Books & Spoons Review for THE SUMMER THAT MADE US by Robyn Carr

​For Louise and Jo Hempstead — sisters who married brothers and each had three daughters — summers at Lake Waseka were the happiest of times, filled with days of boating, swimming races, and the sound of children laughing. For years, the lake was the place where the women and their daughters loved each other the most. But when an unthinkable tragedy strikes in the form of an accidental drowning, the family closes up the lake house for good, never to return.
Now, more than 25 years later, Louise’s daughter Meg is sick with cancer and enlists her sister, Charlene, to reopen the lake house and gather the family for one last summer at the lake. But years of pain and unspoken grief have pulled the Hempstead women in different directions, away from each other: Meg might be dying; Charlene is unexpectedly jobless; Hope is reckoning with
the break-down of her marriage; Krista has just returned from a long prison sentence; Beverly is still traumatized by the drowning; and Louise and Jo haven’t been close in years.
But blood is thicker than water, and Charlene hopes that time and family might be able to heal even the deepest wounds. In this beautifully woven story about the complexities of family dynamics and female relationships, return to the lake with the Hempstead girls for a season of healing, second chances, and finally making peace with the past.

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A heartfelt look at a family, the drama, the tragedies, the joys, the bond, the troubles of it. Each character is drawn with a sharp pencil, with the place to grow and deal with their issues. The characters might seem like the stereotypes of each of the issues they have, yet most of them manage to break the mold they are set in and surprise the reader, and the rest of the family. 
Slowly but surely the story pulled me in and I was mesmerized by the memories from the lake and the troublesome life the two sisters families had lived. There's not so much that happens in the story, it is mostly built of memories of the past and in the current the character development that we witness by a lot of healing, growing, forgiving, moving on and learning to live again. 
With the large cast of characters, that most of them also get to tell part of the tale from their point of view, it can get a crowded and confusing to keep up who was who and where in life they were again. The time changes from the past to present and back again, as well as the  POV changes, were not marked or separated in the eARC I received. 
Some of the family members were easier to relate to than others, to some I felt I didn't get a connection at all. I found Krista, the ex-convict, to be the most likable and relatable character in the story. She was a reasonable, smart, humble, kind, and considerate person. 
The family made me laugh with their exaggerated dysfunctions, making my family look rather 'normal' and functioning. Yet they touched my heart, their need to fix things, find solutions to their issues, and find the family connection again was genuine and sincere. The support they were willing to give to each other was admirable, and the fragile connections between the family members were found to be on a solid foundation. 
A heartening story about family dysfunctions, about forgiveness, about new chances, and the possibilities to start again, about acceptance, and how the support of the loved ones can change everything, even make the troublesome past lighter and easier to leave behind. A story about hope and love, about home and family bonds.
~ Four Spoons

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​Robyn Carr is an award-winning, #1 New York
Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels,
including the critically acclaimed Virgin River and
Thunder Point series, as well as highly praised
women’s fiction titles such as Four Friends, What
We Find, and The Life She Wants.
Robyn has won a RITA Award from the Romance
Writers of America, and in 2016 she was awarded
RWA’s Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award
for her contributions to the genre. Her novels have
been translated into 19 languages in 30 countries.
Originally from Minnesota, Robyn now resides in
Henderson, Nevada, with her aviator husband; they
have two grown children. When she isn’t writing,
Robyn puts her energy into community service: she
has mentored a seniors’ memoir-writing group,
attends book club chats in and out of state
whenever possible, and is working with her local
library on the Carr Chat Series, a program centered
on fundraising and visiting author events that bring
writers, their books, and the community together.

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