These Summer Storms ★★☆☆☆

Three stars, and mostly because I went in with the wrong expectations.

I picked this up for the Succession-adjacent setup: a wealthy, fractured family circling an inheritance, siblings sizing each other up. That part delivered. The interpersonal dynamics between the siblings are the best thing in the book, and MacLean is sharp on how old money actually behaves. One line nails it: wealth "pervaded a person's worldview, was impossible to replicate, and incredibly difficult to hide." That's the book at its best, when it's watching money warp people rather than romance them.

What I didn't realize going in, not knowing much about MacLean before starting, is that this is fundamentally a romance novel. The Alice and Jack lust plot isn't a subplot running alongside the family drama. It's the centerpiece, and the family drama is the backdrop. Once I recalibrated to that, a lot of my disappointment made more sense. It's not that the book failed at what it was doing. It's that what it was doing wasn't what I signed up for.

I don't read romance, and this didn't convert me. The chemistry beats that are presumably the point landed flat for me, and I found myself waiting to get back to the siblings every time the book cut to Alice and Jack. That's a me problem more than a craft problem, but it shaped the whole reading experience.

Credit where due: MacLean writes a good exit line. "It's always worth leaving when someone doesn't want you to stay," one character says, immediately followed by the deadpan aside that her therapist would be proud. That kind of self-aware wit shows up throughout and it's the book's best trick.

If you like family-money sagas with romance at the core, this is probably a four or five star read. If you want Succession without the will-they-won't-they, look elsewhere.

PS: Know your genre before you start. I didn't, and it cost the book a star it might not have deserved to lose.

Edition Read

• Author: Sarah MacLean
• Date Published: 2025-07-08
• Pages: 400

Description

"But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything. Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance. But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister's secret love affair. Her brother's unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister's constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother's cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father's intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed. A smart and tender story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel explores past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms."-- Provided by Amazon

Source: Hardcover

Notable Highlights

Wealth had a way about it, an ease that was difficult to explain but impossible not to recognize, especially if you’d spent your life around it. Though it came in many forms, from confidence to carelessness, it pervaded a person’s worldview, was impossible to replicate, and incredibly difficult to hide. [loc. 2196]

“It’s always worth leaving when someone doesn’t want you to stay.” Her therapist would be really proud of that answer. [loc. 2412]