather than an exclusive resort. But when she runs into a woman she worked with, memories that Rachel would rather forget begin to surface.

Similar to My Dark Vanessa, with teenaged girls being abused by older manipulative men. I thought this would be a good summer read, but it's not - rather than being fun and suspenseful, it's depressing and there were no surprises. I didn't feel a connection to the characters or particularly care what happened to them. Rachel in particular is completely brainwashed. It felt like the author was trying to cash in on the current Me Too movement. I did a lot of skimming, especially in the second half of the book. Disappointing.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Greek islands