Summer Island

Rating:
Summary: Boring and Same Old, Same Old
Review: I received this book for free, and I'm glad I didn't pay anything for it. It was boring and predictable. Very drawn out. This is the first book I've read by Kristin Hannah. I surely hope her others are better and deeper than this one. Very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Love and Forgiveness
Review: Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors, and she once again delivers the kind of book I expect from her. Summer Island is the story of Nora Bridge, and her decision to leave her husband and children. The repercussions of that action are the basis for this book. Nora has become a radio personality, famous for her advice on love and family relationships. But her world come crumbling down when her past is revealed.
Kristin Hannah obviously loves the Pacific North West and her descriptions of the San Juan Islands is beautiful. She has a way of making you empathize with her characters even when you don't agree with what they are doing. Her depiction of the two Bridge daughters, Ruby and Caroline, and their very different reaction to their mother's betrayal rings true. I enjoyed the way she portrays sibling love in the two sister's, and the two Sloan brother's, whose lives are central to the Bridge family.
This book made me laugh, made me cry and made me think about my own family and their place in my life. I recommend it to all Kristin Hannah fans.

Rating:
Summary: Home is where the heart is most complete.
Review: Nora Bridge is a radio talk show host that espouses the morals of a nation. People trust and love her. When pornographic pictures of her are released to the press, her carefully constructed world comes tumbling down around her and she is faced with the skeletons in her closet that have left her estranged from the two daughters she has loved from a distance for the past 11 years.

The Journey back is a tumultuous one when Nora finds herself injured in a car accident and her daughter Ruby, who has nurtured her hatred since the day her mother left them, comes to care for her at the family home on Summer Island. The memories flood back and secrets are revealed that paint an entirely different picture of a time that Ruby was so sure of. Suffice it to say, things are not what she expected.

This was a very good book with much more to the story than I have let on here. It is a tear-jerker and I spent the last few chapters with a box of tissues, so readers beware. I would give this book 4.5 stars if that option was available to me. Another book by this author that you will thoroughly enjoy is On Mystic Lake. Kelsana 5/10/01

Rating:
Summary: Tender, Heart-warming Story
Review: Summer Island, by Kristin Hannah is an incredible, moving story about fragile relationships between mothers and daughters. I guarantee that every woman who reads this books will see either herself, her mother or her daughter, or maybe even all three relationships in this heartfelt tale. You will cry, you will laugh and then you will cry tears of joy - so keep that box of Kleenex handy! I would love for my daughter, who is 12, to read this book when she is older and I am sure that there will be many other mothers out there who will be passing this book onto their daughters to read as well, or even vice versa!

As with all of Hannah's books, and I have read them all, her characters remain so true to life that once again the reader feels that they know each and every character personally and intimately. Hannah draws you in from the very first chapter and never lets you go. I found this book a bit different than her usual, "romantic" love stories, in that this story focused entirely on the relationship between Nora Bridge and her two daughters, Ruby and Caroline. There was a romantic twist between Ruby and her childhood sweetheart, Dean, but this was a side bar, and was not the main focus of the book, although it was true to Hannah form! Hannah fans will not be disappointed with this book, but if they are looking to read a pure romance book, this particular book will not fit the bill this time!

Hannah weaves stories that one can relate to on a personal and intimate level. One can "feel" each and every emotion her characters are going through and through it all Hannah implants her message of love hope. "Sometimes people get hurt . . . It's never something you should seek out, or do on purpose, but you can't live a life that hurts no one. If you try, you'll end up touching no one."

A mother and daughter relationship is so complex, so tumultuous, so endearing and so precious. We enter into so many phases with our beloved daughters, yet our hearts are forever bound to them and we only want for them all of the perfection in the mistakes that we have made. Hannah divides this gap so that it is torn in two and with the beauty of a master craftsman, brings these wounded souls back together again with nothing but pure and simple love. A mother's love indeed knows no bounds.

Another winner from Hannah!! When is the next book coming out? - this reader is most anxious!!!

Rating:
Summary: Forgiveness and Tears Flow from this Wonderful Story
Review: The novel is set in Seattle and on a beautiful, isolated island in the San Juans. Nora Bridge is a Seattle talk show host who gives out advice and morality to her legions of adoring fans, however her fans don't know that Nora walked out on her husband and daughters years ago. Then some nude photos from her past are made public and her career takes a nosedive.

Youngest daughter Ruby is a struggling comedienne who uses her estrangement from her famous mother as material for her bitter humor. She is offered a lot of money for a tell all story about mom and volunteers to help take care of Nora after an auto accident, but she's really only interested in getting more material for her article.

This book is a heartbreaking tearjerker and I loved it five stars worth.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene