Summer List - by Amy Mason Doan (Paperback)

About the Book

Laura and Casey were once inseparable, until a shocking betrayal sent Laura running into a new life, leaving Casey and a first love in her wake. But the past is impossible to escape, and now, after seventeen years away, Laura is pulled home and into a reunion with Casey she can't resist.

Book Synopsis

In the tradition of Judy Blume's Summer Sisters, The Summer List is a tender yet tantalizing novel about two friends, the summer night they fell apart, and the scavenger hunt that reunites them decades later--until the clues expose a breathtaking secret...

Named a Best Book of Summer by PopSugar, Coastal Living, Family Circle, and The Globe & Mail

Laura and Casey were once inseparable: as they floated on their backs in the sunlit lake, as they dreamed about the future under starry skies, and as they teamed up for the wild scavenger hunts in their small California lakeside town. Until one summer night, when a shocking betrayal sent Laura running through the pines, down the dock, and into a new life, leaving Casey and a first love in her wake.

But the past is impossible to escape, and now, after seventeen years away, Laura is pulled home and into a reunion with Casey she can't resist--one last scavenger hunt. With a twist: this time, the list of clues leads to the settings of their most cherished summer memories. From glistening Jade Cove to the vintage skating rink, each step they take becomes a bittersweet reminder of the friendship they once shared. But just as the game brings Laura and Casey back together, the clues unravel a stunning secret that threatens to tear them apart...

Mesmerizing and unforgettable, Amy Mason Doan's The Summer List is about losing and recapturing the person who understands you best--and the unbreakable bonds of girlhood.

"With a vivid sense of place and characters as real as your high school besties, this debut novel is sure to please fans of Kristin Hannah and Elin Hilderbrand." --Library Journal

"The Summer List is a sparkling debut novel filled with nostalgia that will make you long for your childhood friends and carefree summer days." --PopSugar

*Don't miss Lady Sunshine, Amy Mason Doan's next novel that Elin Hilderbrand calls "a delicious daydream." On sale June 29, 2021 and available to preorder now!

Review Quotes

ACCLAIM FOR THE SUMMER LIST

Named a Best Book of Summer by
Coastal Living * Family Circle * PopSugar * The Globe and Mail

Named a Recommended Read by
First for Women * Bustle * HelloGiggles * BuzzFeed * Brit + Co

"The Summer List is a sparkling debut novel filled with nostalgia that will make you long for your childhood friends and carefree summer days."
--PopSugar, Best New Books to Put in Your Beach Bag

"This is a lovely debut by Doan, exploring themes of motherhood, daughterhood, and first love with tenderness and humor. The writing is fresh and charming, a perfect read for anyone who spent her teenage years reading the racy bits of cheap paperbacks out loud to their best friends."
--Booklist (Starred Review)

"This accomplished debut novel from Doan cleverly blends a coming-of-age tale, the story of a long-simmering mystery, and a thoughtful study of relationships between childhood friends.... With lovable characters and a scenic small town, Doan's pleasant mix of mystery and high school nostalgia will please readers who grew up with the novels of Judy Blume."
--Publishers Weekly

"With a vivid sense of place and characters as real as your high school besties, this debut novel is sure to please fans of Kristin Hannah and Elin Hilderbrand."
--Library Journal

"If this Portland writer's debut novel were a beverage, it would be a glass of frosty sweet-tart lemonade, sipped with that one friend from way back who knows you better than you know yourself. It's an ideal summer read... a compelling blend of love, betrayal, secrets and reconciliation."
--The Oregonian

"A trip down memory lane becomes a hunt for long-buried secrets in Amy Mason Doan's gripping and poignant debut about the bond between two compelling outsiders. The Summer List is an evocative tale of family, first love, and the unique and lasting gift of a friendship formed in girlhood."
--Meg Donohue, USA Today bestselling author

"There's not a word or plot line out of place in this fabulous debut about two girlhood friends from a small lakeside town who reunite as adults to try to salvage their broken relationship. Dive beneath the surface and you'll find a complex and finely wrought story as full of mystery and vitality as the lake itself. These characters and their stories are going to stick with you for a long, long time."
--Meg Mitchell Moore, author of The Admissions and The Islanders

"One of the best books I've read all year, The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan is a tear-jerking story of the bonds that connect us, and the lies that tear us apart. From their joyful childhood memories to their current fractured friendship, readers are presented with a beautifully woven tale of nostalgia and suspense."
--Arizona Foothills Magazine

"[A] character-rich tale about what could have been and the difficulty of facing what is makes for a satisfying beach-vacation read. A twist underscores what we already suspect: that life is too short for if-onlys."
--Stanford Magazine

"In her mesmerizing debut, Amy Mason Doan challenges everything we think we know about family and forgiveness. Readers will be swept up in this haunting story of buried secrets and lost love."
--Lynda Cohen Loigman, author of The Two-Family House

"With its exquisite detail, The Summer List wouldn't let me go, and the unexpected ending gave me chills. An irresistible novel of friendship and home."
--Jennifer S. Brown, author of Modern Girls

"A tender novel about friendship lost and rekindled, and uncovering the truth of the past."
--Polly Dugan, author of So Much a Part of You and The Sweetheart Deal

"The Summer List is the perfect summer read. Impossible to put down!"
--Molly O'Keefe, USA TODAY bestselling author