When I listen to an audiobook, I have found that I really need all elements to work together in harmony for me to stay focused on the story. Still Summer fit the bill perfectly for me as it had elements of romance, action, and an emotional storyline that had my eyes tearing up at the end. The story begins as four friends plan on renting a yacht for a tropical vacation, with the most strenuous work planned being to put a lawn chair away at the end of the day if necessary. Olivia, Tracy, Holly, and Janice were friends since high school and are in need of a relaxing vacation. When Janice's husband suddenly is struck with a medical emergency, she finds that she can't go along on the trip, so Tracy's daughter Cammie is lucky enough to be able to take her place. Tracy and Cammie's relationship has been a bit strained lately, so Tracy thinks this may be an opportunity for them to grow closer. Cammie recently broke up with her boyfriend and thinks the trip will be a good way to put him out of her mind. When a new romance is introduced upon arriving at her destination she has no problem pushing that ex-boyfriend to the far recesses of her mind! In the beginning of this book I found that I really didn't like Cammie, as she acted like a self-absorbed college student whom really didn't consider anyone's feelings but her own. I enjoyed watching Cammie's character develop into a responsible young woman as the novel went on.Olivia was another character that wasn't very likeable, as she is a recent widow that married her husband for money and not love. She is a very selfish individual in this story, and when the ladies find themselves having to depend on one another, they find that Olivia will only take care of herself. Even when it comes to the point of fatal consequences she only looks out for her own well-being and does not even consider what she can do to improve the chance of survival for her friends.Holly is the character that everyone loves. She is a loveable mom with twin boys and a husband at home, and your everyday gal, as she has a regular job and does not seem to have a perfect body. Early on in the story Holly gets injured, but since she is a nurse she is able to take care of herself and not worry her friends with her own problems. Holly steps up to the plate when danger is imminent and she will do whatever is necessary to protect her friends. This is one gal that you would be proud to have in your corner!Tracy is the strong a steadfast character that we all want to try to strive to be. She is a great mom and will do whatever is necessary in the face of adversity. When events start to go terribly wrong on the yacht, Tracy struggles with feelings of guilt since this vacation was her idea. She feels that she has no choice but to risk her own life to save the lives of her daughter and her friends. You can really feel the love that is contained in this woman's heart throughout the book.As this book started I couldn't help but think that this would be the ultimate vacation with some of your closest friends. But what started out as a relaxing tropical vacation, quickly turns into a life-threatening nightmare. As they watch their food and water supply dwindle they must do what is necessary to survive, and in their greatest hour of need secrets are revealed that will change lives forever.Many times I find myself saying that I wish I would have read this book rather than listening to it, but not so with this one. It was a great audiobook and I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much had a read it. I highly recommend this audiobook, especially if you enjoy listening to books that have a little bit of everything in them.
Still Summer is by Jacquelyn Mitchard. This is a very suspenseful adventure book. It deals with how women relate to each other and how they react to adverse conditions. It brings up piracy and drug smuggling as well. It is set in the Caribbean around St. Thomas and on to the coast of Honduras. It takes place on the Opus, a sailing vessel for hire. Tracy Kyle, Janis Loccario, Holly Solvig, and Olivia Montefalco have been friends since school days. They tried very hard to be “bad” girls in their Catholic school but failed. They did play jokes on people but they didn’t do anything maliciously. They kept their friendship over the years. Tracy and Janis were raised like sisters and Holly lived near Tracy and their families were extremely close. Olivia, though in Europe, kept in touch with Tracy. They were Godmothers to Tracy’s daughter, Cammie. After Olivia’s husband died and she was returning to the United States, the foursome decided to take a Caribbean cruise on a small boat. They wanted just the four of them together for a time. Tracy made arrangements to use the Opus out of St. Thomas. They would sail, swim, scuba dive, and snorkel. Unfortunately, at the last minute, Janis’s husband became ill and Janis felt she had to stay with him. Reluctantly Tracy agreed and suggested her daughter take Janis’s place. The two others agreed and Cammie made haste to pack her bag. The Opus was owned and sailed by Lenny Amato and Michel Eugene-Martin. Lenny had been sailing for years and Michel had joined him. Michel was a young, handsome man who kept the visitors entertained while Lenny cooked and sailed. It worked for both of them. The sail began flawlessly and everything was wonderful for a while. The first night, however, Olivia slept with Michel much to Cammie’s discomfort. Cammie was attracted to Michel and Olivia was many years older than Michel. This put the two women on edge and they avoided each other when possible. This came to a head when the weather changed. Michel was on an island fishing and Cammie found him. They started kissing and Olivia showed up to break them apart. Harsh words were spoken and then the three headed to the ship as the weather started getting rough. Olivia made it on board but Cammie had a hard time due to the waves. Finally she caught hold; but Michel slipped and hit his head knocking him unconscious. The tender began to slip away with Michel in it. Lennie tied a rope around him and dove into the water to catch the tender and Michel. Unfortunately, the wind blew the tender away too fast. Then on his way back, Lennie realized the rope was caught on the rotor on the engine. It was pulling him under and he couldn’t get loose. In an instant, the four women were on board the Opus with no men, no sail, and no idea what to do next. Tracy finally took charge and tried to contact someone and tried to go for shore; but the boat was taken out to sea. Now they were really on their own without an engine or sails. In the ensuing days, they faced the sun, being lost, sleeplessness, hunger, each other, Holly’s being sick, lack of water, and the taking over of the boat by drug smugglers who were determined to take Cammie with them. Do the women get out of this mess and how? Will they ever be the same again? What about their friendship? This is a book that will pull you in and keep you interested. It is hard to put down and once more, have tissues handy.
What do You think about Still Summer (2007)?
I've met the author of this book and she's a nice person but I'm afraid my review is lukewarm at best. I really liked Deep End of the Ocean and haven't read anything else she's written except her column in the local paper. This book gets off to a slow start. I almost gave up because I really wasn't getting into it. Then when the action started when they were on the boat and bad things kept happening I REALLY got into it and could NOT put it down. Here are these three friends from high school with this shared past stranded on a boat in the Caribbean trying to survive. There's a lot of things happening and tensions are rising, what's going to happen? That draws you in, but doesn't keep you there. A lot of the book was frustrating. The dialog between characters rang false. There's a character that for some unknown reason she refuses to name. She calls him "the young man". This really grated on my nerves hearing the young man did this, the young man thought that. Lots of unrealistic things happened and you'd really have to trot out the suspension of disbelief to move on. And some things were predictible. I knew the identity of the mother of the adopted child almost from the beginning. The author has been criticized for dwelling on the mundane, and I'd have to say I agree. She made this big deal about a can opener and it never really went anywhere. I didn't quite fall in love with any of the characters either, outright hated the bad men and came to hate Olivia, but then again wished the women well and felt bad for what they were going through. It kind of played out like a Lifetime movie. Once you start watching one you're hooked like a guilty pleasure, but I bet my husband would find it laughable. I guess I would say it was a good book, but flawed in many ways.
—Patty
I listened to this on audio and while it wasn't the best book I've ever read, nor the worse, it kept my interest. I found myself wondering whether or not the four would be rescued, hoping they would be, and speculating on how they might be found. The scenes with the pirates were very well done, suspenseful, and among the best in the book (I thought the outcome would be different.) Also, I know very little about boats and sailing, but it seemed as if Mitchard either did considerable research into nautical life or has been around boats previously, as these details seemed authentic to me.The ending (August) was a disappointment, as it seemed incredibly contrived and too "neat." Some of the plot was predictable (the storyline with Olivia/Tracy/Cammie) and Cammie's beauty and youthfulness was described in excess, but this was a good "don't-need-to-think-too-hard" type of read. Kiersten Potter, the narrator of the audiobook, was wonderful. There are quite a few characters introduced early on in this book and Potter did an excellent job with various voices which helps greatly with the listener's ability to keep them all straight.
—Melissa
good enough suspense. dragged along with all the background info on each character suddenly suddenly appearing late in the story. Seemed to be put there just to drag out the story.The characters did not act intelligently or logically once the trouble started. Instead of fighting with each other about past history, normal peolple would have been focused on how to get back and how to help themselves. forgetting some of the things they had that could help them was not logical like the distress sign
—Barbara
