One Perfect Summer

by Brenda Novak

• ISBN10: 0778309460
• ISBN13: 9780778309468
• Publish Date: 7 April 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

One Perfect Fictionalized Story Of Real World Concerns. I picked this book up the instant I read the description because it seemed like it would be working through in novel form many of the same issues Libby Copeland raised in her nonfiction book The Lost Family, which released about a month before this one will. (Yes, this is yet another book I'm reading as an ARC, and my reviews are my own honest thoughts no matter how I acquire a book or when I read it in relation to its official publication date.) I was not disappointed in that regard at all, and if anything this book actually did a better job of truly exploring these complexities than the nonfiction book did, if only because in novel form it is much easier to express just how messy these situations can be from so many angles. Yes, you may get answers - but those answers in these cases... well, many of them were buried for very good reasons. And then there are the people who just do these DNA kits on a lark to "find out where they're from" or some such - which is actually how one of our lead protagonists arrives in this situation, highlighting the stark realities of how serious even taking one of these tests can be. Truly an excellent work grounded in real world research and even real world situations, as the nonfiction book shows. Very much recommended.

[Linda]

*I received a free copy of One Perfect Summer from Harlequin via NetGalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review which is honest and unbiased*

Novak definitely wrote a new hit with One Perfect Summer! Sisterhood for the win - even if it wasn't easy for any of them. I loved the premise of three women finding each other after taking a DNA test. And none of them knew they actually had a half sister. Serenity, Reagan and Lorelei looked like sisters, but they were still very different.
The fact that they were so different definitely brought up the question of nature and nurture, and it also showed how our environment can become almost hardwired to our emotions.