The Summerhouse
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4.5 • 262 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Jude Deveraux’s marvelous New York Times bestseller is a touching and delightful exploration of the longings that live deep inside every woman’s heart, featuring three friends who get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to find out what might have been...
Have you ever wanted to rewrite your past?
Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty. Celebrating at a summerhouse in Maine, Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott are taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and choices. But none of them expect the gift that awaits them at the summerhouse: the chance for each of them to turn their “what-might-have-beens” into reality...
Leslie, a suburban wife and mother, follows the career of a boy who pursued her in college wonders: what if she had chosen differently? Madison dropped a modeling career to help her high school boyfriend recover from an accident, even though he’d jilted her. But what if she had said “no” when her old boyfriend had called? Ellie became a famous novelist, but a bitter divorce wiped out her earnings—and shattered her belief in herself. Why had the “justice” system failed her? And could she prevent its happening the second time around?
Now, a mysterious “Madame Zoya,” offers each of them a chance to relive any three weeks from the past. Will the road not taken prove a better path? Each woman will have to decide for herself as she follows the dream that got away...and each must choose the life that will truly satisfy the heart's deepest longings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"If you had to do it all over again, what would you do?" is the question Deveraux poses in this wistful novel of second chances. Twenty-five years into her career, with 26 New York Timesbestsellers to her credit and 30 million copies of her books in print, the author serves up the following situation: 19 years ago, Leslie, Madison and Ellie met while waiting in line to get their licenses renewed at the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles. Sharing the same birthday, they became instant friends. Now they're all turning 40, and although they haven't seen each other since that long-ago day, when Ellie invites the others for a reunion in Maine, they agree to attend. Once there, they realize that their lives haven't turned out as planned. But then the trio stumble across Madame Zoya of Futures, Inc., who make them an irresistible offer: they can relive any three weeks from the past, armed with the knowledge since gained. Afterwards, they must decide: should they stick with the lives they have or go with the new futures they've created? The conceit of the DMV meeting and subsequent reunion functions as a clunky device to let the women tell their individual tales of woe; the idea that they're soul mates even though they only met once and never kept in touch requires a considerable stretch of the imagination. When they do go back in time, like 40-years-olds trying to play 20 at a costume party, the conversations are youthfully banal. The eternal allure of lives relived rescues the tale, but this lukewarm effort is strictly for loyal fans. The best thing about time travel in Deveraux's world? Instant weight loss. Major ad/promo.
Customer Reviews
Great read!
It took me a little while to get into the book. It being on my phone, I would read for a bit and then do something else. However, there was a point where I literally could not stop reading! And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I read from 62% until the end in one day! There were a bunch of unexpected twists and turns. Will definitely be reading the other books in the series.
The second is 100% better!
I read the second book first and I loved it so much and I was so happy to read this one. It’s so slow and boring I tried 5 times to get through it but I couldn’t. Sad 😞
Another best time traveling book!
When I bought this book, I didn’t realize that I read it back when it came out in 2001. But reading it this time, brought back memories of when life was much more simpler back then. To remember to slow down and smell the roses. Like the characters in the book, this brought me back to twenty + years ago, where I can curl up and read a very great story.