The Perfect Book for 4th of July Weekend

Where will you be over the holiday weekend? After a quick beach trip last weekend, we’ll be home in Maryland over the 4th. I’m hoping that the weather is good and that we can get out on the boat and log some time by the pool, which means plenty of time for reading! And I have the perfect beach/boat/pool/porch read to recommend: Rock the Boat by Beck Dorey-Stein.

I read Dorey-Stein’s first book, From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir, all about her time working as a stenographer in the Oval Office under Barack Obama, which I really enjoyed. Rock the Boat is her foray into fiction and it’s a perfect summer nostalgia adventure.

Kate Campbell’s perfect New York life has come crashing down around her and she’s forced to retreat to her childhood home in Sea Point, New Jersey, the idyllic resort town that she’s spent her whole life trying to escape. Her best friend, Ziggy Miller, has never wanted to leave Sea Point, but his father’s passing has left him adrift and their family-owned business in a financial crisis. He’s hoping his friend, Miles Hoffman aka the Prince of Sea Point, will finally come back to town and help him, but Miles has his own family and romantic issues to address. When the three of them attempt to navigate a Sea Point summer together, childhood memories resurface and new adult issues threaten the delicate balance of their relationships and the town’s future.

I thought this book was so well written-all three of the main characters were coming from very different perspectives and were interesting on their own, and then seeing how their memories overlapped and their relationships were intertwined added another level. So much of our love of summer is based on memories from when we’re growing up and trying to recreate the rosy glow of those memories, and this book really captured the complicated impact of even an idyllic childhood and how we remember those experiences. Plus I loved the resort town setting and all of the smaller characters and behind-the scenes action that was going on all around them. Read it and let me know what you think! -Eloise