In Songs of Summer, Maggie crashes a wedding party in a Fire Island community to scope out the birth mother who gave her up for adoption thirty years earlier. As someone who didn't meet my bio dad until I was in my sixties, I was intrigued by the concept.

The actual story …more took a while to warm up for me. I was initially turned off by the drifting, aimless nature of Maggie's character. She's thirty, managing the record store she inherited from her adoptive parents, and dating her life-long best friend Jason because she can't think of anything better. Jason wants to get married, but for reasons she can't understand, Maggie drags her feet. When she (with Jason's help) tracks down her birth mother, she goes in cognito to see if the woman is someone she'd like to know.

Maggie became more alive for me—almost like she woke up—once she ventures to the small Fire Island community and out of her comfort zone. I enjoyed the portrait of the small no-cars allowed island community and the unfolding of Maggie's connections within it. (less)