The Summer Club by Hannah McKinnon

Publisher: Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Date of publication: July 23rd, 2024

Genre: Fiction, Adult Fiction, Womens Fiction

Purchase Links: Kindle | Audible | B&N | AbeBooks | WorldCat

Goodreads Synopsis:

Hannah McKinnon, the acclaimed author of the “charming and warm-hearted” ( PopSugar) The Summer House , returns with a fresh beach read about a group of outsiders threatening the status quo at an exclusive New England beach club.

Mayhaven is the best keep secret in Massachusetts. Tucked between old cedars and a spring-fed lake, the Mayhaven beach club has long been the ultimate escape to understated exclusivity. It’s the place where Darcy Birch is supposed to be experiencing the best summer of her life, but there are a few things standing in her way. Her high-strung mother won’t stop hovering over her, her father is consumed by his job as president of Mayhaven, where she works as a summer camp counselor and things are not as rosy as they seem, and her neurodivergent little brother is struggling to live with a measure of independence not everyone is ready for.

Then there is the matter of the new neighbors. Flick Creevy, his mother, and stepfather have arrived in town, parking their enormous RV, not to mention all-night music and clouds of marijuana, in the Birches’s perfectly landscaped backyard.

Flick is not interested in the perfect summer or the girl next door. Pushed to get a job at Mayhaven by his mother, who had her eyes on a new life for their family, his own eyes have been opened to the ways of the upper crust. Even though Mayhaven prides itself on being an inclusive association of good New England families with good New England values, the fact either you’re on the inside or the outside.

As the heat of summer increases, it’s soon clear that the members of Mayhaven will have to struggle to stay cool in this sharply written and refreshing new novel that is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner.

First Line

He was not a religious man, but the quiet ritual of his morning walk through the empty clubhouse came might close.

Important details about The Summer Club

Pace: Medium

POV: 3rd person (Ned, Darcy, Flick, and one chapter from Adam)

Content/Trigger Guidance: The Summer Club contains themes that include eating disorders, sexual assault, sexual harassment, ableism, bullying, classism, anxiety, depression, alcohol consumption, and alcohol abuse.

Language: The Summer Club contains mild swearing and language that might offend some people.

Sexual Content: There is no sexual content in The Summer Club.

Setting: The Summer Club is set in Rockwood, Massachusetts

My Review

I don’t know about you guys, but I like it when I read a book set in my state. So, when I saw that The Summer Club was set in Massachusetts (where I grew up and lived until my late 30s), it was a given that I was going to read it. I didn’t even read that blurb-which I don’t recommend doing. Always read the blurb!!

The main storylines of The Summer Club are centered around three people: Ned, Flick, and Darcy. Ned is the manager of an exclusive lakeside country club. Darcy is Ned’s teenage daughter, who is harboring some pretty dark secrets. Flick moved in next door to Ned and Darcy. The storylines with the teenagers were well-written and well-paced.

I liked Flick. He was a good kid who didn’t ask to be moved from Flushing, New York, to rural Massachusetts. His sense of right and wrong came across strongly in the book. And that sense of right and wrong was heightened around Darcy. He could tell that something was wrong, and when he found out what happened to her, he did what any normal human being would do: he punched the idiot in the face. So yes, Flick was my favorite out of the three.

I also liked Darcy, but I pitied her. From the start, I knew that there was something hugely wrong with her. For her to give up a game (golf) that she loved and excelled at on a dime was a huge red flag. Add in all of her risky behaviors, and it was screaming that something traumatic happened. But I was surprised when the author revealed what had happened.

I liked Ned, but he was too wrapped up in work to even see the cracks going through his family. I did like seeing how his life was at work. He had to deal with some of the most moronic, idiotic, self-centered people that I have read to date. He rises to hero status towards the end of the book when he does what any father would have done once he finds out what happened to Darcy.

The end of The Summer Club was almost anticlimactic after everything went down. But, if things had ended differently, I wouldn’t have liked the book as much as I did. I enjoyed the epilogue from Ned, Flick, and Darcy’s perspectives.

Many thanks to Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books, NetGalley, and Hannah McKinnon for allowing me to read and review North Side Of The Grass. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

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