Let the games begin

I've loved Sarah MacLean's historical romances, so I was eager, and a little nervous, to read her change-of-pace contemporary novel, These Summer Storms. Eager because she's an auto-read author and nervous because when an author tries something new, there's a chance it just won't have that same zing. I'm happy to report that the zing is still there and I zipped right through this one.

These Summer Storms has been described by some as Knives Out crossed with Succession and I'd say that there are some of the vibes of both, though no murder. The Storms of the title are a generation-ally wealthy family who have a private island off the coast of Rhode Island. With the passing of the family patriarch the whole family have returned to the island, among them daughter Alice who hasn't been home in more than five years. She's come because she wants to grieve her father, but she has no intention of staying any longer than necessary. Unfortunately the necessary is longer than she'd like because her father has set up one last competition for the family's inheritance and if she doesn't fulfill his conditions, everyone loses. As the competition progresses, Alice and her siblings are forced to come to terms with who their family was and is.

I'll stop there as I don't want to spoil some of the twists and turns, but I do want to assure the MacLean fans that there is still a romance, though it's not the central plot. And while the ending left me wanting just a smidge more, I think this is a great choice for a summer read.