Chrissy’s Review: A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

A Hundred Summers
written by Beatriz Williams
published by Putnam Adult

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I won this book (It’s signed!!) from Melissa at Chick Lit Central. Thank you, Melissa!

Did I enjoy this book: I did. It is a good summer read.

I like these types of books–historical fiction that doesn’t beat you over the head with history. A Hundred Summers took me to the 1930s, to the beach in Rhode Island, to New York City. I experienced that age with Lily and Budgie. It was a wonderful experience.

I felt bad for Lily. For part of the book, I thought she brought it on herself. She is a bit naive. But she has a good heart. I didn’t like Budgie from the beginning. Even in the end, after finding out more about her, I still couldn’t feel bad for her. Nick was a good guy from the beginning. I really liked him. I even liked Graham. He fit his character. He was exactly as I expected.

A Hundred Summers is a bit of a slow read. The beginning dragged a bit for me. At one point, I didn’t think I would finish it. However, once I got about 50 pages in, I was invested and wanted to see how the story ended. With that said, I was able to set the book down for a while and come back to it and finish it. Even though I wanted to see how it ended, I didn’t have to find out right away. And that it why I am giving it 3.5 stars instead of 4.

Would I recommend it: Yes, especially if you like historical fiction. Be sure to check out our Book Club Recap about this book.

About the book – from Goodreads: Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak. 

That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.

Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily’s friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction…and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations. 

Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever.