Book Review: The Summer House

By Keri Beevis

Recently I finally finished The Summer House by Keri Beevis, who once again didn’t fail me in the twists and turns.

What the book is about

The Summer House follows Lana Hamilton as she returns to her hometown where her grandmother’s house needs to be cleaned out and put on the market. After years of being away, she’s shocked when her twin brother Ollie shows up to help after they’d grown apart years prior. He has his wicked fiance with him who can’t find a shred of kindness in her heart.

As Lana struggles to handle the death of her grandmother upon her return to Mead House (their family estate), she struggles more dealing with the summer house set back behind their actual house in the garden. The summer house is the location where she and Ollie’s older sister, Camille, was murdered years prior. Camille was only a teenager when it happened, and Lana believed she saw Camille’s boyfriend, Sebastion, outside on the night of her murder. Ollie would later discover Camille’s body, scarring him for life.

Unfortunately by identifying her sister’s killer, she was also identifying her own boyfriend’s brother. (Camille and Lana were dating a pair of brothers).

Lana put him away for life, only to return and realize maybe she actually put the wrong man behind bars. Her former boyfriend, Xav, and her both struggle to be around each other after years of being apart and bad blood between the two of them.

Why I think this book is good

The book was somewhat of a slowburn, but not so slow I had to struggle through it. The chapters shifted between different character’s point of views, which made it easier to digest as I went on. Once I finished with one person, it would switch to another leaving me wanting more from the other, so I never felt there was a lull in it at all.

It was the perfect pace, not overly long or descriptive, and remained interesting.

My thoughts

I read this book because it was available free through Prime, but I also read Kari Beevis’s other book The Sleepover, which was very very good. I did think that one was better than this one, but both were good. They have a twist at the end, but because they’re similar it makes it a little easier to predict it. That always happens with our favorite authors though, doesn’t it? We get to know their work too well!

I would give this book a 4.5/5 stars.