They were known as the Seasons. Four teenage girls, Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--each named for a different season--were supposed to spend their summer before college in Europe. They would have if they hadn't been arrested for dumping soap into the university's pool. Instead of picking up trash all summer, Summer's mother manages to get the girls assigned to her as camp counselors for the camp she has reopened. By bus, the girls travel to Tumbleweed, Oklahoma to spend eight memorable weeks at the camp. It is there that they will face their past, the present, and the future. One night everything changes for them. Now, twenty years later Summer finds herself back in Tumbleweed dealing with what happened there during that summer.
THE BEST SUMMER OF OUR LIVES by Rachel Hauck is a skillfully told story about a friendship that had endured for years until one day it ended. The vividly depicted characters all have secrets and the costs of revealing them are high. Their commitment to one another seemed permanent, but there comes a time when childhood promises are placed aside and the future must be faced. Is their bond strong and true enough for them to support each other even if they go their separate ways? The story is told in 1977 and 1997 and comes together seamlessly. Told with sensitivity, the narrative embraces themes of family, faith, love, friendship, and the gift of second chances.
I found THE BEST SUMMER OF OUR LIVES to be memorable and engrossing. It is well worth reading.
Twenty years ago, the summer of '77 was supposed to be the best summer of Summer Wilde's life. She and her best friends, Spring, Autumn, and Snow--the Four Seasons--had big plans.
But those plans never had a chance. After a teenage prank gone awry, the Seasons found themselves on a bus to Tumbleweed, "Nowhere," Oklahoma, to spend eight weeks as camp counselors. All four of them arrived with hidden secrets and buried fears, and the events that unfolded in those two months forever altered their friendships, their lives, and their futures.
Now, thirtysomething, Summer is at a crossroads. When her latest girl band leaves her in a motel outside Tulsa, she is forced to face the shadows of her past. Returning to the place where everything changed, she soon learns Tumbleweed is more than a town she never wanted to see again. It's a place for healing, for reconciling the past with the present, and for finally listening to love's voice.
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