Summer's Child

Convoluted sudser about the search for the mother of a newborn abandoned on a North Carolina beach, 20+ years after the fact. At times an engaging read, and Chamberlain lays out plenty of red herrings. Most readers will be “close, but no cigar” with their guesses. It’s the conclusion where things go from unlikely to “oh, come on,” as coincidence piles on coincidence and plot threads get tied up in a tidy bow.

Can’t really give this one anything higher than a C.

"She'd run the distance of several cottages when she stopped short. Had it really been a baby? Could it have been a doll, perhaps? She looked back over her shoulder. Yes, she was certain it had been a real, human baby".

Summer's Child by Diane Chamberlain

First, might I say..wonderful cover art! I would give a star for that alone!

That being said I didn't like this as much as I expected although it was an interesting read all the same. It was not as ethereal as I expected.

But it has several good points to recommend it.

It is an easy and fast beach side reading which isn't a bad thing. And I enjoyed reading about the mysterious baby on the beach and the family who takes her in.

It also takes place on North Carolina's outer banks.The setting show more is spectacular. This is perhaps the perfect light summer read. It is engrossing.

I would say this is a pretty quick read and it was just a bit to "cozy" for me and more of a romance novel, in my mind, then a really tense mystery.

But that being said, it is a solid three star read and is absolutely not a bad book.

Perfect book to put in your beach bag. show less

2.5 stars

One summer morning, eleven year old Daria finds a baby girl, placenta still attached, lying on the beach at Kill Devil Hills, NC. She swoops the baby up and takes her to the beach cottage where her family summers, and thus the baby is saved. The family adopts the baby and this story picks up 22 years later as a boy (now a man) who spent his summers in the cottage opposite theirs comes back as a true crime television host to try and solve the mystery of who the mother was and how this baby came to be on that beach.

There are implausible coincidences, several twists and turns, with individual stories lapping in and out of the central one, and characters who misunderstand one another and carry both guilt and erroneous assumptions. show more There is the gratuitous love affair that, again, seems a bit implausible and a sisterly love that I can honestly say, having five sisters of my own, isn’t likely to be found out in the real world.

I never know what to write about this kind of book. It was fine for what it is. I didn’t completely figure out the twist before the end, and with this kind of book that is the most important thing. If you asked me what it was about a month from now, I might not be able to tell you, because it is not meant to leave a lasting impression or change you in any way.

Sometimes you just want to read something that is 100% escapism, and for me, this was that. show less

Daria Cato finds a newborn baby on the beach as a child. The Cato family ends up adopting the child they call Shelly. As an adult Daria takes care of Shelly in the same beach house where she lived with her parents. Shelly is a little bit slow. When an old friend, Rory, who has a television show returns to the beach, Shelly is determined to get him to help her find her mother, through his television show. Daria and her sister try to discourage this. Rory is all for it and agrees to help Shelly. This book has lots of "red herrings" and the ending is not what you think it is going to be. If you enjoy books with surprise endings you will like this book.

After completing Summer’s Child by Diane Chamberlain, I’m not sure how I actually feel about this story. On so many levels, I thought it was terribly contrived in the twists and turns that the author presented, almost to the point of my feeling annoyed by the author’s manipulation throughout the novel. Needless to say, I did not anticipate the resolution to the story, and by then, I was slightly fed up by the dysfunctional group of characters and the choices that they made. I’m sure that this scenario could indeed be reality to some families, but as far as I was concerned, I thought that the author got carried away in trying to lead the reader astray.
Nevertheless, I will say that Diane Chamberlain continues to present an show more enticing story that captivates the reader throughout. She is a master storyteller who certainly knows how to weave an interesting tale. As I read this book, I recalled a previous phone conversation that our book club held with her. During the conversation she stated that she used a storyboard to map out her novels prior to writing. Upon reading Summer’s Child, I could not help but whimsically imagine the complexity of such a storyboard for this particular novel. show less

I have read almost all books by this author and this one was my favorite so far. You think you have it figured out early on but throughout the story surprises keep lurling around the corner. Likeable characters, strong plot, nice setting, overall a great read. One summer an 11yr old finds a newborn on the beach. Fast forward 22 years and the reader is thrown into the life of Shelly and her adoptive family. Shelly is now a young adult who wants to find out how she came to be deserted on the beach.

I have read almost all books by this author and this one was my favorite so far. You think you have it figured out early on but throughout the story surprises keep lurling around the corner. Likeable characters, strong plot, nice setting, overall a great read. One summer an 11yr old finds a newborn on the beach. Fast forward 22 years and the reader is thrown into the life of Shelly and her adoptive family. Shelly is now a young adult who wants to find out how she came to be deserted on the beach.