Reviews

The Summer Pact: A Novel by Emily Giffin

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estherpew's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Listening to this book, it’s very obvious when it was written. Very much a 2024 book. I think reading this 20/30 years later, it’ll hit differently because it writes so much about current events. I liked parts of the book. Other parts were predictable, and some parts just downright annoyed me. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the Lainey character, and maybe that was the point? But I didn’t understand or even really appreciate the love connection that she made. It felt so very out of the blue. I wanted a little more in getting her into recovery, as well. It was an okay read, I kept listening because I wanted to know what was going to happen, but not my favorite read of the year so far. Much of the book felt rushed, like we needed things to happen. I dunno.

nicadolz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Started with a promising, emotional premise and quickly became shallow, half-baked, and often annoying. Three stars since I still got some entertainment value out of it when listening to audiobook at 2x.

Content Warnings

readingretreatbyalex's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

lauragit's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

3.5

mtjbac's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful relaxing

3.5

Honestly, I liked this book. The end felt rushed tho, for no reason really. It felt real, dealt with real issues, the friendship was beautiful in ways, but I dont know whether there was done right for

Summer's death. I also don't think Tyson fully went through his grief and I don't know whether him ending up with Lainey was really helpful for him.

I do think the character development was good, mostly when it comes to Lainey I think.
So this book is a raw mess of life.