This was an absolute delight! I was a huge fan of The tent, the bucket and me, so was looking forward to this. The Never Ending Summer is set in the early 1970s - Glastonbury’s on its second year and Germaine Green’s The female eunuch has just been published. For long time school friends Agnes and Bea the exams are over and they are looking forward to a summer of freedom, which will hopefully include losing their virginity. There’s a lovely naïveté about them. Small town girls venturing into a world where there’s the promise of sex, freedom and lush new experiences like avocados! Not only do we follow the girls’ adventures but Agnes’s mum realises that she’s fed up of her dull life and embarks on an adventure of her own.
There are laughs, tears, but it’s ultimately about friendship, family and finding your place in the world!

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

DNF. Started it realised it was set in the past and decided I have no desire to continue as I only like my books ultra contemporary and not historical. Didn't realise from the blurb or wouldn't have requested. Sorry.

Not what I was expecting... Not knowing already it was set in the 60s or 70s made for a rather awkward start, where I kept wondering why these girls were acting so uptight while at secretarial school. The characters themselves, throughout, proved not very likeable, and thus really hard to follow let alone root for. The many POVs in the tale also made things more complicated.
Overall, not what I was 'sold' in the blurb and cover, so it was a disappointment

The book was very well written and flowed well. The plot was great. Everything I thought it would be from the description

A fun story set in England in the 70's.

Agnes and Bea are best friends and decide to have one last hoo haa in London before their adult lives begin in earnest.

I expected more from this and really hoped to read of the fun and frolics that two young women would get up to - unfortunately, I found this a rather dull read and I found myself really frustrated at most of the characters.

An era that I remember so well. The 70’s was the time of growth for the modern woman. Some men didn’t like the new found independent woman but change was in the air

Absolutely brilliant, this is such a wonder Summer read, the characters well written and good development, the storyline and characters just meant I connected so much with this story about growing up and family whilst dealing with feminism and fighting the patriarchy . This is funny, interesting, emotional and thought-provoking, it’s so relatable despite it being a time I didn’t grow up in personally (my teen years were late 80s to 90s)

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me access to these books, thank you to the publisher and the author for giving me access to this eARC.

Apologies for the late review life has been crazy.

This is a beautiful novel, the writing style is easy to read and draws you into the novel I was lost for hours and then suddenly it ended and I was sad it was the end. This was amazing and I enjoyed the writing style it was beautiful and unique I will defiantly read more from this author in future.

I was just very disappointed in this read. The characters had very little to like about them and their friendship was not one I enjoyed and the minor characters, including the parents were even worse. None of it felt real and it was not the happy summer novel it is being sold as.

A cute, easy read, an uplifting and well written book.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

A glorious read. Heartwarming, entertaining and beautifully written with truly lovable characters. My first book by this author, hopefully not my last.

I adored this book and its marvellous characters who are so recognisable and relatable. I can’t pick a favourite character; Agnes, Bea, Florence are each wonderful in their own way.
You will feel a kaleidoscope of emotions while reading this book, it is so moving and true and so easy to relate to the characters, their experiences and their highs and lows. Highly highly recommend!

With many thanks to Random House U.K, Cornerstone, Arrow for the opportunity to read this ARC, in return for an honest and unbiased review.

What a delightful read. I thought that I was going to struggle with it but was so glad that I persevered. Set in the 70’s, and how things have changed, thankfully, since then. So many parallel stories, all interconnected but so individual. A definite recommend from me

I struggled with this book to begin with, it didn’t seem to catch my imagination at all, but the further I got into it the more I felt myself engaging with the characters, especially Florence who I felt was like a Phoenix rising from the flames ! Florence’s story made me quite emotional! Agnes and Bea have grown up together in a little village where nothing really happens and they’re both expected to go to secretarial college which they hate the thought of. So they hatch an elaborate plan for them both to pretend to go to France with some girls from school when in reality they’re going to London to lose their virginity and experience life. This is when it started to get interesting to me. With the girls away Florence starts to realise how dull and monotonous her life is with her exceedingly boring husband who never notices her and expects her to wait on him hand and foot ! She has an epiphany when her friend leaves her husband and starts having the time of her life. She has her hair cut, buys some fashionable clothes which her husband never even notices. Armed with a new resolve after he refuses to go to Italy for her birthday she leaves her husband and drives herself to France and begins an exciting adventure. Agnes and Bea mess up completely with their new lives and they fall out after an incident at a festival. There’s a lot of soul searching with Agnes and Bea and they both realise they’ve made a big mistake going to London. The book ends with a fitting end with all parties happy or well on the way and all loose ends tied up. I thought this book was going to be a bit more comedic judging by the cover and it was the cover that drew me in to request it. I must admit I didn’t read the blurb too closely and I really thought it was about 2 girls driving round during the summer in a camper van having adventures, when in reality the camper van hardly featured at all ! Still all in all a good book but it wasn’t, what I was expecting.

I struggled with this one. Something didn’t quite click and I found myself fairly uninterested so never actually finished it unfortunately

This book tells the story of Agnes and Bea, two bored young ladies plodding through secretarial college to a planned future neither of them want. This is all thrown into disarray when Bea reads The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer. Suddenly the girls want to get away, experience life in full and lose their virginity. Agnes and Bea break ranks and head off for a summer in London, where they meet people and experience things the like of which neither could have imagined before. Set in the early 70s, we are ably transported to that time with fascinating descriptions of people and places. Early Glastonbury Fayre, protests about bunny girls, hedonistic parties, sexual inequality....
Great read ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had high hopes for this book. From the description it sounded like something I would enjoy reading but sadly this wasn’t the case.
I persevered but by the time I was almost half way through I still wasn’t enjoying it and it hadn’t got any better so I decided that life’s too short to and I’ve a long list of books waiting to be read so I gave up.
I always feel bad when I don’t complete a book as I feel I owe it to the author and to NetGalley to compete it and review it but the characters lacked any depth, the story line was boring and it just didn’t interest me.

It's the early 1970's. Bea and Agnes have finished secretarial college but neither wants to be a secretary. Florence, Agnes's mother, is married to William, who barely notices her. Marjory, Florence's friend, leaves her husband and Florence realises she could do the same.

All three women set about changing their lives, with unexpected results. The two girls go off to London whilst pretending to be in Europe and end up working for the seedy Mr Adler whilst sharing digs with two other girls, one (Kiki) who is nice and the other (Camilla) who isn't.

Florence wants to go to Italy but William refuses, so she decides to go anyway. He finds himself unable to cope and ends up at his married daughter's home. Florence, meanwhile, has a great time and realises what she wants most of all is to be respected for herself.

The novel is basically about women taking control of their own lives and not being objectified or disappearing into the background. It is also about friendships and how people change.

It took a while to settle into the book and the characters seemed fairly mundane. Florence interested me the most because I could sense her latent resentment and was pleased when she finally recognised it and acted. As the story progressed, the characters began to fill out and it was easier to empathise with them, especially with Agnes. I particularly liked how the book ended as it affirmed the journey all three women had been on.

A good read in the end, despite the slow start.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Random House UK, Cornerstone, in return for an honest appraisal.

I haven't read any book over 500 pages in so long but this was a great one to dive into, very entertaining! You can swipe for the brief blurb but essentially I loved that the story is set in the 70s against the backdrop of The Female Eunuch and women's liberation as it's a perspective I've never really read from in a work or fiction before.

I really felt for the characters- Agnes and Bea, 20 year olds on an adventure to be more adult, break away and lose their virginity. I should be more drawn to them as I'm closer in age, but the story I found most compelling was that of Agnes' mother, Florence, who realises a life of domesticity and being a housewife is not what she wants forever and goes on a journey to become the woman she wants to be. I love that each chapter is from a differing perspective and feeds into each other.

This is not your average summer read! I thought it was going to be light and fun but it really explores some big themes. If you're looking for something a bit meatier then this is for you!