“The Summer Getaway” by Susan Mallery

Description: “Single mom Robyn Caldwell needs a new plan for her future.  She has always put her family first.  Now, with her kids grown, she yearns for a change. But what can she do when her daughter has become the most demanding bride ever, her son won’t even consider college, her best friend is on the brink of marital disaster and her ex is making a monumentally bad decision that could ruin everything?

Take a vacation, of course. Press reset. When her great-aunt Lillian invites her to Santa Barbara for the summer, Robyn hops on the first plane to sunny California.

But it’s hard to get away when you’re the heart of the family. One by one, everyone she loves follows her across the country. Somehow, their baggage doesn’t feel as heavy in the sun-drenched, mishmash mansion. The more time Robyn spends with free-spirited Lillian, the more possibilities she sees—for dreams, love, family. She can have everything she ever wanted, if only she can muster the courage to take a chance on herself.”

Review: I can safely say that this was my first, and last, Susan Mallery book. If you don’t want spoilers I advise you stop reading here. I can’t help but include spoilers in my rant review.

I really enjoyed the first third of the book. The beginning develops at a smooth pace and nicely introduces each character. The characters are one dimensional but that’s often expected in a romance. There’s the cheating ex husband who never grew up, the daughter who is spoiled because she had cancer as a child and the teenage son who seems to be the most mature of the bunch. Then of course there is Robyn, she is the most well rounded character but is a stereotypical woman who devoted her life to her ex and her children and isn’t good with money. She has her flaws but also had some good qualities. The main character I liked most was Aunt Lillian. Lillian seemed like a go getter, she lived a grand life and was there for everyone. Plus, Lillian loved watching other peoples drama from the sidelines (she must have been a big Bravo fan).

Now for the parts I didn’t like:

Rant 1) The Mother-Daughter Relationship

The mother-daughter relationship was so bad. The daughter, Harlow, is such a brat and Robyn caters to her. I understand that Robyn wants to give her daughters everything because she had cancer as a child but their relationship is toxic and borderline abusive. I appreciated how Harlow’s fiancé and brother kept her in check but it didn’t do much. Harlow was extremely entitled and even though she was aware of how selfish she was she continued to do so. In the end Harlow does make some changes but I wish there was more personal growth for her throughout the book and not just at the very end.

Rant 2) Cheating Mindy

I hated Robyn & Mindy’s relationship. Mindy talked about cheating in such a casual nonchalant way. Even though Robyn discouraged Mindy from cheating I still got annoyed by both of them. Mindy is a grown married woman and for some reason thinks it’s ok to have an affair and that her husband will never find out. Once her husband finds out (duh) she seems shocked by his reaction. Instead of dealing with the consequences of her actions she leaves her husband and abandons her kids with her mother. Then to have Mindy run to Robyn, who was unsupportive of the cheating from the start, made no sense. Overall I think the Mindy story line was unnecessary, it didn’t add to the book and if anything took away from it. I think it would have been better if Mindy played more of a supportive best friend role.

Rant 3) Mason & Robyn Instalove

I actually liked the character of Mason. He has some layers to him- ex military, twice divorced, childless and now an author. Out of all of the guys Robyn dated Mason seemed to be the nicest. What I didn’t like was the instant lust/love connection between Mason & Robyn. Even though Robyn was rude during their first interaction Mason instantly thinks she’s the greatest woman alive and even gets an erection thinking about her (yuck). I would have preferred if their relationship was built a little slower. I also didn’t like how Robyn spilled all of her issues onto Mason right from the start. She claims she wants to be an independent woman but runs to the first man she sees with all of her problems. In the end I was rooting for them to get together, at least they seemed to have a mature relationship.

Rant 4) The Rest of the Characters

The characters are all very self aware but they don’t learn from it. You’d think if people were so aware of their faults they would make a conscious effort to change. The only character who really had everything together was Robyn’s son, the youngest character of them all. Overall the characters are boring, whiny and annoying. I wish there was more growth for all of them.

Rant 5) The Plot

The whole plot is people running away from their problems. I know the description says that everyone Robyn loves follows her but I didn’t know it would mean that every single person Robyn has ever spoken to would show up at Lillian’s house. Why are so many people who do not know Lillian so comfortable just showing up at her house unannounced? How do they even know her address?? The plot was unbelievable and not in a good way. The story got more and more ridiculous as it went on and yet nothing really happened. There were also some other ick factors that I don’t want to get in to, such as the behaviors of the ex husband, ex boyfriend and ex fiancé. This rant is long enough without me getting into the toxic behavior of those men. I’m not sure how such a boring book brought out so many negative emotions in me. This certainly wasn’t the fun beach read I was hoping for. I had to force myself to finish it. I know I’m in the minority here with my review. Give it a shot for yourself but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Sidenote- apologies to the author, Susan Mallery, if she somehow comes across this review. So many people love her books and this one in particular is getting rave reviews. It just wasn’t for me.