Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey
5 Stars
5 Stars
What a great book! This book will stay with me! My first Kristy book and now I need to read them ALL!
This is a secular, contemporary romance/women's southern fiction read and I am impressed!
Kristy tells a beautiful family story, a journey of love, friendship, reconciliation, healing...I loved it.
We follow Mason, a high school baseball coach, who finds an abandoned baby and then Daisy who is a NICU Nurse that helps take care of the baby. Mason and Daisy get close, form a deep connection, romance and bond over the baby throughout the book. Daisy has her own old wounds she is trying to heal from, with her mother leaving her many years ago, that ties in with her need to protect this little girl. Then, we follow Mason's batty Aunt Tilley....who is hiding her long-buried family secret as well....looking for a fresh start.
What I loved about this book was the family, the characters, the realness of it all. It just connected so well. I love all the southern bits too since it's set in Cape Carolina in North Carolina. So many great details.
Even when I didn't agree with the characters choices or motivations, I empathized with them. I found some parts of the romance relatable for when Blake and I first met. It was just a real look at life. Her character depth was so well needed too. We even had characters going to easter service at church and it felt like a look at the family times I had back in the day, when you better have new clothes for easter Sunday haha.
I even teared up in the end....so much emotion and healing that needed to happen.
Mason and Daisy, really liked them. They were in the mid to late 30s and felt relatable to Blake and myself in some way. Daisy was very complex, I could see the desperation she had with the little girl and the reasoning behind it...seeing her journey to heal in her own issues, wow, it was just great.
The characters were not perfect, they made messy choices, carried old wounds and worked through believable emotions. That authenticity made their journeys resonate in a deeper way for me. Especially as someone who values stories that reflect real life rather than a polished story sometimes.
Thank you to the publisher for an ebook copy to read for review. I did purchase a physical copy and audiobook too, the audiobook was fantastic. Now I have a copy for my shelves too, since I loved it so much. All thoughts are always my own.
Content/Trigger Warnings: Mild to moderate language (9 Sh*t, 17 D*mn, 1 B*tch, No F words or GD/JC that I saw), Fade to Black/Closed Door Sex Scene - it was not explicit or gratuitous in my eyes, mentions of parental abandonment, miscarriage, loss of a child in NICU situation in the past discussed (side character briefly discussed from Daisy's past work situation), baby abandoned storyline, Aunt Tilley has some mental health things working through, adoption thread things to think about
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4noNGJ0
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