These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

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These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

Contemporary fiction

These Summer Storms

by Sarah MacLean

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Quick take

Think your family has drama? The Storms may have you beat with their twisted inheritance games and summertime antics.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Romance

    Romance

  • Illustrated icon, Multiple_Viewpoints

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Salacious

    Salacious

Synopsis

Alice Storm hasn’t been welcome at her family’s magnificent private island off the Rhode Island coast in five years—not since she was cast out and built her life beyond the Storm name, influence, and untold billions. But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything.

Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance.

But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister’s constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother’s cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed.

Read a sample

Get an early look from the first pages of These Summer Storms.

These Summer Storms

CHAPTER 1

There was something about trains.

If she marked the minutes of her life, Alice Storm would not be surprised to discover that she’d spent nearly a third of them in transit:

  • The shiny crimson bicycle that had been her seventh-­birthday present and most prized possession, until her brother had sent it flying into Narragansett Bay, never to be recovered.
  • The white rowboat her father had captained into that same salty sea every Saturday in July for her entire childhood, because he insisted on facing nature as God intended.
  • The endless line of nondescript black town cars with silent drivers that ferried her from private school to private art classes to the Storm family’s Park Avenue penthouse, New York City muffled and dim beyond the window.
  • The skateboard she’d ridden into a tree one Sunday morning during her first year at Amherst—­determined to prove herself a completely ordinary eighteen-­year-­old—resulting in an arm broken in three places.
  • The helicopter that airlifted her to Boston to be pinned back together and returned her to school in time for a nine A.M. Art History midterm, before her classmates could discover there was nothing ordinary about her.
  • The private jets that took her around the globe whenever her father issued an international summons on a whim.
  • The commercial jet that had taken her to Prague eighteen months earlier, diamond ring tucked into her boyfriend’s carry-on bag.
  • The subway car she’d been on that afternoon when her phone had rung and stolen her breath—Incoming call . . . Elisabeth Storm (never Mom)—all beige walls and harsh lights and advertisements for clear skin and uncluttered apartments and that one William Carlos Williams poem about plums and iceboxes and forgiveness and the parts of us that will never change.
  • And still, there was something about trains.

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    Why I love it

    Here is my recipe for the perfect beach read. First, start with a seaside setting. Then, add in a hefty dose of family drama and a dash of romance. Top it off with a sharp, loveable main character and find a relaxing spot to luxuriate in the narrative. Alternatively, put These Summer Storms in your BOTM box, wait (impatiently), and fast-track your way to reading in the sunshine!

    For many, being stuck on a private island sounds pretty dreamy. For Alice Storm, it’s a nightmare. She likes the life that she’s created for herself, disconnected from her wealthy family’s fame and fortune. So, when Alice’s father passes away and she has to return to Storm Island for the funeral, she’s less than thrilled. Drama ensues immediately upon Alice’s arrival as an inheritance game begins, family gossip is stirred up, and an unforeseen romance starts to blossom.

    These Summer Storms strikes that feel-good, summer-read sweet spot. With flawed and relatable characters, captivating sibling rivalries, and swoony romance, this novel has it all. Whether you need a fun book for vacation or simply a little day-to-day distraction, a visit to Storm Island will do just the trick!

    Member ratings (597)

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    Contemporary fiction
    View all
    Wild Dark Shore
    The Last Love Note
    What Does It Feel Like?
    Jane and Dan at the End of the World
    Anita de Monte Laughs Last
    More or Less Maddy
    The Wedding People
    Next to Heaven
    Good Dirt
    Home of the American Circus
    A Family Matter
    Penitence
    The Names
    The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits
    The Favorites
    The Summer We Ran
    Honey
    The Bright Years
    We All Live Here
    The Leftover Woman
    My Friends
    The River Is Waiting
    Water Baby
    We Could Be Rats
    The Same Bright Stars
    The Three Lives of Cate Kay
    What Happened to the McCrays?
    Bye, Baby
    Swan Song
    The Days I Loved You Most
    The Connellys of County Down
    Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life
    Jackpot Summer
    Adelaide
    I Might Be in Trouble
    The Collected Regrets of Clover
    Again and Again
    Evil Eye
    Black Cake
    Maame
    Romantic Comedy
    We Are the Brennans
    The Bad Muslim Discount
    What Comes After
    Olga Dies Dreaming
    Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
    Monster in the Middle
    Nine Perfect Strangers
    The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
    The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes
    Honey Girl
    In Every Mirror She's Black
    Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
    Sankofa
    The Unsinkable Greta James
    The Love of My Life
    The Five-Star Weekend
    A Home for the Holidays
    The Wishing Game
    Behold the Dreamers
    The Mothers
    All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
    The Music Shop
    Where’d You Go, Bernadette
    The Reckless Oath We Made
    When We Were Vikings
    The Girl with the Louding Voice
    Big Summer
    All Adults Here
    Happy & You Know It
    Friends and Strangers
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    True Story
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    Troubles in Paradise
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    This Close to Okay
    The Chicken Sisters
    The Prophets
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    A Quiet Life
    We Are the Light
    The Most Likely Club
    The Fortunes of Jaded Women
    When We Were Bright and Beautiful
    The Hotel Nantucket
    These Summer Storms
    Finding Grace
    The View From Lake Como