Big Summer

“I would still want to be her friend, because she was everything I wanted to be.”

Six years after the fight (and video) that ended their friendship, Drue Cavanaugh comes back into Daphne Berg’s life. Drue is as Blonde, skinny and beautiful as ever and she needs something from Daphne. She comes begging forgiveness and for Daphne to be her Maid-of-honor at her wedding. Daphne is shocked, that night besides being incredibly painful was the turning point in her life. She turned her pain and embarrassment into a career and is now a social media influencer. So why her? Why not ask someone else to be in her wedding?

This book started slowly for me. Let me clarify, I enjoyed the beginning with the single woman raising her son on the Cape, but then there is a dramatic shift and the book tells the story of Daphne, Drue and to a small degree, Daphne’s roommate and lifelong friend, Dashni as well. After the change is the storyline, it took until the 49 percent mark for me to become fully invested in the book. That is when things became interesting to me. That is when the book which was many things – a book about female friendships, body shamming, self-esteem, the positive and negative aspects of sharing parts of your life on social media, family, accepting yourself, etc., became a whodunit as well. The last part of the book moved very fast for me as I was eager to find out all the questions brought up in this book. The last part of this book saved it for me.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.