Postcards From Summer by. Cynthia Platt | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Postcards From Summer

Author: Cynthia Platt

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 352

Publication Date: 5/31/22

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Categories: Young Adult, Mystery, Romance, Coming of Age

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

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Thank you to Simon & Schuster for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Seventeen-year-old Lexi has always wanted to know more about the mother who passed away when she was only a child. But her dad will barely talk about her. He says he’d rather live in the present with Lexi, her stepmom, and her half-brother. Lexi loves her family, too, but is it so wrong to want to learn about the mom she never got to know?

When Lexi’s grandma dies and secretly leaves her a worn blue chest that belonged to Lexi’s mother, Lexi is ecstatic to find a treasure trove of keepsakes. Her mom held onto letters, pamphlets, flyers, and news articles all from the same beautiful summertime getaway: Mackinac Island—plus a cryptic postcard that hints at a forbidden romance. If Lexi wants answers, this island is where she needs to go.

Without telling her dad, Lexi goes to the gorgeous Mackinac Island in Lake Superior, reachable only by ferry. Cars are forbidden and bikes are the number one mode of transportation along the quaint cobblestone streets, and the bright white hotel that looms like a high castle over charming cafés and bookshops. While following her mother’s footsteps, Lexi befriends an elderly former Broadway star and a charming young hotel worker while quickly falling in love with her surroundings.

But though the island may be beautiful, it’s hiding unfortunate secrets—some with her mother at the center. Could some questions be best left buried beneath the blue waters?

Content Warning: Death of Parent

I really love the cover of this book and that’s the main reason I requested it.

Lexi doesn’t know much about her mom but when her estranged grandmother dies and leaves her a box of her mom’s things she wants to find out more. With encouragement from her step-sister Chloe, they concoct a plan for her to find out more about her mom and visiting Mackinac Island in Michigan. It requires lying to her dad and step-mom, but Lexi feels like she has no choice.

The story starts off fine and we have two timelines going on – Emma (Lexi’s mom), is telling her story in the past, and Lexi continues in the present. Emma is a sunshine girl, who’s life has been easy so far. Her parents own a lovely hotel resort on Mackinac Island. She’s friendly with the employees, especially one guy named JR who she’s known from when they were little kids. But this summer is different – Emma has befriended brother and sisters, Linda and Ryan. They become a foursome all summer long until things start to change.

Emma is a sweet girl who loves art, she’s always late to things, she loves her summer dresses and being carefree. Her parents want her to learn more responsibility though because they hope she will take over the hotel business but Emma doesn’t want the hotel to be her future. She’s not sure what she wants. Even when it comes to guys. JR is her best friend, and he’s known her forever but Ryan has an amazing smile and a charming personality like her.

I was invested in finding out Emma’s history for Lexi’s sake. Lexi just needs to know more about her mom, and I sympathized with her. But I had a few issues with the story. Lexi’s character wasn’t someone I could connect to. I felt like a lot of the characters weren’t very developed outside of Emma, JR, Ryan and Linda. Lexi is a very indecisive character and needs encouragement from her step-sister Chloe who we only get to know over the phone. Chloe is there in the beginning of the story but barely there, anywhere else in the story. For someone who is investigating her mother’s history, Lexi was strangely reluctant to follow the plan she has, even ignoring advice from people on the island – which was so strange to me. Instead she tries to force some random worker to help her and clearly he doesn’t want to. It was bizarre.

I was drawn to Emma’s upbringing in the beginning, mostly because the setting of Mackinac Island sounded wonderful, but she is as indecisive as Lexi. She gets herself into a love triangle and it’s super frustrating. I usually don’t mind love triangles but Emma comes off as innocent yet has two guys in love with her and she can’t seem to choose which one she wants to be with. It ruins the friendship between all of them, including Linda. It was just sad. Everything revolved around Emma even beyond her death.

Another thing that wasn’t vibing with me was the whole mystery of Emma’s life and Lexi’s investigation of it. It was slow, add the love triangle to it and I felt unsatisfied with the story. I guess I thought from the cover this would be a more light-hearted story.

Why you should read it:

• Mackinac Island setting
• summer of friendship

Why you might not want to read it:

• love triangle with a girl who couldn’t really make a choice and stick with it (until it had ruined relationships)
• slow developing story, Lexi’s investigation went nowhere at times
• indecisive characters: Emma and Lexi

My Thoughts:

I love the cover and the concept of the story. The setting was wonderful and I even had to Google it to see if it was real! It is. The setting was my favorite part. The execution of the story fell short for me. I didn’t connect to Emma or Lexi, they were both way too indecisive for me. The story moved a bit too slowly and I didn’t enjoy the love triangle. Unfortunately this story wasn’t for me.

📚 ~ Yolanda