What do readers think of Songs of Summer by Jane L. Rosen? Write your own review.

Songs of Summer is an enjoyable novel about tangled family relationships and love. It's set on Fire Island, off the shore of Long Island, and deals with adoption and finding one's birthmother at the age of 30. The extended family dynamics are complex, adding to the action. Riffing on the book title and the fact that Maggie, the main character owns a record store, each chapter is a track number (like on a record) and is titled with words from a popular song.

Music from the 1970's, 80's and later runs creatively throughout the story. Maggie, Bea, and Jason are well-rounded characters, while humor and a twist or two color the mostly predictable plot.

Some of the characters here appear in Rosen's earlier novel, On Fire Island, and for this reader were less well defined and harder to keep straight. It's a coming-into-your-own beach book and could be fun for a book group wanting something lighter.

Songs of summer was a very enjoyable read. I would call it a light read with a lot of heart and some interesting themes. The setting, characters, and events seemed believable in a Disney kind of way. I enjoyed that the desire to belong to a family, even a messy semi-dysfunctional family was at the center of the story.

I think anyone who enjoys a sweet book with clever dialogue and a taste for good music would find this novel very entertaining. It was interesting that the book referenced Mama Mia as that is what it reminded me of.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read good rom-com books with satisfying endings.

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 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.

Yes, Maggie May Wheeler is named after Rod Stewart's hit song. No wonder: her hippy parents were proprietors of a record store in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Maggie, practically 30 years old, has had a classic upbringing. Her now deceased parents were eccentric yet loving and supportive. However, at thirteen Maggie was told she was adopted.

And Jason, her lifelong best friend turned possible fiancé, is pressing her to make their unofficial engagement official. Instead, Maggie decides she wants to find out where she came from before she can commit to where she may be headed. A little sleuthing leads Maggie to Fire Island where (hopefully) her biological mother will be attending the wedding of a friend.

Songs of Summer is at times funny and romantic and full of "oldies but goodies' musical references. Friend and family relationships are quirky and mostly believable. The issue of the consequences of adoption on not only the child but the biological parents is explored with some candor.

At its best this novel is a good summer read for those wanting to escape into a world that is fairly predictable yet wacky enough to keep turning the page for what's next.