When Kate is suddenly dumped by her fiance, just as she learns she is pregnant, her best friends from high school, Vanessa and Dani, decide a trip to Avalon, where they spent their summers, is a better option than the bachelorette weekend in Las Vegas they had originally planned. In the eight years since their last summer together there, the three women have grown apart and are now struggling with their current lives. Each brings with her to the island a deeply buried secret about the last night they were there. As the tension-filled weekend unfolds, they each decide now is the time for honesty, hoping the other two can forgive her for what she did. And more importantly, she can forgive herself. All the Summer Girls is a great summer read. At times the story felt a bit drawn out, taking longer than necessary to uncover the truth about what happened, but the build-up shows just how distant the women have become and how much the events of that night have shaped the choices they've made since then. (LEK)
This revolves around the lives of two childhood best friends Annie Quintana and Julia St Clair as their paths finally cross a decade after their falling out in high school. Julia, the rich "ice princess", has become a successful career woman and is happily engaged to Wes, or so it seems. All she feels now is a sense of desperation as she attempts to takes control of her life by battling depression, which Julia
tries to conceal along with secrets that would jeopardise her upcoming
wedding. Annie, having inherited her mother's talent, has become a
talented pastry chef at a small bakery. Her mouth-watering cupcakes creations have won favours of many customers and even her boss, and she dreams of opening her own bakery. The former friends' lives start to intertwine when they make the decision to open a cupcakery together. As they navigate through the ups and downs of their unlikely partnership, Annie and Julia are forced to stay united as a series of sabotage accidents threaten both their lives and shop. I loved Donohue's style of writing, and the blending of mystery and food into this good old-fashioned tale of friendship and love. A surprising ending with lots of amazing characters, this book certainly presents itself as a great debut. (XT)
