When I woke the dream was gone: THESE SUMMER STORMS.

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love a good soapy family drama as much as the next person, but there was something about this one that I couldn't fully get into! I attribute a lot of it to the writing style. It was written with these weird choppy short sentences thrown in, which put the rhythm of the story off balance and kept me from fully getting in the flow.

The premise is there. Alice is exiled from her wealthy family, forced to make her own way without her family's preposterous wealth. The only reason she returns to the fold is the death of her egocentric father. On her family's private island, she learns that the terms of inheritance dictate that she and her three siblings will only inherit her father's vast fortune if they all stay on the island for an entire week and complete an inheritance game: a series of tasks laid out by her father and overseen by his righthand man, Jack Dean. For Alice, it feels like a death sentence.

Using the word "games" seems like an outright exaggeration. It's a few stipulations, mostly punctuated by bickering and dealing with their drunken, overwrought mother. Alice forms an odd relationship with Jack. The island setting is dramatic and stark, with many wealthy friends and family headed there for a "celebration of life" for Alice's late father. Alice's three siblings are mostly hateful. Very little happens until a rush of secrets are revealed, most of which seem predictable.

Some of the drama here is enjoyable (rich people problems have their moments, after all), and I didn't mind Alice or Jack, or the island locale, but after all the hype, this one left me a little lacking.

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