Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Growing up, Lara always dreamed of leaving Nantucket to become a writer. Now that she's a bestselling novelist living in New York City, she realizes that success isn't what she thought it would be. Confused, and with a harrowing case of writer's block, Lara misses the island way of life more than ever. But going back to Nantucket out of the blue isn't so easy, as a deep rift with her childhood best friend, Isabelle, has kept the two from speaking for years.
When her mother is laid off from her job and becomes depressed, Lara reluctantly comes home, leaving a failed relationship and hopefully her other troubles behind. But facing her estranged best friend is harder than she expects. And falling for Isabelle's brother, Sebastian-who was also Lara's teenage crush-only complicates things. Lara soon realizes that she must remedy the mistakes of her past in order to find true happiness.
Returning to her Nantucket childhood home in the wake of personal and professional setbacks, novelist Keely Green is forced to face her estranged best friend, Isabelle, and when she begins to fall for Isabelle's brother, things become complicated.
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Publishers Weekly Review
Childhood best friends who bond over their shared desire to be writers deal with the ups and downs of life, love, and family in the soapy latest from Thayer (A Nantucket Wedding). As girls on Nantucket, Keely Green and Isabelle Maxwell do everything together: playing at Surfside Beach, sharing secrets, and dreaming of their futures as successful writers. But Keely does keep two things close to her chest: She's in love with Isabelle's older brother, and she can't help being envious of wealthy Isabelle's lifestyle. Responsible, good-hearted Keely works hard, applying herself to her writing and school while taking part-time jobs to help her working-class family. Eventually Keely and Isabelle's priorities lead them in different directions before returning them to the island they love. Peripheral characters are flat, and Thayer relies on long passages of exposition to move the story forward through the months and years. Despite this, readers who appreciate a busy, uplifting tale of friendship and romance will enjoy spending time on Thayer's Nantucket. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Keely and Isabelle are inseparable growing up on Nantucket until some high school boy trouble causes a rift, and their friendship is never quite the same. Years later, the two still seem to be in competition with one another. Despite some setbacks, Keely is about to achieve her childhood dream of becoming a published author a dream that she once shared with Isabelle, whose boyfriend has just left her for another woman. As Keely's star rises, she leaves Nantucket for New York, where she makes new friends and meets a man who is perfect on paper. When a family crisis brings Keely back to Nantucket, she realizes that she is most at home on the island, but true happiness evades her until she reconnects with Isabelle. Thayer's latest is a tale of friendship lost and found, with light romantic elements and a touch of family drama. Keely is a relatable character whose personal and professional trajectory is wish fulfilment for fans of relationship fiction. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Shelley Noble should add Surfside Sisters to their beach bag.--Nanette Donohue Copyright 2019 Booklist
Kirkus Book Review
Longtime best friends struggle to remain connected when their lives take divergent paths.Keely Green and Isabelle Maxwell have been attached at the hip since preschool. Although they are both natives of Nantucket, they have always had very different lifestyles. Where Keely resides in a modest home, Isabelle's attorney father is able to provide his family with every luxury. Even so, the girls bond over their love of Nantucket and shared dreams of becoming writers. As they grow and end up at different colleges, they see that life can often complicate friendships, and they begin to gradually grow apart. When Isabelle declares she has found the perfect man, Keely begins dating Isabelle's long-ago boyfriend, Tommy. Tension over Tommy causes the young women's relationship to grow increasingly strained. Adding drama to this now-fraught relationship is the moment when Keely makes it as a bestselling novelist and moves to New York, while Isabelle, who was always the more cosmopolitan of the pair, is still living on the island, with no professional prospects in sight. Despite her success, Keely feels empty without Isabelle at her side. As these young women see their lives unfolding in ways they never expected, the biggest question they face is whether they will ever find a way back to each other. Offering details about life on Nantucketboth during the winter months, when only true islanders are present, and in summer, when the town is overrun with vacationersThayer (A Nantucket Wedding, 2018, etc.) brings the island to life so vividly that Nantucket becomes its own character. Told in the third person, the novel follows Keely as she navigates coming-of-age, changing friendships, romance, and caring for an ailing parent. The author also sheds a bright light on some of the difficulties inherent in the writer's life, including loneliness and constant self-doubt. Told in a plot-focused, accessible prose, the novel appears at first to be a light read, but it deals artfully with heavier issues, including guilt, envy, and forgiveness.An engaging tale about how childhood expectations can be transformed on the journey through adulthood. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.