Summer Secrets

A Novel

By: Jane Green

Narrated by: Jane Green

Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Told with Jane Green's keen eye for detailing the emotional landscape of the heart, Summer Secrets is at once a compelling drama and a beautifully rendered portrait of relationships, betrayals, and forgiveness; about accepting the things we cannot change, finding the courage to change the things we can, and being strong enough to weather the storms.

When a shocking family secret is revealed, twenty-something journalist Cat Coombs finds herself falling into a dark spiral. Wild, glamorous nights out in London and raging hangovers the next day become her norm, leading to a terrible mistake one night while visiting family in America, on the island of Nantucket. It's a mistake for which she can't forgive herself. When she returns home, she confronts the unavoidable reality of her life and knows it's time to grow up. But she doesn't know if she'll ever be able to earn the forgiveness of the people she hurt.

As the years pass, Cat grows into her forties, a struggling single mother, coping with a new-found sobriety and determined to finally make amends. Traveling back to her past, to the family she left behind on Nantucket all those years ago, she may be able to earn their forgiveness, but in doing so she may risk losing the very people she loves the most.

"Gripping and powerful."-Emily Giffin

"The perfect summer read...You'll be hooked." -Kristin Hannah

©2015 Jane Green (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“A gripping and powerful novel about finding the courage to make the life you want. This is Jane Green at her absolute best.” —Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author of The One and Only

“Summer Secrets is the perfect summer read. Once you dive into this story about a recovering alcoholic who must finally face her own dark past and make amends, you'll be hooked.” —Kristin Hannah

“Summer Secrets is the quintessential beach novel, complete with juicy drama and characters you fall madly in love with. You will devour it!” —Elin Hilderbrand

Very good

The powerful journey into Cat’s world is not a happy-go-lucky story. Sad but has its “Jane” way of finding warmth and connection throughout.

loved it!

Great summer story! I really enjoyed the characters and felt like I knew them by the end of the book.

Big Let Down...

HUGE let down. After all the details, emotions, history, and craziness you would think we would get more out of an ending. Nope. it just ended, almost like Jane Green was running out of time and needed to wrap it up.

Loved it!

Not what I was expecting, but excellent. great characters, skillfully written and very well read. Thoughtful and eloquent depiction of struggles with alcoholism .

Good summer read

Good story

Likeable characters.

Learned a bit about alcoholism.

Has made me want to visit Nantucket.

a must for AA women; great "beach book" for others

I loved this book. I also thought the author did an excellent job as a narrator. Her voice is nice and she handles the different voices and accents well.

This total chick lit, a great "beach read" so if that's what you're looking for, this is a great book. What sets it apart from all the other novels in that genre is that this one covers alcoholism perfectly and deeply.

The novel is rich in AA traditions, so if you are familiar with AA, the steps, the slogans, meetings, alcoholism as a family disease, etc. You will love and devour this book. I am going to recommend it to any woman early in her sobriety. In many ways, this novel is long speaker meeting.

Those who are not living a sober life might not find the story as endearing, and they may miss some of the more subtle points, but the skeleton of the story is one most people can relate to:

The story starts with a 20-something woman who notices her life has stayed the same while her friends are all getting married and having babies, which is what she wants too. She decides to make a change to get what she wants... and does! She meets the man, has the baby, has it all, becomes too confident and takes it for granted, forgets that what it takes to get there is what it takes to stay there, and one little slip leads to another, until she's frustrated that she let this happen, that she let bad habits in, and it was worse this time, so there's an even bigger mess to clean, and is it too late? Can she even get back what she lost?

As for Jane-Green-the-narrator, I want to listen to her again, I'm buying another of her books because I liked this one, and I liked her reading. I've listened to over 300 books and she is definitely in the top 25%.

Review of the book

Predictable story. Pleasant to read but no surprises.
Jane Green should stay with writing , her delivery of the story was slow and tedious to listen to.

Jane Green is awesome but not as a narrator

Another great novel from Jane Green. As a Londoner living in New England her books always Strike a cord with me. lots of laughs and sometimes tears. Please stop narrating your own books Ms Green a professional actor could really take the audible version of your novels to a whole new level.

Great book

An absolutely wonderful book. It was very heartbreaking as well as heartwarming story. A must read for anyone who is dealing with alcoholism or dealing with a loved one with alcoholism. Wonderfully written.

Hearing the book summer secrets

It was just a bit slow however the day by day experience s of this person were well told. Very English in style which I love. I wish Jason had been more prominent in the story, but I liked the ending.