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Summer Island

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Summer Island

By: Kristin Hannah
Narrated by: Joyce Bean
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About this listen

 Thirty-four-year-old Ruby Bridge is a not-too-successful comedienne who uses her mother, a nationally-syndicated "moral and spiritual counselor" as the main fodder for her cynical, rather bitter humor. Her mother Nora, long divorced from Ruby's father, is a woman whose past is just about to catch up with her - in the form of blackmail by a former lover.

After an accident (an attempted suicide?) Ruby returns to care for her stricken mother - bitterly resenting the fact that once again her mother's life has colonized hers. When she is approached by a publisher to write a biography of her mother, Ruby is desperate for the princely sum offered. Yet her research into her mother's past reveals a woman very different from the one Ruby expected. And what began as "mommy dearest" ends as a love story - not only between mother and daughter, but involving two very different men who play a key role in linking the past to the present.

©2001 Kristin Hannah (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Contemporary Genre Fiction Women's Fiction Witty

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All stars
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I am a huge fan of Kristin Hannah, and rate her books as five star usually. Sadly I felt this one lacked the usual depth, the intriguing characters and the wow factor in the storylines. A pleasant, light read, but I could easily put this one down, which to me is a sign of a weaker novel.

A weaker Kristin Hannah novel

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Good easy read. Not as captivating as some of Kristin’s other books like the Women or Nightingale

Good buy not Kristin’s best

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A sweet story, slightly predictable but nonetheless but this writer paints pictures in your mind and I always love anything she writes for this reason.

A sweet story

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It is so wonderfully performed and told. Loved this story. It wasn’t predictable and kept me listening and hoping. It succeeded

Great story, great characters

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Good good good good good why do I have to use fifteen word minimum isn’t good book enough

Book

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I was going to give this audiobook a rating of 3.5*, but the ending was so sweet and the scene at the 4th of July party nearly made me cry, so I'm rounding it up to a 4*. I didn't find this book quite as good as the previous novel I read from this author (Distant Shores), but perhaps that's just because the book was drawn out over a longer period of time as I didn't have as much time to listen as usual due to moving house and starting a new semester at university. It was definitely an easy listen, even if it wasn't as compelling as Distant Shores. Kristin Hannah can be relied on to produce engaging women's fiction that deals with real-life issues and contains realistic, flawed characters with just a dash of romance.

Engaging women's fiction

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I did really enjoy this book, it was a satisfying listen which is fine if you fancy a nice undemanding book, but Kristin has written some brilliant gritty books that grip you from the beginning and won't let go! Try The Great Alone, The Four Winds, The Women, and Home Front. (I haven't yet read The Nightingale but I think that may be just as powerful).
This is an estranged mother and daughter story and it took a while but I soon began to really care about them both and root for them to reunite. The other minor characters are well written and I was soon rooting for them too. It's a moving story that resonated with me.

Really enjoyable listen but not her best

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Great writing and how relationships can alter over time none of us are perfect . I cried I smiled but mostly I understood

Loved it

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I have read about 8 of Kristin Hannah’s books and loved them. Originality, insightful … but what happened with this book? Weak story, improbable emotions, poor insights. Really disappointed.

Disappointing

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