What do you think?
Rate this book
By Invitation Only
Nobody knows the Hamptons like Jodi Della Femina, who captures the inside world of love, society, and scandal in this delicious summer page-turner.
Toni Fratelli has a busy summer ahead.
After several setbacks in Manhattan force her to move home to East Hampton, her To Do list is full. She has to help her father run his popular Italian restaurant. Start up her own catering company. And plan, cater, and be the Maid of Honor at her best friend’s wedding on the beach.
Unfortunately for Toni, the groom’s mother is a competitive New York socialite who’ll stop at nothing to make sure her son doesn’t marry a local girl – especially on the family’s Southampton estate. The biggest caterer in the Hamptons is trying to run her fledgling business out of town. And worse than anything, Toni seems to be losing her best friend to a circle of snooty bridesmaids. Everything might be tolerable – if her dad could just stop treating her as if she was seventeen again.
At least Toni finds love. When she meets a sexy surfer named Chris, it quickly turns into the most romantic summer fling of her life. But there’s more to Chris than his vintage Mustang and used guitar … and he’s not sure Toni’s going to like the truth. Before the end of the summer she’ll be forced to face her hopes – and fears – as trying to forgive becomes her biggest challenge yet.
Toni Fratelli has a busy summer ahead.
After several setbacks in Manhattan force her to move home to East Hampton, her To Do list is full. She has to help her father run his popular Italian restaurant. Start up her own catering company. And plan, cater, and be the Maid of Honor at her best friend’s wedding on the beach.
Unfortunately for Toni, the groom’s mother is a competitive New York socialite who’ll stop at nothing to make sure her son doesn’t marry a local girl – especially on the family’s Southampton estate. The biggest caterer in the Hamptons is trying to run her fledgling business out of town. And worse than anything, Toni seems to be losing her best friend to a circle of snooty bridesmaids. Everything might be tolerable – if her dad could just stop treating her as if she was seventeen again.
At least Toni finds love. When she meets a sexy surfer named Chris, it quickly turns into the most romantic summer fling of her life. But there’s more to Chris than his vintage Mustang and used guitar … and he’s not sure Toni’s going to like the truth. Before the end of the summer she’ll be forced to face her hopes – and fears – as trying to forgive becomes her biggest challenge yet.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
February 12, 2016
Absolutely loved everything about this!
July 29, 2017
Toni has been in a love-hate relationship with August all her life. The weather is still beautiful. The trees are lush. [...] But each day the sun sets a bit earlier and the shadows seem longer, even at midday. The pumpkin patches are dotted with orange and the nights start to get cool. Toni knows the calendar specified thirty-one days in August–one of the longest months of the year–but not one of them went by more quickly for her.
August 4, 2024
Very fun read.
January 17, 2026
Terrible. Anticlimactic.
November 13, 2016
Couldn't finish it.
August 7, 2011
I honestly didn't think this book was anything great. It was recommended by my library's book club, that it was funny. Well it wasn't.
First, the characters were underdeveloped. The only one character that had any history or motivation was Toni. All we really know about Didi (the mother-in-law) is that she's really scared of getting old. The author stressed again and again about how Didi is scared of the sun or doing anything to make her old. Example p213 Did thinks of herself as "old cheddar." The repetition of Did's age as an issue is overdone. Then there is Chris - Toni's love interest. When the book starts, the author makes a small attempt to describe him and his friends. After those few pages, we really don't get ANY MORE input or ANY understanding into Chris (forget even his friends) until 2/3 of the book - p218. Seriously... all we know is Toni loves him and that Chris is keeping a secret. We also learn that Chris miraculously kisses Toni every time she had an doubts about him. But we don't understand Chris, what he thinks, what motivates him, or WHO he is, his background, etc. Chris, for all we know, could just be any male "boyfriend character" placeholder - Totally attached and devoted to Toni, but devoid of personality. Our picture of Layla - the other important female character- is just as bleak. All we know it's she's gorgeous, about to be married to a very rich family, and she likes to be on the beach getting tan while her friends do all the work.
What I did learn is that this book is NOT about summer love, NOT about best friends, not about Careers or success. Essentially this book is written as a thinly disguised Hamptons tour guide and Vogue designers reference in one. We don't NEED to know every LOCATION that Toni remembers or goes to. WE don't need to know the roads that all the rich people live on or how much traffic there is. We don't NEED to know the names of celebrities who live or have owns homes there. I really don't give a crap about how many people remember Toni as a kid. The author went TOO overboard with all this, it just overtook the entire story. It read less as a look into Toni's past (which was what the author fruitfully tried to achieve) and more like like the Guru Guide to Hamptons that she quoted too often.
I know I'm being harsh, but that's because I can speak from my own experience. I've been to the Hamptons and been stuck in traffic, went to farm stands, and local restaurants. it's really NOT that much of a big deal. No need for all that text.
Finally what bothered me about this book is all the constant brand name throwing and reference to Hamptons luxury. For example: p.207 Jimmy Choos, p215 "It's not that big" referring to a Hamptons house (a pool house mistaken for the mansion). iPhone, Tiffany's, Bagley Mishka, and tons of other luxury brands just busting out. I'm not materialistic, but I love reading Vogue and even have a subscription. Vogue is honest in its intent, in that it's a luxury magazine about luxury brands, and unlike the book, doesn't not pretend to be something it's not. It feels like like the author just stole all the ads and inserted the brands into every which spot in the book she could find - a brand guide pretending to be a novel - very dishonest. Really.... we KNOW they're rich without constantly throwing it out there.
My favorite part of the book is the ending. The bride finally gets the wedding she wanted, Toni gets the customers and the guy (who btw quits his rich job to help Toni was a restaurant - totally unbelievable), and Didi all of a sudden becomes nice to everyone. A miracle ending that everyone saw coming, yet still sweet. Why DID on EARTH did Didi all of a sudden bring herself down to the "ordinary people" level. Jail day alone wouldn't have done that. It just erks me how under developed Didi's character is. The author just flings an ending at us that we all know we''ll love.
There is NOT MOTION, or ACTION throughout this whole book. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's just a lot of names, places, and Toni rushing to get stuff done. A whole lot of NOTHING. If you took out all the shopping, dressing, tour guide text, and poor character development, you'd be left with a 20 page short story. NOT worth reading at all.
So there you have it folks. I've never tore a book apart in this manner before. Nor have I given a book 1 star before. But I guess there is a first time for everything.
First, the characters were underdeveloped. The only one character that had any history or motivation was Toni. All we really know about Didi (the mother-in-law) is that she's really scared of getting old. The author stressed again and again about how Didi is scared of the sun or doing anything to make her old. Example p213 Did thinks of herself as "old cheddar." The repetition of Did's age as an issue is overdone. Then there is Chris - Toni's love interest. When the book starts, the author makes a small attempt to describe him and his friends. After those few pages, we really don't get ANY MORE input or ANY understanding into Chris (forget even his friends) until 2/3 of the book - p218. Seriously... all we know is Toni loves him and that Chris is keeping a secret. We also learn that Chris miraculously kisses Toni every time she had an doubts about him. But we don't understand Chris, what he thinks, what motivates him, or WHO he is, his background, etc. Chris, for all we know, could just be any male "boyfriend character" placeholder - Totally attached and devoted to Toni, but devoid of personality. Our picture of Layla - the other important female character- is just as bleak. All we know it's she's gorgeous, about to be married to a very rich family, and she likes to be on the beach getting tan while her friends do all the work.
What I did learn is that this book is NOT about summer love, NOT about best friends, not about Careers or success. Essentially this book is written as a thinly disguised Hamptons tour guide and Vogue designers reference in one. We don't NEED to know every LOCATION that Toni remembers or goes to. WE don't need to know the roads that all the rich people live on or how much traffic there is. We don't NEED to know the names of celebrities who live or have owns homes there. I really don't give a crap about how many people remember Toni as a kid. The author went TOO overboard with all this, it just overtook the entire story. It read less as a look into Toni's past (which was what the author fruitfully tried to achieve) and more like like the Guru Guide to Hamptons that she quoted too often.
I know I'm being harsh, but that's because I can speak from my own experience. I've been to the Hamptons and been stuck in traffic, went to farm stands, and local restaurants. it's really NOT that much of a big deal. No need for all that text.
Finally what bothered me about this book is all the constant brand name throwing and reference to Hamptons luxury. For example: p.207 Jimmy Choos, p215 "It's not that big" referring to a Hamptons house (a pool house mistaken for the mansion). iPhone, Tiffany's, Bagley Mishka, and tons of other luxury brands just busting out. I'm not materialistic, but I love reading Vogue and even have a subscription. Vogue is honest in its intent, in that it's a luxury magazine about luxury brands, and unlike the book, doesn't not pretend to be something it's not. It feels like like the author just stole all the ads and inserted the brands into every which spot in the book she could find - a brand guide pretending to be a novel - very dishonest. Really.... we KNOW they're rich without constantly throwing it out there.
My favorite part of the book is the ending. The bride finally gets the wedding she wanted, Toni gets the customers and the guy (who btw quits his rich job to help Toni was a restaurant - totally unbelievable), and Didi all of a sudden becomes nice to everyone. A miracle ending that everyone saw coming, yet still sweet. Why DID on EARTH did Didi all of a sudden bring herself down to the "ordinary people" level. Jail day alone wouldn't have done that. It just erks me how under developed Didi's character is. The author just flings an ending at us that we all know we''ll love.
There is NOT MOTION, or ACTION throughout this whole book. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's just a lot of names, places, and Toni rushing to get stuff done. A whole lot of NOTHING. If you took out all the shopping, dressing, tour guide text, and poor character development, you'd be left with a 20 page short story. NOT worth reading at all.
So there you have it folks. I've never tore a book apart in this manner before. Nor have I given a book 1 star before. But I guess there is a first time for everything.
November 11, 2020
Cute fun read. Enjoyed it.
December 22, 2012
Toni Fratelli finds herself with a failed business, living back in the Hamptons with her father, trying to restart her life as a caterer while trying to ignore real life. Toni hates imperfection. Not in others. Or at least not in her best friend Layla who is marrying one of the season's most eligible bachelors, nor in her dog, nor in her parents who had a pretty acrimonious divorce when she was a young teen. But when it comes to boyfriends, she keeps expecting the other shoe to shop. When she meets and starts dating this wonderful guy she knows it's too perfect and, of course, it is. Whether she can get past that is something only best friends can help work out. This is a good beach read, summer in the Hamptons, love, best friends, sun, sand, oodles of money (but not in the hands of our lovely heroines.) I liked Toni a lot and understood where her fears were coming from. Layla, her best friend, never connected with me and not just because she was model gorgeous but because she seemed so shallow. Chris, our hero, was hard to figure, but I would have given him a second chance too.
June 3, 2010
I am so used to watching Ina Garten on "Barefoot Contessa" on Foodnetwork, that I guess that I thought everyone in East Hampton was just as nice as her and her friend appear to be. Then I watched "Royal Pains" this summer on USA. Whoo boy was I wrong! This book is a combination of both worlds. Toni goes back home to the Hamptons, to her dad's restaurant where she opens a catering division. She is back because of a faile relationship, and her own failed restaurant. Her best friend is getting married to and Hampton Blue Book, much to his mothers' chagrin, and the local catering Ice Queen is SO not happy that Toni is competish.
Everyone you want to get theirs does, and everyone you want to see suceed does. Short, and I mean short, chapters will help even the slowest reader finish this in record time. Good beach read or just for a quick one.
Everyone you want to get theirs does, and everyone you want to see suceed does. Short, and I mean short, chapters will help even the slowest reader finish this in record time. Good beach read or just for a quick one.
October 12, 2011
This is the story of a middle class girl who is engaged to a rich guy. His parents, especially his mother, will not let Layla have the simple beach wedding she wants. Layla ends up helping plan an event that will not stop, tents, garden wedding, fancy gown, a caterer her future mother in law wants, instead of her friend, Toni, as caterer. The event spirals out of contraol until Layla and Toni both feel out of control. Only a catastropic event can keep the wedding from happening.
REad the rest of the book to find out what happens. the events are quite shocking and who is behind them is also shocking. But....in the end, Layla's friends turn an almost cancelled event into the wedding of her dreams!
REad the rest of the book to find out what happens. the events are quite shocking and who is behind them is also shocking. But....in the end, Layla's friends turn an almost cancelled event into the wedding of her dreams!
October 10, 2010
It was ok and would read the author again. Toni Fratelli has moved back home from the big city to try catering again in her father's restaurant. One of her problems returning home is she is from the famous posh and wealthy Hamptons; but she was from the "poor" side of town. Her best friend is marrying a man from the "rich" side of town and asks Toni to help. The mother of the groom has another plan for a huge society affair and plans to use the local caterer. Toni tries to reconcile her new business venture, living at home again and meeting a new boyfriend. The twist is the new guy is not exactly what he appears. Fairly entertaining and clean w/ a dose of real life drama.
April 6, 2012
This book has a beautiful cover and in the beginning when Toni thinks about her love for the beach & how much of a part of her it is, well, I can really relate to that, being from a beach area myself. However, the only word that I have for this book is tedious. the characters are stereotypes, it's basically the same chick lit formula that's been done to death with a too neat ending. I am tired of reading about the boring, average girl with the super hot best friend...who has no luck with men until she gets the amazing guy in the end. In real life, that average girl is going to end up with a guy just as average and boring as herself. ;)
April 17, 2015
You know what I absolutely loved about this book? What I found riveting and completely enjoyable? The total lack of self-flaggellation and body mourning on the part of the main character. She did not bemoan her hips. She did not negate her waist. Her focus was external and while I donʻt know if that was the authorʻs intent, it created a beautiful, engaging, entertaining story that celebrated relationships instead of focusing on the main characters looks.
November 30, 2010
Funny how much someone's life can change. Toni's boyfriend broke up with her, her business went under, and she has to move back in with her dad in the Hamptons. Then her best friend gets engaged to a guy who's family is extremely rich. And she meets a surfer dude who isn't quite who he seems..
I really enjoyed this book, and all the differing view points it illustrated.
I really enjoyed this book, and all the differing view points it illustrated.
October 5, 2009
Frothy and forgettable. The writing wasn't awful, but the characters were certainly of the "Who was that again?" variety. If you're looking for a beach read - there are much, much better ones out there.
March 8, 2011
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I guess since the author is the daughter of the famous Hampton's restaurant owner that she does have a lot of background knowledge about life in the Hamptons. It took a bit of time to get into the story but then it was a quick read.
November 28, 2009
It was an entertaining book. Not a typical "guy" book, but I thought that Femina did a wonderful job developing the characters. Also, there was a nice pace that kept me engaged.
October 26, 2009
This was a fast, fun read that I couldn't put down!
February 7, 2010
This book is dull and cliche. Save your time for another read.
February 21, 2010
Light, pleasant romance about an aspiring caterer and her BFF. Not great lit but entertaining...set in The Hamptons (NY) and you'll learn a bit about this area of Long Island as you read.
June 3, 2010
Easy beach read... no brainer
June 6, 2010
A great chick lit read without the language and graphic sex scenes, I really enjoyed it.
July 21, 2010
This was an enjoyable, light summer read. Predictable at times, but enjoyable still!
October 7, 2010
cute story.
June 2, 2011
Great book, please write more!
November 3, 2011
Definitely a summer read. Especially if you are at the beach or in the Hamptons :)
September 9, 2011
fluffy beach chick lit
March 8, 2012
This was a fun easy read. I enjoyed the characters and their connection! Well done!
July 1, 2012
I read this in the Keys and loved every second. It was quick and fun.. if not a little predictable.. but I didn't mind. :)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews