Rachel spent a summer on an island in Greece where she had the time of her life and met the man she has been in love with since she was 17. However, she hasn’t seen him for 16 years, and she is married to somebody else. When her husband takes her back to the island for a holiday, she learns do his whereabouts back home in London and gets his number to contact him. However, how she remembers that summer is very different to how others remember it, and her rose coloured glasses are about to be removed.

This book sat on my NetGalley shelf for a really long time. It sounded intriguing but it just never jumped into my mind as the next book I wanted to read. However, when I saw something suggesting it would be the ‘dark read of the summer’ I picked it up! It is sort of a mix of My Dark Vanessa and the Nowhere Girls; both of which I loved, but it didn’t quite capture me the way they both did. The story is told across duel timelines which definitely left me needing to know more chapter to chapter. However, I do often struggle with an unreliable narrator and Rachel definitely is. I actually didn’t really love any of the characters, which is maybe the point but it was a miss for me.
This is definitely a dark book, a little predictable but written in a way that you have to finish it to learn the truth.
Lots of triggers though - alcohol misuse, sexual abuse, rape, drug use, sex trafficking, pregnancy, abortion, suicide. Basically you name it, it possibly has it.
I’m glad I read it, but I’m not sure how much I would recommend it to others.

It's taken me a week or two to be able to review this. On one hand, it's a thought compelling tale about rose tinted memories suddenly becoming clearer, what consent really means, sex been almost weaponised and the power of young love that can blind even the most sensible.
On the other hand, it's a book about the world's most irritating woman. OH MY GOD!! Rachel is the worst. As the main protagonist, I felt we should be able to feel sorry for her, but mainly, I felt bad for her poor husband.

It's a really well written story, well plotted and hard to put down. But I just can't get past how much I wanted to slap Rachel. Two weeks on, and my teeth still itch thinking about her. But if you can let go of these things, it's a great read.

The Girls of Summer was a very honest and somewhat unsettling read. I enjoyed the dual time periods from the same character’s perspective although the adult adult Rachel could be very frustrating at times. I understand this was the whole point as she processed everything that had happened to her as a teenager and it was very well executed. I felt completely drawn into the island location and its contrast from London adult life. The book addresses a number of serious topics very well. Highly recommend, especially if you enjoyed My Dark Vanessa.

Great little read, with unpredictable twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end. The perfect blend of suspense, drama, and unexpected surprises. What more could you want?

The cover leads you to think light summer beach read but this it most certainly isn’t . Instead we have an amazing thought provoking debut that will have you gripped . It’s a while since I’ve read something I’m constantly thinking about when I’m not reading .
The story is told with a dual timeline , then and now . In the past the reader gets transported back to Greece , the vivid descriptions of the places , being young and free yet also very innocent and naive . An all consuming romance which now all seems a lie . Fast forward to now where we follow Rachel in her mid 30s and is trying to come to terms with how what happened years ago has defined her life .
This debut needs to be read , if you want a summer read that gives you more then boy meets girl then read this now ! Already looking forward to reading whatever Katie writes next

☀️THE GIRLS OF SUMMER☀️

(Ad - pr product) Blog tour

Rachel is 33, happily married, trying for a baby and on holiday with her loving husband… or is she?
Rachel and husband, Tom seem the perfect couple, good jobs, a beautiful home and wanting to start a family. They go on holiday to an idyllic Greek island, one that Rachel visited when she was backpacking at 17 years old with her best friend.
Tom thinks the nostalgia is doing Rachel the world of good, but Rachel is there for another reason. She’s hoping to spot the man she had an intense summer relationship with, and instead of feeling nostalgic she feels hot, clammy and uncomfortable.
They visit the bar that Rachel worked in, one that she abandoned her school life for, and a chance, unexpected meeting with an old friend sends her spiralling back, to that time, with him.
Helena reluctantly gives Rachel Alistair’s number and when back in London she texts him immediately. When meeting with him, he is the same smooth-talking, perfect man she remembers, just a little older and soon becomes obsessed with him all over again.
But is Alistair the gentleman he makes out he is, was their relationship back then as perfect as she remembers? Is Alistair stringing her along or is it the true, perfect love she’s always imagined?
This is the raw story of a young girl and a summer fling that means the world to her but is that what actually happened? We revisit Rachel’s past, seeing everything through her young eyes and flick back to the present to see how her marriage is full of lies, hers, and gradually learn that her idyllic past is maybe not as perfect as she had thought and full of lies, his.
A complex story that addresses memory, idolisation, consent, vulnerability and power.
Don’t expect a happy, summery read, this has depth, darkness and truth.
Honestly, a fantastic read that I struggled to put down, it takes the classic ‘one that got away’ trope and spins it terrifyingly into a story of control and trauma. Heavily inspired by the ‘me too’ movement, it doesn’t hold back.
Thank you so much to bantam for my copy and random for my spot on the blog tour.
A book that will stay with me for a long time.

The Girls of Summer is out now and I highly recommend it!

When she was 17, Rachel and her friend Caroline spend the summer on a Greek island. There she met an older man, Alistair, who introduced her to an exciting world of parties, free booze and fun which he organised to entertain the friends of his rich boss, Henry.
Now married to Tim and living a much more settled life, she looks back on that summer with longing for her first love, Alistair, wondering what it would be like if she saw him again.
A dual timeline between 1980s and now, the story of the summer unfolds. How much has Rachel rubbed out of her memory? A chance meet up with one of girls makes her recall how the summer ended.
Shades of #Metoo and Jeffery Epstein here.

I couldn't connect with this book, just really was not in a mindset for such a heavy read. Maybe another time.

I picked this novel to be my literary companion for a week-long holiday in Halkidiki. I really immersed myself in the book, as the descriptions of a sun-drenched island matched my vacation surrounding so perfectly. Little did I know that this would NOT be a light read.
17-year old Rachel and her friend Caroline are Greek island-hopping when they come across a bar manned by young, teenage girls like them, eager for a summer job and a bit of fun. And then, there is Alistair, a proper "man" fifteen years older than Rachel, who will draw her into his clutches to the point of obsession. An obsession that will last for years to come after Rachel has returned home from that blurry, hedonistic summer and even after she has married another man.
As Rachel re-connects fifteen years later with the girls she had met that summer, now grown thirty-something women like her, nothing is like what it seemed back then. She is forced to dwell into some sordid home truths and some harsh realisations about male power and psychological abuse.
Although it was not the light read I was initially expecting, I found the flashbacks to be expertly written, as the story evolves from patchy memories through rosy lenses to blunt realities...

The story we are presented with follows Rachel's experiences in Greece during her teenage years. The narrative oscillates between two timelines: the past and the present. Rachel is excited to travel, explore, mature and have fun away from her parents. However, although she remembers that summer with fondness, her memories are not as they seem. Rachel's love and obsession for Alistair - the man she fell in love with that summer - has clouded her perception of events. Alistair is not a nice guy. He's older, manipulative and dangerous.

Rachel has loved Alistair since she was 17. First love on a sun-soaked Greek island is hard to forget, even if she hasn’t seen him for years. Even though he was almost twenty years older than her…

Despite being in her thirties and married, Rachel has never shaken her love of Alistair. However, after a return to the island brings up suppressed memories, Rachel starts to question her version of their lost love.

The Girls Of Summer by @katiebishopwrites is a powerful take on consent and power within relationships, and the lies we tell ourselves.

This novel draws you in from the prologue. Rachel is waiting for Alistair so they can leave the island but he doesnt show, and we are left wondering why.

In the present Rachel is dissatisfied with her life. A doting husband and a holiday arewith her past awakens a need to contact Alistair, with whom she associates the best time of her life.

The narrative flits between then and now, Rachel’s teen experience and the mundanity of her everyday life. She seems so aware of what other think of her; there is a scene where she is in a bar with a friend and assumes that women in their twenties are laughing at them, thinking they should be at home with children. Rachel projects her unhappiness with her life onto others and views her experience on the island with rose-tinted glasses.

Rachel is a conflicting character; I found her uncaring and selfish,
putting her feelings and needs above others. However, she is a product of her past, and I did feel pity for her throughout and wished her resolution.

Bishop is a beautiful writer. I found so many lines that reflected the message of the novel:

“Somehow I had put my memories of Alistair into their own glass boxes, flatteringly lit and painstakingly preserved”

“We may not believe in goddesses anymore, but we make ourselves part fairy tale all the same. Sometimes we need to remember what is real.”

As we discover what happened on the island all those years ago, I read on with a fury. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book and felt slightly bereft when it ended.

This debut novel by Katie Bishop is written with such beautifully descriptive detail you can almost imagine you are there in Greece amongst it all!

We follow the story of Rachel, written in a dual timeline of the past & present day, who has one heck of a summer in Greece as a teenager, excited to do some travelling, exploring, maturing & having fun away from her parents.
However, although she mostly remembers that summer with such fondness, it isn’t quite as it seems. Rachel almost has a tunnel vision with her memories, clouded by her love and obsession for the man she fell in love during those summer months, but Alistair is not a nice guy. He’s older, he’s manipulating and he is dangerous.

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝓫𝓵𝓾𝓮 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓼𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓬𝓮𝓪𝓷, 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓼𝓸 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓾𝓵, 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓼 𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓲𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓵𝓪𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓽 𝓾𝓼. 𝓐𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓲𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓾𝓷𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓾𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓽’𝓼 𝓹𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓻.

This book was at times dark and ugly. There are TW of sexual abuse, grooming, control, suicide and it definitely has a theme similar to #metoo and Jeffery Epstein.

I must admit I wasn’t overly keen on the main character Rachel, she came across as naive throughout (but maybe that was the point?) and I just couldn’t engage with her. It also felt a tad slow at times but the atmospheric writing was what I enjoyed the most.

Thank you @netgalley for sending it to me.

The Girls Of Summer - Katie Bishop.

Hmnnn, I’ve stewed on this one for a week or so now. I’m quite honestly not sure what I made of it.

The cover and the title of this book, led me to believe that the book would be a bit of a light mystery.
This certainly wasn’t what the book was really about.

As a naive 17 year old, Rachel believes she has found the love of her life, in a man 20 years her senior, whilst on holiday in Greece.
Until it all goes spectacularly wrong.
Fast forward another 17 years. Rachel returns to the island with her husband. When she stumbles across some faces from her previous visit, a chain of events kick off that will remove the rose tinted spectacles with which Rachel views the past and replace them with some very harsh reality.

I enjoyed this story. It was written well and very atmospheric.
Things did take a dark turn, that made me feel a little uneasy.

A real page turner, that will definitely stay with me for some time to come.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

With thanks to Netgalley and Random House Uk for a digital arc of this title.

AD/PR PRODUCT 📚 BOOK REVIEW

Despite being a married thirty something living in London Rachel has never been able to forget that one summer in Greece years ago. As a wide eyed and naive seventeen year old she was only meant to be on holiday for a couple of weeks but ended up staying for much longer. As well as falling in love with the Greek way of life she also falls for Alastair who is 20 years older and she is not allowed to tell anyone.

While on holiday I couldn't resist starting yet another read set in Greece. What is about all these dark Greek reads? I don't know but I'm here for it! Rachel's story is told in both past and present. I found the past the most compelling and Bishop did an excellent job of evoking the emotions and actions of teens getting their first taste of freedom away from their parents. From ditching their best friend to falling for the first man who gives them any attention are normal rites of passage. However beyond the cheap shots and late nights partying there is a dark side and as the reader a sense of foreboding is felt long before anything is revealed. Even as a grown woman looking back Rachel was unable to take her rose coloured glasses off which was equal parts infuriating and understandable. Don't pick up The Girls of Summer expecting a light summery read it is dark and thought provoking which takes the shine off teen summer love.

This was super sinister with some difficult parts and one or two lines that I had to properly sit and digest, but it was enthralling and heartbreaking. You can't help but feel for Rachel, even when she's doing or saying things you don't agree with, and the dual timeline works so well in this. Some well written characters and great sense of place make for a great read, and I'm sure one that will resonate in some way with a lot of women.

🥂The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop🥂

Rachel was just seventeen when she met Alistair. He was in his thirties. She was spending the summer on holiday with her best friend, and he was working for a powerful billionaire on an idyllic Greek island. Of course, when Rachel falls head over heels for this fella who radiates red flag warnings, we know this isn’t going to end well.

Sixteen years later and Rachel is married to another man, though their relationship is staid. Rachel still thinks of her first love and all the what-ifs. After all, that one summer changed the course of her life forever, but an unexpected encounter with one of the girls she lived on the Greek island with forces her to re-examine her one-sided recollection of her time on the island and the relationship she had with Alistair. But when he enters her life again, Rachel finds herself pulled back into Alistair’s orbit, bringing the past – with all its blurry, uncomfortable realities – crashing into her present.

Alternating between ‘then’ and ‘now’, we explore how Rachel and Alistair met, how he easily drew her into a world of powerful men and exploitation. Rachel was besotted and didn’t see Alistair’s attention as anything other than pure love. As a woman reading this book, the warning signs that he is dangerous and predatory are glaring. I wanted to scream at Rachel to run fast! The only friend who tried to intervene was quickly shunned by Rachel after Alistair branded her as jealous.

This is Rachel’s story but is also the story of women the world over. Women who experienced the male-dominated behaviour explored in this book which was so often excused, explained away or simply accepted as part of life.

The Girls of Summer is Katie Bishop’s debut novel, and you probably have expectations of a typical sun-drenched summer read. And, sure, this book partly takes place on a beautiful, sun-trapped Greek island, where the days are lazy, the nights long, the drinks flow endlessly, and the rest of the world feels a million miles out, but there’s a darker side to this story which casts a sharp spotlight on the complicated nature of power, consent and how we deal with our memories. 3.5⭐️

“We may not believe in goddesses any more,but we make our lives part fairy tale all the same. Sometimes we need to remember what is real.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This book was marketed for fans of My Dark Vanessa, which, as you can see by my pfp, is one of my all time favourite books, and I can definitely see the similarities.

I would recommend this for anyone looking for a hard hitting beach read, I was hooked from chapter one. The setting on the remote Greek island was beautiful and so well described, I could almost feel the sun on my skin.

Written in two timelines, one showing what happened to Rachel when she was a teenager not aware that she was being groomed by an older man, and the present showing Rachel coming to realise that she was a victim, was tough to read, but it will stay with me for a very long time.

I was surprised to see that this was written by a debut author, Kate Bishop has the voice of somebody who has been putting out books for years and years. Super excited to see what she comes out with next!

Read if you like:
💙 Hard hitting topics
💙 Well described locations
💙 Dual timeline
💙 Tough beach reads

(Thank you so much to netgalley and transworld and @penguinukbooks for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review 🫶🏻)

💙

What a stunning debut.

I made the mistake of trying to read this bits at the time and so it took me a while to get into the start of this book but once I really sunk into it I couldn't stop reading. It broke my heart, even when Rachel was making decisions I didn't agree with I just wanted to be there for her. Fundamentally there were just certain passages - in some cases a line - that just took my breath away and I had to sit with what I had read. I am sure that I will want to re-read this book again and I am highly anticipating what the author comes up with next!

This story is told in two time lines with a very sinister story lurking at the back of it.
It follows Rachael when she was 17 & backpacking with her friend Caroline.
They end up on a remote Greek island that feels like paradise towards the end of their journey.
Their she meets a man who is 20 years older than her & her life will never be the same again.
In later years we find Rachael who is now in her 30’s & married to Tom.
Those idyllic summer years seems to be always in her thoughts lately & she can’t shake them off.
She encourages her husband Tom to take a holiday with her on the Greek island that is never far from her thoughts.
While there she comes across Helena a girl from her past.
This starts to awaken memories in her that she has twisted & buried deep.
Her life takes on a whole new twist as it spirals out of control.
Brilliantly written this great story line had me hooked.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I wasn't so sure what to expect when I stated to read this book, as the title and the cover don't exactly match the content and message of this book. But I found a book that is very fitting in our time on MeToo. It is told from the perspective of Rachel and split between two timelines: Then & Now. Rachel Then, starts as a 17 year old school girl on a backpacking trip through Greece when she becomes enraptured by an older man, Alistair and life on this hidden away island. Fueled by the parties and drinking, this is a dream of a summer. The Rachel Now, is lifeless and unhappy in her ordinary life with her normal reliable husband. She is not a good person. And this is what elivates this novel while being maddening at times. Rachel's gold view on the past makes her a flawed narrator. As an adult woman in these times, I see the clues and the icky and questionable actions that Rachel sees and then brushes off.
I was captured by the island atmosphere and the intrigue of the story and what actually happened in the past so while I feel it is a 3.75, I round up to a 4.

Thank you to NetGalley for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.