Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending an e-arc for review!

This book captivated me from the start. The slow burn reveal told through both past and present made for an immersive read. Katie Bishop’s writing was mesmerising and I could visualise everything in such explicit detail.

The seamless transition between tranquil island landscapes to the hustle and bustle of city life mirrored Rachel’s ‘peaceful’ on the island (or so she thought) and the suffocating life she leads in London.

Reading the experiences of all of the girls on the island and the manipulation and abuse they were subject to was truly harrowing, but it was inspiring to see them thrive in adulthood and come together for good.

Rachel’s character seemed so stuck in the past and for the majority of the book she lacked development, however I can understand that that was very much a key point of the plot - she genuinely was unable to move on from her past. Because of this, I did find her incredibly frustrating at times and she was difficult to like but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book - not every protagonist has to be likeable and heroic in my opinion!

I’d definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a summer read with a darker side that doesn’t follow a typical summer romance trope!!

This is a dark story of manipulation, and abuse under the guise of love and affection.
Set against the blue skies, golden sands and carefree world of a Greek island the contrast between light and dark, good and evil is even more apparent.
I found this a difficult read in parts and found myself willing Rachel to make different decisions which actually led to a sense of frustration at times.
A well written debut novel.

This made for an interesting read, for me my go-to books are mysteries and thrillers so this was a slightly new genre for me..

We meet main character Rachel, she is now "happily" married to her partner Tom. She remembers one summer many years ago when she met the mystic Alistair who was 20 years her senior. We learn about their romance and the reader is immersed in Rachel's story.

The plot is told from that fateful summer and also from the present day. Rachel re-connects with the other girls who were on the long hot summer holiday with Rachel many years ago and we learn about the love affair between Alistair and Rachel. We see how Alistair enticed Rachel into his world and why she becomes quite obsessed with him.

I enjoyed this novel, beautifully written and the descriptions of surroundings and people were second to none.

To say this is Katie Bishop's first debut novel, I am blown away with how the story's dual story lines intertwines with each other and think she has produced a very beautiful novel.

Thanks to Netgalley, Katie Bishop and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Girls of Summer
by Katie Bishop

Back in early adulthood when all I wanted to do was travel; a back-pack, a voracious appetite for other cultures, an unquenchable thirst for new languages and a curiousity for anything different, I used to be so envious of the girls we would invariably hang around with who had been there for months before we arrived, and who apparently had no intentions of leaving any time soon. My heart would break at the end of every holiday, that I had to return to normality. So many times I almost left the airport before the flight boarded. Good thing I was always surrounded by friends who were less impulsive and had their heads screwed on.

It's only looking back now that I realise that the adventure I thought I was missing out on was probably as tawdry as a night club during the day.

I read this book with such a heady nostalgia. It is exquisitely evocative of island life. I can visualise the blue on blue of the sea, sky and painted accents, I can hear the lap of the sea on the crunchy beaches, smell the souvlaki and kleftiko wafting through the streets. Adult me remembers the seedier side, the things we barely noticed, we thought were just down to a certain type, we were too young to question, or care.

This story is brilliantly told, it captures the draw of the excitement and the veneer of glamour in it's "Then" chapters, and the stomach lurching regrets as mature reflection, aided my #metoo sensibility kicks in with the "Now" chapters.

If you like your summer reads to contain a bit more grit, a shade more dark, a cautionary tale perhaps, this might be the one to pack for the beach or poolside. Content warnings for grooming, rape, abortion and suicide.

Publication date: 25th May 2023
With thanks to #netgalley #randomhouseuk and #transworld for the ARC

3.5. I feel mean giving this book a middling score because there is much to admire in this debut novel. Deliberately written with the #metoo movement in mind, we are shown and reminded how easily vulnerable young people can be manipulated and abused. The desire to fit in is incredibly powerful, particularly when we are young and in the ‘Then’ sections, we see it happen.

My problem lies within the chosen narrator. Being young and naive at 17 is totally understandable, however Rachel seems to have frozen any development after that time. We are all prone to look back on our past with nostalgia and lie to ourselves about the damage done by others or ourselves within certain relationships but Rachel doesn’t consider what she is doing in the ‘Now’ with adult eyes. Despite being married to a patient, decent and loving man, she is incapable of seeing what is good in her life and lies to and hurts her husband.

Rachel’s friend Jules is so angelic that I couldn’t believe in her. Rachel herself is difficult to like and the pace is very slow. Perhaps a third person narrative would have worked better?

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"You can joke about finding yourself whilst all the time knowing you lost a part of yourself that you can never get back."

For 15 years, Rachel has thought back to her time as a 17-year-old on a sun-drenched Greek island as perfection – a time she yearns to have back. It's the time when she was in love with Alistair, a man almost two decades her senior; when she worked at the bar of the rich and infamous Henry Taylor, whose wild parties she danced at. It was a golden time filled with girlfriends and drinks and drugs. And yet, Alistair left Rachel behind, though she's never forgotten him, ever stopped loving him, even though she's now married.

When Rachel visits the island again, she finds one of her old friends there, who has Alistair's number. And Rachel decides to contact him. At first, he is reticent to meet, but then she finds it easy to slip into their old habits of keeping their relationship secret, of not talking about realities. But even as Rachel finds herself once again drunk on love, what really happened on the island begins to nip at her, and she starts understanding that not everything she has clung to, was real, and that the truth is much darker than she wanted to admit.

The author has, by her own admission, framed the book within the #MeToo discourse and it's very much about consent. Rachel is basically a child when she meets Alistair. Henry's parties, with their endless stream of young girls who come and go, are not what they seem. I saw someone labeling this a thriller but I don't agree. While there is a certain amount of suspense, the story isn't something that is 'edge of your seat'. It's an often uncomfortable read about the lies we might tell ourselves about the past, to make it more palatable.

I commend the author for exploring this very difficult subject.

It was the summer when Rachel Evans turned eighteen that she and Caroline went backpacking around Greece and arrived on the island. Rachel wasn't exactly innocent but she was, perhaps, naive, so when thirty-four-year-old Alistair Wright started to take an interest in her, she was flattered rather than wary. It was quite a while before he made any sort of physical approach to her and by that time she was obsessed by him. Alistair worked for Henry Taylor, looking after his interests on the island and in particular in the bar where all the girls either worked or partied.

Sometimes the girls were invited to parties at Henry Taylor's house on the island - they couldn't fail to be impressed by it. Rachel occasionally stayed over with Alistair but it's on condition that no one else knows about their relationship as it could mean that he lost his job and then where would they be? Drugs are freely available and some of the girls, Kiera in particular, take whatever is offered. There's almost an obligation to indulge: not to do so would offend Taylor or his rich men friends. In the middle of August, Rachel should be returning home with Caroline but on the day of departure, she decides that she's staying.

The story switches between 'then' and 'now' - sixteen years later - when Rachel (now a museum curator) returns to the island with her husband, Tom. She's told him quite a bit about the island and on their final night, he takes her to the bar where she worked and partied. Rachel's shocked to realise that the bar is now owned by Helena, one of the girls who was there sixteen years ago. It's a meeting which puts in train events which will change all their lives forever.

The events are told from Rachel's point of view. She's convinced that Alistair really loved her and that it was just a series of unfortunate events which meant that they were separated. She appreciates Tom but - deep down - it's still Alistair she loves and would protect at any cost.

Katie Bishop is clever. The names 'Epstein' and 'Maxwell' are never mentioned at any point but you can't help but be thinking of the similarities. It was frightening to see how easily Rachel and many other girls can be pulled into a sexual relationship with an older man and then to providing sexual services to other, older men. Worst of all was that she couldn't accept that she had been groomed and sex-trafficked either then or sixteen years later.

The location is evoked perfectly and Bishop's writing is excellent. There's nothing showy about it - you simply start reading and you're immediately pulled in. This is her debut and I can't wait to read what she does next. I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

The girls of summer is such a great story so multi layered. At times I really disliked the main character and the choices she was making. I felt like I was in Greece the writing is so descriptive. Such dark undertones throughout the story. One not to miss when this book comes out on the 25th of May

Seventeen year old Rachel is island hopping with her friend Caroline for the summer before their return to school and A levels. A Greek island, -warm seas, blue skies, and golden sand- working in a bar with a group of girls they met on the ferry, it all adds to the magic. Written between that summer and present day, it charts Rachel's blossoming relationship with Alistair, a good looking thirty something who manages his boss Henry Taylor's bars and business interests. Gradually Rachel becomes pulled into the parties Henry holds at his huge mansion in the hills. Convinced Alistair is in love with her, a fatal accident involving one of the girls destroys her dream of a life with him and sees her returning to the UK.
Rachel’s naivety was very believable. Unhappy at home, having little self confidence and feeling she lives in the shadow of her prettier more confident friend Caroline, I wasn’t surprised when Alistair charmed his way into her life. He was clever and manipulative, convincing her she was special, making promises, then disappearing from the island to organise business elsewhere. She had no idea where he had gone or what he was doing, and found these absences unsettling, but each time he returned it didn’t take much for him to persuade her all was well.
The girls who worked the bar were there for the sun and fun, but are all pulled into something deeper and more sinister. Businessman Henry Taylor, who runs the bar and other interests on both the island and mainland, is not someone to refuse, using Alistair to ‘round them up’ for his special parties. There seems to be a total disregard for them all and the abuse (which sometimes makes difficult reading) goes on unabated…until something tragic happens to one of them.

Fast forward to present day and we have a thirty something Rachel returning to the island with husband Tom for a holiday. It’s been his suggestion but unfortunately when she finds one of the girls still living there, she discovers where Alistair is currently living. It's then she admits that she's never really forgotten him, and it throws a light on all the things she feels are wrong about her marriage. Becoming involved with Alistair once more gradually becomes an addiction she cannot wean herself off and seeing her life spiral out of control, I wondered whether she would be able to halt the destruction. The help she needs arrives in a most unexpected way.

The Girls of Summer is a dark #MeToo read. It shows how easy the manipulation and exploitation of young women can be achieved. At first Henry’s parties are dressed up as fun. The opportunity for the girls to let their hair down, but when drugs become involved, they are well and truly trapped into agreeing to his every whim. The story is well written, maybe a little slow in places, but I have to admit to being hooked from page one.

My thanks to Penguin Random House, Katie Bishop and Netgalley for an ARC of The Girls of Summer in exchange for an honest review.

I have really struggled with this book and I have managed to read over 70% but can't read anymore.
I don't like the main character and want to shout at her. I have never known a more self involved character.
It definitely made me feel annoyed and books should make you feel.
I don't think I am the correct audience for this book.

This was not what I was expecting, but thoroughly well written, very sensitive and informative story about so many different lives and how they interacted together and overcome such things. Made me cry in places and laugh in others.

This was a very uncomfortable reat at times but thought provoking also. I found it difficult to stay focussed despite its content. This is a representation of what can happen to young people. There were many similarities with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal however, and, sometimes it felt that it was just his story being told by someone else and not a work of fiction. I did not, however, like Rachel at all. I feel like the authot could have been more sensitive with her character and what was going on.

The Girls Of Summer is one of those books where you don’t even want to put it down for a second, you’re that hooked on the story.
I liked that it was split into alternating between “then” and “now” as it just kept the suspense and mystery surrounding the plot. Even if certain parts of the story were a little predictable!

At the age of 17 Rachel and her friend decide to spend their summer backpacking around Greece, where they stumble upon a beautiful quaint Greek island. Rachel ends up staying past summer due to finding a job at a bar, moving in with the rest of the girls who work there and spending their nights together partying.

Rachel meets Alistair, a charming business man almost 20 years older than her, he knows all the right things to say to make her feel wanted and special. As he hosted parties for his boss he invited Rachel and all her friends too, lines soon blur at these parties and later Rachel finds out she wasn’t that special to him after all..

Sixteen years later, Rachel is married to Tom, where on holiday they revisit that small Greek island and a chance encounter with one of the other girls from that summer, Helena, Rachel’s life and marriage is turned upside down.

I did enjoy reading this book, it’s was very thought provoking, I’m annoyed I didn’t see the signs of what was really happening sooner, but I guess that just goes to show how easily these things can go unnoticed or be disguised as something entirely different.

At times Rachel’s behaviour and attitude was extremely frustrating, I found it hard for her to be a likeable character at times.

Overall it’s a very compelling, dark and at times quite sad novel.
I’d definitely recommend the publisher adding trigger warnings to the first few pages as there was a lot of dark and upsetting content.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed reading The Girls of Summer. As soon as I started reading I was instantly drawn into the story and characters. The book flicks between 'then' and 'now' and begins by a flashback of someone waiting on a beach ready to leave a Greek island with a guy but he doesn't turn up and she realises he has left without her.

We then meet Rachel who is 35 and on holiday with her husband Tim on the same island she went to as a 17 year old girl when she went island hopping with her friend Caroline. What starts as a typical girls holiday soon becomes something a lot more dark and seedy and when her past messily collides with her present she decides to get in touch with Alistair her holiday romance she had all those years ago.

The book discusses topics of friendship, relationships, manipulation and exploitation in a really good way. I would recommend this being read by anyone especially girls around this age as it gives really good insight of how at that young age you think you are in control but normally this was in the exploiters plan all along.

Great page turner. I will be looking out for others by this author

Girls of summer by Katie Bishop

Rachel visited the Greek Island when she was just seventeen and fell in love with both Alistair and the island itself.

Rachel since leaving the island always described it as her best summer ever, but now reflecting back on her past were her memories really as good as she remembered.

What would you do if you had the chance to meet the one person you loved all those years ago and thought about nearly everyday since even when your moved on?

I really enjoyed this book even with the tough subjects that it covers, some may find the topic hard to read, but I still enjoyed the book and found it very thought provoking.

The book switches between Then and Now and shows views and feeling of a then venerable seventeen year old who is finding love for the first time whilst still growing up herself.
There is then the raw emotions years later of what actually happened that summer and realising it was far from perfect.

I would like to thank Random House and Netgalley for letting me have the chance to read this before publication on 25th May 2023.

So this was an interesting read. Very An Easy Girl - if you're familiar with Netflix's criminally underseen coming of age movie. It's a exploration of complicated young adult relationships and coming of age in a messy way bookended by a realisation that when you're young, you make mistakes and sometimes they can be costly. I liked how easy this was to read: Bishop pulls no punches and delivers a firecracker of a made-for-3-part-tv-series novel with the flashforwards/flashbacks that play out in a way that grabs your attention at every turn.

As a debut work of fiction it's confident, assured and knows what it sets out to do - slower than you would expect with an atmospheric on location feel to it that requires you to get on your wavelength. There's nothing quite that you haven't seen before here; but there's a lot of promise in what the book sets out to do.

A very topical subject,in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the Jeffrey Epstein case,about a group of young girls who go to a Greek island before Sixth Form and end up working in a bar owned by a wealthy businessman and taking part in the ‘parties’ he organises for his friends.
It’s told from the point of view of Rachel,and jumps between the past and the present,as she realises that the events of that time are still affecting her today.She still has feelings for Alistair,the older man who exploited her as a teenager ,and refuses to acknowledge the fact that she and her friends were all victims of trafficking and abuse.
It’s not an easy read ,but it’s not helped by the protagonist being so unlikeable.I did have sympathy for her but she was so selfish and naive ,even as a 35 year old woman,that I found it difficult to like her.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

Our narratives become familiar to us. Stories we recount so often that we shape our existence for others. But how do you cope when your narrative shifts, when cultural or societal changes suggest that your narrative isn’t quite as you thought?
That is the situation Rachel finds herself in.
As a seventeen year old Rachel went backpacking with a school friend. She always felt under the shadow of her friend, Caroline. When they find themselves in a Greek island bar Rachel is amazed that the older man, Alistair, working at the bar makes such an effort to talk to her. He makes her feel special. When he offers her a job she jumps at the chance to stay on the island. She loves the place, and she likes the girls working at the bar.
There are rumours. Locals steer clear. She hears people talk about the girls who work at the bar. But Alistair loves her so she’s happy to stay. She looks forward to the rare moments she gets to visit him at his boss’s home. She doesn’t question his insistence on keeping their relationship quiet, or the occasions she’s invited to work at one of Henry’s parties and finds her memories vague.
Reading between the lines we have a very good idea of what is happening at the bar.
With Rachel now sixteen years older, she is married and seemingly happy. She and her husband return to the island and she meets a familiar face. Before we know it, she’s finding occasion to seek out Alistair. The attraction is still there. Why she doesn’t question him getting back in touch after so long seems odd. We sense there’s more to this story.
The reader recognises what’s happening in the recounted passages. The story is very much a slow burn as we wait for older Rachel to recognise what these memories actually signified and to reshape her narrative to acknowledge the pull certain older, richer, men had on her life and the way it’s developed. It comes as little surprise that the book ends with the attempt to right the narrative and put some of these characters on a slightly different path.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this.

This book was not for me, unfortunately. I found the subject matter utterly dislikable , and the central character hard to relate to. She is a 34 year old who has it all, evidently, but it’s not enough for her.
It’s all a bit cliched and predictable. The parallels with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal are all too obvious.
This was a DNF for me.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

A hard read at times and quite topical at the moment with the Jeffrey Epstein situation. A really good read that I enjoyed. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this title in exchange for a review.