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Summers at Blue Lake
As a young girl, Barbara Jean Ellington spent summers at her grandmothers' home in a small Pennsylvania town. It was not the most conventional of households, formed as it was by two women who lived as partners in life as well as in business, but it had been a welcome retreat for a shy girl who had issues with her own mother and who needed room to grow.
Now both grandmothers have died, and BJ has come back to the small house near Blue Lake to sort through the remnants of their lives and the tatters of her own. She arrives with her young son, desperately in need of time to herself—time to come to terms with her husband's sudden decision to end their marriage. Over the course of the summer, childhood memories come into sharp focus, especially with the reappearance of Travis, the man for whom, when they were both teenagers, she harbored a secret crush. Now, suddenly free, she must decide whether she's ready to take a second chance at love.
More unsettling, however, is the discovery of an unmailed letter written by BJ's grandmother Nonna to BJ's own late mother filled with revelations both startling and confusing. Finding secrets within secrets, BJ begins piecing together the truth of the past.
Summers at Blue Lake is an engrossing and rewarding debut novel in the tradition of works by popular novelists such as Elizabeth Berg, Sue Miller, and Anita Shreve.
Now both grandmothers have died, and BJ has come back to the small house near Blue Lake to sort through the remnants of their lives and the tatters of her own. She arrives with her young son, desperately in need of time to herself—time to come to terms with her husband's sudden decision to end their marriage. Over the course of the summer, childhood memories come into sharp focus, especially with the reappearance of Travis, the man for whom, when they were both teenagers, she harbored a secret crush. Now, suddenly free, she must decide whether she's ready to take a second chance at love.
More unsettling, however, is the discovery of an unmailed letter written by BJ's grandmother Nonna to BJ's own late mother filled with revelations both startling and confusing. Finding secrets within secrets, BJ begins piecing together the truth of the past.
Summers at Blue Lake is an engrossing and rewarding debut novel in the tradition of works by popular novelists such as Elizabeth Berg, Sue Miller, and Anita Shreve.
323 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
April 7, 2008
Summers at Blue Lake
bounces back and forth between the present (approximately now) and various points in the childhood and youth of Our Protagonist, Bobbi, or BJ as she was sometimes called. Most important are the summers she spent with her grandmothers, a loving lesbian couple. In the present Bobbi has just gone through a painful divorce with a cheating husband. She arrives to take possession of her late grandma Anja's house. During one summer she reconnects with old friends and learns things about her family that help her to view her current problems in a new light.
There's some melodrama here and sometimes the story loses focus, but overall a good read. I actually liked the stories of Bobbi's childhood better and her grandmas' lives than her struggles to adjust to the divorce. My favorite line in the book reads something like, "When I wrote in a school essay that on my father's side of the family we were Scots-Irish, on my mother's side we were Lesbian, I didn't understand why the teacher sent me to the school nurse's office while they called my parents."
There's some melodrama here and sometimes the story loses focus, but overall a good read. I actually liked the stories of Bobbi's childhood better and her grandmas' lives than her struggles to adjust to the divorce. My favorite line in the book reads something like, "When I wrote in a school essay that on my father's side of the family we were Scots-Irish, on my mother's side we were Lesbian, I didn't understand why the teacher sent me to the school nurse's office while they called my parents."
June 10, 2012
Started good. Ending was not what I hoped or expected
August 1, 2012
The storyline was original. It kept my interest and was a good summer read. I'm not sure what some reviewers hated about the ending. I thought it wrapped up nicely.
August 12, 2012
I found myself a bit frustrated with the main character of the book. One of her grandmothers had died (she had two grandmas due to their lesbian relationship), and she come back to the house she spent summers at when she was a child. IT seemed to me she didn't have much character...she kept flipping back and forth between her soon to be ex-husband (who was cheating on her and had a pregnant girlfriend), and her teenage crush. It seemed she didn't have much in the way of backbone. The story flips back and forth between 2000 and the year she was 14 when a family feud occurred that split her and her then boyfriend. I don't know, she just seemed kind of shallow. she finds her grandmas diary and finds the truth behind the feud. At the end she flips back and forth with who she's going to be with, the now sorry ex or the lover. Not a bad book, but not a great book either.
July 27, 2008
A relatively interesting story, told in a not terribly coherent way. I liked the main character, and enjoyed reading about her craft. However, I just don't see the point of the way the book was structured, the conversation was not very conversational, the little boy acted both older and younger than his supposed age, and the many copyediting errors all detracted significantly from my enjoyment of this book. Ah, the hazards of picking something randomly off the new-book shelf in the library.
August 7, 2007
This book took entirely too long to get the point. The main character was supposed to find an unsent letter from her grandmother to her mother that would reveal family secrets. This letter wasn't even mentioned until almost 200 pages into the book. Once she started reading the letter I could tell where it was going...and I was right. I did not enjoy this book.
January 2, 2009
A Novel of family secrets...it states on the cover.The book was 315 pgs. long and the story could have been told in half that many pages. But it is this author's 1st book so she might get better. I read the whole thing because I wanted to find out how the story ended but I wouldn't recommend the book. It just doesn't have any sparks.
May 12, 2008
This book was WAY too long. The story was really dragged out. I also wasn't a big fan of the writing style. I kept reading because I wanted to know how it ended, but I just didn't enjoy the journey very much.
July 31, 2012
This was an ok read. Not terrible, but not great literature. I really enjoyed the first part where she flipped back and forth between her teenage years and the present. I didn't really enjoy the second part at all. It didn't seem to fit the storyline.
September 23, 2012
I am someone who has to finish every book I start. I tried and tried with this book, but eventually had to give up. I don't know how it ends and I'm fine with that. I was at no point drawn in to the plot.
October 2, 2012
I couldn't decide who to go with at the end. I like when a story that could be anyone's story and somewhat predictable still has a bit of a cliffhanger ending. Relatable characters. Kept a steady pace. I enjoyed it.
November 10, 2012
I've been reading this book for a couple of weeks while walking on the treadmill and it slowly began to grow on me until I was sad to see it ending. The story is interesting and different enough to make it good. The writing was good, but it was missing that little flare to make it great.
February 20, 2013
Story is a bit twisted. And it took the author two thirds of the book to get to the gist of the book. The letters should have been found long before page 200 when the whole book is only 285 pages. U spend the first 200 pages wondering when something is going to start happening.
June 18, 2013
With a poetic style, this is the story of a flawed woman who is discovering herself and the truths of her family. It speaks to specific time periods and times of life for women, relationships, and how women make and deal with their choices. I'll be looking for more by Jill Althouse-Wood.
July 4, 2012
A quick summer read about family secrets
July 17, 2012
This is a good escape book - a quick enjoyable read that doesn't expect effort from the reader.
September 13, 2012
loved this book!
February 12, 2013
surprisingly good book. interesting story.
January 18, 2017
Great story
I really enjoyed this book. I hated for it to end. I'm going to miss the characters and journeying forward with them.
I really enjoyed this book. I hated for it to end. I'm going to miss the characters and journeying forward with them.
February 14, 2017
3 3/4 star. I like this author.
June 14, 2026
I found this book while sorting donations at my library and it is an ARC, so I'm not sure if much changed from the ARC and the final version.
This story is about Barbara Jean, also called Bobbi and BJ, who spends summers in Pennsylvania with her grandmother and her grandmother's partner, a lesbian couple. BJ loves these two women and enjoys her summers with them. The story is set in the summer of 1983 when BJ is about 14 and in 2000 when BJ returns to her grandmother's home after her death. BJ is the sole heir and she needs to deal with the logistics surrounding her grandmother's death.
This time coincides with BJ's husband asking for a divorce and BJ takes this time to try to come to terms with it. For this visit from Michigan to Pennsylvania she brings along her son, Sam and the family dog.
BJ runs into an old friend, Karen, who she shares a lot of history with and a semi-cousin, Travis.
The story involves a lot of decisions that BJ tries to make, but she is often conflicted and really cannot make a solid choice.
I read this at the beach in one day, but I can't say it was a great book. There is a twist that complicates things a lot. I think the ending is a bit unnerving and I wish the author had not made that choice. It gave me the ick.
This story is about Barbara Jean, also called Bobbi and BJ, who spends summers in Pennsylvania with her grandmother and her grandmother's partner, a lesbian couple. BJ loves these two women and enjoys her summers with them. The story is set in the summer of 1983 when BJ is about 14 and in 2000 when BJ returns to her grandmother's home after her death. BJ is the sole heir and she needs to deal with the logistics surrounding her grandmother's death.
This time coincides with BJ's husband asking for a divorce and BJ takes this time to try to come to terms with it. For this visit from Michigan to Pennsylvania she brings along her son, Sam and the family dog.
BJ runs into an old friend, Karen, who she shares a lot of history with and a semi-cousin, Travis.
The story involves a lot of decisions that BJ tries to make, but she is often conflicted and really cannot make a solid choice.
I read this at the beach in one day, but I can't say it was a great book. There is a twist that complicates things a lot. I think the ending is a bit unnerving and I wish the author had not made that choice. It gave me the ick.
September 29, 2019
I mean, it is what it is. Nice with the originality of the lesbian couple backstory (though I predicted the entire secret even before it was an obvious secret), and it's also frustrating that this aspect is so often the backstory.
In the writing, there are original phrases and those that are ones that you've read a mazillion times before. And there's just not really a spark in any of the romantic stories from which the fundamental relationships are supposed to have been built.
In the writing, there are original phrases and those that are ones that you've read a mazillion times before. And there's just not really a spark in any of the romantic stories from which the fundamental relationships are supposed to have been built.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2019
Good story; but predictable
The story had the same elements as many books. The cheating husband, the pregnant girlfriend, new beginnings with an old love interest, but there was enough of a different backstory to keep the reader engaged.
The story had the same elements as many books. The cheating husband, the pregnant girlfriend, new beginnings with an old love interest, but there was enough of a different backstory to keep the reader engaged.
January 25, 2021
Good summer read
A little drawn out, but I kept coming back. A little predictable, but fun. The ending was really no surprise.
A little drawn out, but I kept coming back. A little predictable, but fun. The ending was really no surprise.
March 6, 2024
Really enjoyed it for most of the book, but the last 50 pages or so cheapened the romance in my opinion.
September 3, 2021
Beginning was okay. Characters unoriginal and not particularly likeable. It was written kind of awkwardly as well. I think the incest definitely ruined this book for me.
April 21, 2013
This story had me engrossed in it, and waiting to see what the secrets were. As far as the writing and plot I would give it 4 stars. However, I have to say that once the secret was revealed, the difference it made in the main characters relationship, and the blithe way they both decided to ignore it, and continue on was sickening to me. In my personal opinion, the author was saying incest is ok, as long as you are in love with each other. I don't agree.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2012
Interesting subject, a long term relationship -50 years together- between two grandmothers, a perspective through the eyes of hers granddaughter, who is going through a painful divorce. It's not great literature, but with the back and fourth between the past and the present kept me interested until the end, even though I'm not 100% happy with the plot.
June 26, 2012
The book was good. The storyline was different from otherbooks I have read and was not sure how fluid it would be. I liked the flashback chapters and present day. Jill Althouse Wood does a great job of describing the relationship between the grandaughter and her two grandmothers. At times I wished for more details but in the end it came together well.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews