Title: An Invincible Summer
Author: Mariah Stewart
Series: Wyndham Beach, #1
Narrator: Kate Marcin
Published: May 2021, Brilliance Audio / Montlake
Length: 10 hours 52 minutes / 378 pages
Source: Audio: ALC via Brilliance Publishing / Print: ARC Paperback via Amazon Publishing
Summary:
An endearing novel of friendship, forgiveness, and second chances by New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart.
It was a lifetime ago that recently widowed Maggie Flynn was in Wyndham Beach. Now, on the occasion of her fortieth high school reunion, she returns to her hometown on the Massachusetts coast, picking up right where she left off with dear friends Lydia and Emma. But seeing Brett Crawford again stirs other emotions. Once, they were the town’s golden couple destined for one another. He shared Maggie’s dreams – and eventually, a shattering secret that drove them apart.
Buying her old family home and resettling in Wyndham Beach means a chance to start over for Maggie and her two daughters, but it also means facing her rekindled feelings for her first love and finally confronting – and embracing – the past in ways she never thought possible. Maggie won’t be alone. With her family and friends around her, she can weather this stormy turning point in her life and open her heart to the future. As for that dream shared and lost years ago? If Maggie can forgive herself, it still might come true.
My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read by Mariah Stewart and I’m so glad I decided to pick this one up. And of course, I’m equally excited that this is the start of a new series…you all know how much I love my series!
While I will always be a fan of thrillers and psychological suspense, I do enjoy picking up those lighter reads from time to time and this one was perfect for that. But it’s not just a fluff read…there is some substance here and that I really appreciated. I loved that the main character, Maggie, is a woman in her 50s. As someone who is her in 40s, I get tired of reading about characters that are way younger than me, so I appreciate when an author gives us a middle-aged character, where I can get her perspective and see the world from her viewpoint for a time.
I am also a huge fan of family secrets and family drama and of course this book has that. That little bit of mystery really kept me engaged and I loved the way it was woven into the threads of this story. Friendship and second chance love were big themes in this book and I enjoyed seeing how both played out.
All in all this was a really enjoyable read and very relatable on many levels. I think this book is a great read for summer beaching reading and I definitely recommend adding it to your summer reading list! And I will definitely be eager to see what happens next in the series.
Audio thoughts: This was an enjoyable book to listen to and I thought the narrator did a great job. Kate Marcin is a new-to-me narrator but I found that she really brought this book to life with her voices and her pacing. I really hope that she will be the narrator for the next book as I like to see consistency with narrators whenever possible.
Books in this series:
- An Invincible Summer
- Goodbye Again – due out February 2022
