The Summer I Dared

This is a book I really enjoyed. It will keep you turning the pages. I read about 3 books a week and this one was well worth my time. You should read it for sure.

While I have enjoyed Barbara Delinsky's books in the past, this one I have enjoyed more than any of the others. The story line was fabulous and the setting was an intricate part of the story rather than just background. I find that as I get older, I look for stories that aren't all sunshine and roses (too unrealistic) but I don't like many of the books that are nothing but doom and gloom either. This book was a wonderful blend of happy and sad; of a woman discovering who she is, what she wants, and experiencing the ups and downs along the way. When people ask me if I have read any good books lately, this is the first one that pops into my head. I have even sent e-mails to friends telling about this book since I think it is so terrific.

Another vacation book that I picked up, The Summer I Dared was a real treat. I had seen it advertised before, but I was never really interested enough to pick it up. But, I am glad I did. This was a great, meaningful novel filled with romance, forgiveness, courage, and finding out who we really are. Julia is a 40 year old mother, daughter, and wife. That's it. She has defined herself for so long in terms of other people that she really doesn't even know what she wants or who she is. All of that changes when she is on a ferry to Big Sawyer in Maine to visit her Aunt Zoë. The ferry is hit by a boat, and she and two others survive the crash while nine others die. The story focuses on Julia coming to grips with surviving the accident and discovering her identity. It also has a little bit of mystery about the boat crash to keep the plot going. Julia also starts to fall in love with Noah, the man who helped save her from the ferry crash. Noah also has to come to grips with certain aspects of his own life. It's an absorbing book. You get caught up in the characters and their lives, and they are all truly magnificently drawn. The plot can be slow, but you really enjoy it because Delinsky is just taking her time creating multi-faceted characters. I think the book was a little long, and probably could have stood to loose 30 pages or so, but other than that it was a really great book that I recommend. It has some power messages. It points out the difference between living and being alive. Very good! Grade: A- (4.5 Stars)

This is a story that is completely believable. From the moment I met Julia Bechtel and Noah Prine, I could actually visualize them as real people. Although this is a fictitious story, it made me believe I could see newspaper headlines of the boating accident. Julia comes to Big Sawyer Island for a two week vacation but before the ferry can deliver her to the island and her aunt, there is a boating accident which kills all aboard except Julia and Noah. Big Sawyer is a lobstering island and all the residents pull together to rescue the victims. Julia reviews her life. Her husband, Monty, her daughter, Molly and her aunt, Zoey and her parents, as well as Noah Prine are all people she thinks about. 20 years with Monty has been less than fulfilling and the accident causes Julia to re-evaluate what she wants out of life. She was spared when others weren't. The big question that bothers her as well as Noah is WHY they were spared. What are they to do now with their lives? Go on as before or made changes? And there is the question of what happened all those years ago between her mother and her aunt? Then, Molly shows up to comfort her mother but Julia knows there is something more than comfort on Molly's mind. Julia has to decide how she will go forward with her life. Being good with a camera, Julia begins taking pictures of life on Big Sawyer. The newspaper prints them and Julie finds this rewarding. But in the printing of these pictures comes another problem. What is happening on Big Sawyer? Why was Artie's boat even near the ferry to cause the accident in the first place? THE SUMMER I DARED tells about the changes in the lives of the islander's after such an accident and each word Ms. Delinksky writes is something I could see actually happening. There are twists and turns that happen in lives that have been affected by the accident and realistic every day problems that are just that, REAL. This is a well written story and one that I didn't want to stop listening to until every word had been spoken.

For years her identity was defined as Janet's daughter, Molly's mother, or Monte's wife. She accommodated the needs of everyone else at the cost of her own. With her daughter out of the house, Julia Bechtel decides to escape from her spouse so she can ponder what she wants to do with her unfulfilling marriage. Julia takes the ferry to visit her Aunt Zoe on Big Sawyer Island off the Maine coast. However, another vessel runs into the ferry causing both boats to explode.Julia, lobsterman Noah Prince, and islander Kim Colette are the only survivors. Julia realizes that for some unknown heavenly reason she has been provided with a chance to live life on her terms. Every day is a miraculous gift as she now knows she can never return to her unsatisfying life in New York unless substantial changes occur. Comfort comes in Noah's arms, but Julia wonders if she has the courage to seek love with him because that would disappoint her daughter and her parents whose opinions she values.Every venture that Barbara Delinsky takes her fans on is unique as the author never writes the same book twice. THE SUMMER I DARED is a beautiful love story as much as a character study of an individual finding courage with her second chance at life. The eccentric secondary cast, especially the barrier island crowd, keeps the tale from turning too inwardly maudlin while also enabling the audience to see the inner struggles of the heroine. Noah has his own demons in a neglected teenage son. All this adds up to a wonderful in depth relationship drama that focuses on the turmoil of good caring people.Harriet Klausner