What do readers think of Summer's Never Over by Darby Bozeman? Write your own review.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed that this had a dual timeline. That kept me engaged. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book as well. The premise behind the book was really good too. The plot twist had me shocked though. Good suspense book.

This is a very light read that I finished in one sitting. The writing is well paced enough to keep you interested, but the characters came across as little flat to me. There's no one I had any strong feelings about. Even though the central characters were early to late 20's, they behaved more like teenagers. The ending was somewhat of a dramatic stretch, but it all ends happily. It was a fun read nonetheless.

Summer's Never Over by Darby Bozeman chronicles the double timeline of Greer both before and following a fatal summer fire at camp that claims the life of her friend, Steph. Greer has always felt intuitively that something is very off about this horrendous incident and its aftermath. Following her mom's death, Greer is led to return to the camp to confront several former campers and also her own sense of loss and deep grief. Another young woman, Margo, is hunting down the truth too, and they must band together to discover the secrets hidden at the camp. This novel is for all who enjoy unraveling intrigue as to who the "phantom" might be stalking the girls at nightfall and just why a young girl had to die.

There's nothing like a good summer camp mystery to create a distraction against the world these days. This is a good one. It has all of the elements; female counselors who get close and jealous, the good looking water instructor, the ghost stories, the camper that doesn't want to be there and all of the secrets that everyone keeps hidden. Greer Olsen grows up at Dreads Cove, an infamous summer camp in Georgia. She is still dealing with the aftermath of a fire at the camp that took the life of her friend five years after the fact. She has moved away but has to return after the death of her mother. And all the players left from that final year are all gathered for the memorial and the reopening of the camp. As she tries to figure out what actually happened that year, the twists and turns keep coming.

The main character, Greer, is the daughter of the current owner of a very popular summer camp who recently passed away. The camp it self was founded by her grandfather. She seemed very impulsive and easily susceptible to persuasion (though she may disagree) and it was often hard to predict what she was going to do next.

It was a bit confusing to me as to who was who for a while. I felt we were left without introductions to several of the characters.

The story is told via a present day visit to the camp, which is the backdrop for the whole story, and many flashbacks to another fateful visit 5 years earlier. While this works, for the most part, one of the major secrets that we are left wondering about through most of the book, it turned out she knew the whole time but as the reader we don't learn of until one of the last flashbacks.

As a whole, the book was entertaining, though it seemed a bit long, and there were some inconsistencies.

This book ended up being more of a mystery than I anticipated and I really liked it. I didn't figure out whodunit until I read it in the book so that was a nice surprise. This kept me interested in the book and mostly the timeline difference was obvious. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries.

The hook for this one is a summer camp with a murder mystery. While I did enjoy this book, it did drag for me at times, and it read a little young-ish. Being in Greer's head the entire book was a little repetitive, and I would have loved another perspective. I would also have loved a little more focus on the camp itself and Greer's mom as a more developed character. I was very confused as to why a summer camp would demand so much media attention and attract such a high-end clientele. The twists were many, and some were a bit surprising. However, the end didn't land for me as I had hoped. I do think this author did a good job and has promise, so I hope to read something else from her in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, BookBrowse, and Berkley for the advance e-book!

I have a thing for mysteries about summer camps. That out in the middle of nowhere feel, teens and early 20s on the cusp of adulthood taking a summer off from the real world. And Summer’s Never Over gets those things right. But, it also never rose above the average, the nothing special category. Part of that is that the four main characters felt two dimensional.

Two new camp counselors arrive and shake up the dynamics of the old hands. By the end of the season, one of them is dead, burned up in a fire that consumed the camp. Now, five years later, the camp is due to re-open. But just before, the camp owner and mother to one of the main characters dies. This forces her daughter, Greer, to finally return. The rest of the folks from that summer are also there.

The book is told in the oh too overused dual timeline, both told from Greer’s POV. Greer obviously hasn’t moved on from that fatal summer. “For years now, I’d been drowning. The guilt was a gaping, bottomless chasm, threatening to pull me in and never let me resurface.” That writing example also gives you an idea of the melodramatic nature of the book, which includes a “Phantom” roving the woods during that earlier summer and scaring everyone.

None of the four main female characters are likeable. Jealous, petty, unstable. There are girl crushes that felt more appropriate for preteens. The book moves along predictable lines but the ending threw up plenty of red herrings to keep it somewhat interesting.

My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.