Review: The Summer Everything Changed by Holly Chamberlin

[Alexandra Bayer]

Louise Bessire and her daughter Isobel have been through a lot. After Louise's husband cheated on her two years ago, she packed up Isobel and took her to Ogunquit, where they began the business of running Blueberry Bay Inn. It's a hard job, but when a celebrity decides they want to be married there, things seem to be looking up... that is, until Louise realizes how ridiculous some of the demands can be. Meanwhile, Isobel falls for Jeff Otten, a rich boy three years older than her. Things start off innocent, but as Isobel gets more involved with Jeff, she realizes there's something off about him. The summer will be full of lessons for mother and daughter, some easy... but some very, very hard.

This seemed like a very exciting summer book to get me into relaxation vacation mode. I received this book from Goodreads First Reads, so that was even better. However, I found that the deeper into this story I got, the less relaxing it became. Holly's relationship with Jeff turned out to be abusive. Not necessarily physically - rather, mentally, psychologically and emotionally. I was extremely surprised by this turn of events, since the summary of the book said nothing about this topic whatsoever. This is the second book I've read about the subject of abusive relationships, and I found that it was very effective. It was educational and realistic; scarily realistic. The sad thing is that this sort of abuse isn't uncommon in the world. The first book I read on this topic didn't inform the reader a lot about abuse, rather letting the reader hang along on the ride while the main character suffered. This novel was much more informative, which is good. Books like this need to be out in the world in order to provide help to people in real-life situations such as these.

I found Isobel's fashion blog to be quite interesting. It really reflected on her character. Only her strongest emotions leaked through, but since the blog meant so much to her, the reader could see, by the amount of time and effort invested in it day by day, how Isobel was feeling. When things with Jeff got bad, she stopped blogging altogether. Only her strongest emotions shone through, such as when she was secretly furious with her father and so put in one line about that, her anger somewhat hidden beneath humour. The blog was the only place in this book which was written in first person, so the reader got something of a closer tie to Isobel by reading the blog. Once the drama with Jeff was over, she picked up the blog again. I found that this blog, more than anything, allowed the reader to get a feel and a connection with Isobel.

The best thing about the book were the relationships. Not the bad or negative ones, like between Isobel and Jeff, or her father. The positive relationships. Isobel and her mother had an amazing relationship, but this book showed that even the most strong relationships can be strained under unexpected pressure. Both Isobel and Louise had terrific best friends, too. Louise had Catherine, her confidant and rock, and Isobel had assured, steady yet original Gwen. These relationships made me wistful. They were so realistic in the way the characters spoke with each other that I wished for someone that dedicated to me. Friendships are an important part of life, one that is focused on in many books. The friendships weren't the main story in this novel, yet they were there and made the story that much better.

This book was very good, although not what I expected. The writing was good, and the inn seemed picturesque. Although not the light summer read I'd been hoping for, this book hit hard topics right in the bulls-eye, which is why I strongly recommend everyone out there to read it. I would give it a rating of three stars. Sometimes it feels as though my reviews don't match up with the overall ratings, so I'll explain: I found the topic compelling, the writing talented, and the setting amazing; third person just isn't for me, and I don't always prefer these more serious topics, not matter how good they are. I would suggest this story to anyone looking for unusual relationships, a summer setting, or information in the types of abusive relationships.