• The Summer Girls

  • The Lowcountry Summer Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Mary Alice Monroe
  • Narrated by: Mary Alice Monroe
  • Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (2,419 ratings)

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The Summer Girls  By  cover art

The Summer Girls

By: Mary Alice Monroe
Narrated by: Mary Alice Monroe
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Publisher's summary

Three sisters reunite on Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina after years of separation in this heartwarming first novel in a new trilogy from a beloved author.

80-year-old Marietta Muir is a dowager of Charleston society who has retired to her historic summer home on Sullivan’s Island. At the onset of summer, Marietta - "Mamaw" - seeks to gather her three granddaughters - Carson, Eudora, and Harper - with the intent to reunite them after years apart.

©2013 Mary Alice Monroe (P)2013 AudioGO

Critic reviews

"[Anyone who] enjoys such fine Southern voices as Pat Conroy will add the talented Monroe to their list of favorites." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about The Summer Girls

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    1,230
  • 4 Stars
    651
  • 3 Stars
    362
  • 2 Stars
    114
  • 1 Stars
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Performance
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    1,104
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    68

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

The summer girls

I did not enjoy this story, it had promise yes, but, it somehow did not leave me satisfied, I kept wanting to hear more about the two other sisters , and the boy in the story, however the true message was about alchoholism, it's effects on families , and the plight of Dolphins.
I think I was hoping for Southern charm, romance and life in the South.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ugh

please tell the reader Southern pronounce Mamaw as Mam-maw not Ma-Ma. as someone who had a Mam-maw it is aggravating to hear.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story but poor narration

I loved the storyline and the characters but did not care for Mary Alice Monroe's performance. Her fake southern accent and her inconsistent pronunciation of "Mamaw" really took away from my listening enjoyment.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not thrilled

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

someone who needs a sleeping aide

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

There wasn't really an ending, the story lines of characters were left open--almost forcing one to purchase Book 2 for completion.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Mary Alice Monroe?

Anyone - she is a good writer and should stick to writing. Reading was lack luster, comparable to psychology 101 in large college auditorium. Monotone. This past month I have listened to Catherine Tabor and Amy Rubinate either would have made this so much more enjoyable.

What character would you cut from The Summer Girls?

None, the women need to be expanded on and not so predictable. While listening not so much "Carson said" Dora said" etc...

Any additional comments?

Although wondering where the other sisters wonder, not sure I can listen to another book with same narrator.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I could not wait for this to end.

I gave this book two stars across the board. The narrator (the author) was hard to listen to. There were several editing problems where she reread a sentence making a correction and then not editing out the original error. The accents she applied were unauthentic and not consistent. The storyline was unimaginative, not well defined and just plain boring. I understand that the first book in a series is the foundation and generally the story blossoms as more books are read; however the author reads the second book and honestly I just can’t listen to her again.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Decent story, terrible narration

I just realized the author was the narrator. I've read a couple of her books previously and definitely prefer that to listening to her, which is a shame. Her voice was pleasant, but she did not do a good job differentiating between characters, and at times even repeated herself. It was very distracting, especially when you get used to listening to professional narrators.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend paying for this audiobook. It's a decent beach/bedtime read (to help sleep) if it's free or very cheap, but the story was pretty shallow and the narration was what you might expect from a free listen on YouTube.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Nice story

The storyline was good, but fairly predictable. I am a true Southerner, having lived in the Southeast most of my life. Loved visiting coastal South Carolina, so I could picture the setting easily. However, the oration was very distracting to me, and didn’t sound true Southern, nor was it consistent throughout the book. “Mawmaw” was mispronounced which was annoying . If one isn’t from the South, then one should at minimum hire a linguist, or even better a true southern orator. Because of this I won’t listen to anymore of this author’s books, but perhaps I’ll buy one to read myself.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The story is ok but ruined by the performance

I really wanted to love this book but it was so cringeworthy due to the reading performance. Being a southern girl I just couldn’t finish it. Two things that bothered me most is her pronunciation of mamaw as momma!! No southern person would ever do that. The second thing is she used the phrase “deaf and dumb” really?? Do you know how long it took for people with hearing disabilities to get over that phrase. It was just awful. That shocked me.
The author had a good thing going if she’d just let someone read it that has a real southern accent. It’s awful. I couldn’t finish it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

This is why you hire a narrator

This story was mediocre for me. I didn’t enjoy the characters.

The whole “let’s stop drinking for a week to make sure we aren’t alcoholics” was annoying for me. As someone who has many alcoholics in her own family, that isn’t how that works.

The narration was poor. The accents were bad, the consistency is character voice was spotty at best. There were multiple places where a sentence was repeated because a mistake was made but it wasn’t deleted out during editing. It was distracting.

I may give this author another try, but I will read the book from the library and not listen.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not as the title states

Boring story and a bit all over the place. If I wanted to read a story about saving dolphins this would not be the one.

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2 people found this helpful