Review: Summer's Child

Summer's Child by Diane Chamberlain

Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 402
Published: March 30, 2010
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Fiction

My Rating: 4.5/5

Summary (from chapters.ca):

Early on the morning of her eleventh birthday, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea-an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant's identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria's loving family. But her silent secrets continue to haunt Daria.
  
Now, twenty years later, Shelly has grown into an unusual, ethereal young woman whom Daria continues to protect. But when Rory Taylor, a friend from Daria''s childhood and now a television producer, returns at Shelly''s request to do a story about the circumstances surrounding her birth, something precarious shifts in the small town of Kill Devil Hills.

The more questions Rory asks, the more unsettled the tiny community becomes, as closely guarded secrets and the sins of that long-ago summer begin to surface. Piece by piece, the mystery of summer's child is being exposed, a mystery that no one involved-not Shelly, Daria, not even Rory - is prepared to face.

Review:

Imagine finding a newborn baby on the beach and you are only eleven years old... do you run away or do you get help?  Either way, you will live with the consequences for the rest of your life.

Diane Chamberlain has a way of gripping the reader in the first pages of her books that makes you desperate to read more and more and more.  Summer's Child was no different. 

The format of this novel was very well set up.  I really enjoyed having a prolouge that set up the entire story and then moving to the current (twenty-two years later).  Throughout, the flashbacks were just enough that I felt satisfied with them but not enough that it gave away the storyline.  While I don't believe that this book was really meant for the mystery genre, I did find that it would satisfy those who are looking for a 'who done it' book.

The characters in Summer's Child were absolutely amazing.  I just loved Daria and thought that her heart was so big and she was such a loving sister that she literally shone off the pages.  Each and every person within the story was so perfectly placed that I never once felt that someone didn't belong.

Overall, this was a wonderful summer read and I cannot wait to pick up my next Diane Chamberlain read... I am always so happy once I do!