The Summer of Good Intentions by Wendy Francis

This was a family saga and one with a very beautiful setting.

Summertime on Cape Cod and three sisters return to their family home. The traditions of summertime are many in this family and the children and their parents all look forward to this period of getting together and just un-winding.

Maggie is the eldest who has taken on the mantle of "mother". Organising the whole month and making sure that everything and everyone blends in smoothly with the other is her job and one she takes seriously. Mac her husband leaves her to it, knowing she will do a good job but worried that she maybe taking on more than she can chew. Jess and Tim have marital problems and Jess does not know whether at the end of the month she will have a marriage and a home to return to. Virgie the youngest has just started a new relationship which she thinks is the "one" and is in two minds whether she should have asked or not asked Jackson to accompany her.

How life can throw a spanner in the works is the story! Arthur their father does not seem to be quite right though no one can pin it down. Their mother Gloria seems to be having a mid life crisis and after having left Arthur has found herself a boyfriend and turns up with Gio at the summer house, making all of them feel embarassed as to how to exactly cope with the threesome. Jess and Tim have to sort out the tensions of their marriage which are making others uncomfortable and Virgie is having a medical crisis which is going to affect them all very badly.

I loved the easy going style of writing of this author and the way the story is seamlessly blended one into the other. It is so descriptive not just of the physical background of this area but also of the lives, characters and personalities of this family that it brings it all very much alive in my mind.

The book was a download from Netgalley courtesy of Simon & Schuster.