After reading/listening to a couple of darker thrillers, I wanted a nice easy read, so sitting by the pool, I read Guests of August by Gloria Goldreich. Although it had more angst than I was expecting, it was a nice easy read about five families and their lives. The Edwards, the Ames, the Epsteins, the Currans and the Templetons have been vacationing at the Mount Haven Inn in New Hampshire for years. They are on the third generation spending August together. It seems like an idyllic place and way to spend the last part of the summer, but when they get together, some confidences and secrets come out. Children don't always get along the way they did in the past and sometimes are even bored.

I will start with my one issue or niggle, there were a lot of characters. It took me awhile to get them all straight and figure out their relationship. Once I did that, it was smooth sailing. This was not an action packed story. It was a nicely paced story of how people change over time, and sometimes you need to call it quits, but at other times, you need to give it a shot, talk it out, compromise and be honest with one another. The characters are varied. There is the owner of Mount Haven and her husband, who grew up in the village and have issues with their marriage. Rich and well to do families and others who are struggling. The staff at the Inn also play a huge role. The characters are all likable and easy to visualize, even the ones that had some issues. Everyone of them has some redeeming qualities to make you like them. Overall this is a story of relationships, marriage, and family. If you are looking for a family drama that is a relatively easy read, then pick this book up and immerse yourself in the lives of the Guest of August.

This is a story of five American families who meet up every August . It is a decades old tradition with lots of history and interconnecting relationships. There are secrets from the past, things left unsaid, baggage from their everyday lives all of which get bought to this summer meeting.
This wasn't a book which I felt that I was able to connect with. The characters are quite flat and I really didn't empathise or get under their skin. The depth of detail and intricacies of their relationships just didn't work for me. I found myself unable to finish the book.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Five families ritually come together each August and share their summer vacation at an inn in New Hampshire. Some have come for generations having grown up together summering in the familiar surroundings. This is the story of those families, their joys, struggles, heartbreak and how over the course of a summer they all experience a measure of personal change, acceptance and self awareness. This is a very homey novel and the author captures the complexity and nuances of human nature, of coupledom, parenthood, grief and loss as experienced by the characters in the book. The spirit of summer in New Hampshire is captured in the carefree activities and relationships of the children and teens, in contrast with the varying issues that the married couples are struggling with. For the most part, all the problems are tied up with a neat bow at the end just as summer comes to a close, to be revisited next year. This is a lovely novel for light reading over a summer vacation. It won't be boring, nor will it leave you haunted, sad or even silly. It's like the lake setting sometimes cool, hot, cloudy or rainy, but eventually the sun shines.

I was really excited about this read but as I started I just couldn't get into. I felt like it was long-winded and I just didn't connect with the storyline and characters.

"That was what marriage was sometimes like, she thought. Slights and moods, words unspoken, angers contained, toxic combinations that inevitably simmer and overflow. But it is also inevitable, she assures herself, that heat cools, that even caustic stains fade and are wiped away, leaving only the palest of scars."

It took me a while to read this story and there were so many characters that it was sometimes hard to keep track of them all and their children. But I still enjoyed the time I spent with it and the best part, of course, was exposing all the human-ness we all have. How marriage is hard, how forgiving and being open and vulnerable is hard.

I especially loved the parts where the doctor and his wife kept forgiving each other and wanting to strengthen their marriages at different times when they weren't together and then something would happen and change everything again. I think that's such an accurate portrayal of how life and marriage is and how the chances of both people feeling and being in the same place at the same time is such a rare occurrence. It's so much more often that we feel surges of emotion/love/forgiveness at mismatched times.

It was a lovely novel to end 2019 with.

Thank you to netgalley and Severn House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Guests of August left a lot to be desired in my opinion. The plot is boring and seemed to drag. I couldn’t connect with the numerous characters. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

I enjoyed this story about a group of disparate families who end up spending the month of August together. The novel is well=written and gives realistic portraits of dysfunctional and functional families and marriages alike.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The novel focuses on a group of families and employees of an inn. When the families meet every Augusy for their summer vacations, they bring the heartbreaks of their pasts and their hopes for the future. Relatable and realistic ending.

This would make a great discussion novel for a class or book club.

This is a very charming novel about a mismatched group of people who share a yearly vacation in a small New Hampshire Inn. I generally don’t like books with a huge amount of characters, but that being said, the author manages to highlight the major characters and keep the others in the background.

There is a focus on marriage, its fragility and the unbreakable bonds that are part of it. Goldreich is able to hone in on several relationships and help us to understand how each is different, yet each has psychic glue that is not easily dissolved.

The characters are very likable and easy to visualize. Yes, there are some stereotypes, but the author gives them such positive traits that they do maintain a likability factor.

I did enjoy this novel and it will be a great summer read. It’s never boring and certainly engages the readers in the lives of THE GUESTS OF AUGUST. BTW, I even loved the title, a little salute to Barbara Tuchman.

Thank you Netgalley, for a really lovey read.

Dysfunctional family! I did enjoy though,and will recommend it to patrons who enjoy this type of novel.

Found it boring at some points, but still finished it.