Book Review: The Summer Share

The Summer Share by Jenn McKinlay

Sparks fly when two strangers inherit a house in the Outer Banks. The only catch? They have to share the house for two months in the summer before they can decide to keep or sell.

Hannah Spencer is a vanlife content creator who is still recovering from her divorce, five years later. She has enjoyed traveling to national parks around the country, but she is ready to settle down when she finds out her grandfather left her a house in the Outer Banks. When she arrives, she is in for a surprise. Her Pops co-owned the house with another man and they weren’t just there for a fishing trip. And so she has to share the house for the summer with his grandson, to have any hope of getting an inheritance.

Simon O’Malley definitely wants to sell the house. He is in shock when he finds out his Gramps co-owned the summer house on Cape Split with another man. He and Hannah are at odds from the moment they meet. He needs to sell the house ASAP to take care of his brother; she wants to stay. Together, they embark on uncovering secrets about their grandfathers and processing grief while bonding with each other.

Along the way, they make new friends locally and Hannah’s beloved Great Dane breaks up both the tension and the chemistry between the two. In this enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity romance, will Hannah and Simon give into their undeniable attraction? Will Hannah find a new purpose and will Simon pursue his dream as an artist?

My Thoughts

I loved the setting of the book and the Outer Banks community was described well. There were also some funny hijinks they got into while cleaning out the house (a surprise bat, for example). Their granddad’s love stories were also heartwarming.

 However, I almost put the book down because the first 1/3 was moving pretty slowly. I felt like there was some stilted dialogue and repetitive description slowing down the book and taking me out of the story. However, soon the book picked up the pace as Hannah and Simon’s relationship heated up and each character let down their guard.

The Summer Share is a good beach read for enemies-to-lovers fans!

TW: infertility

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.