Blog tour: "Summer of Love" by Kerri Maher

Summer of Love by Kerri Maher
Published July 2026 via Berkley
★★★★

In the present day, Dawn is struggling—she's stopped drinking, but sobriety is a tenuous thing, and she can't imagine telling her mother, a renowned vintner, that her relationship with alcohol is so different from her mother's. And in the past, Winnie too is struggling: She's rejected the stability of her upbringing in favor of a life as an artist, and while she finds creating rewarding, her relationship (passionate, complicated) leaves things to be desired.

How the stories overlap gradually becomes clearer as the book goes on. Or rather: It's clear early on that Winnie and Dawn's mother are sisters, but Winnie's been gone since Dawn was little; she's never had a chance to know Winnie as an adult, but she and Winnie have more in common than she knows to ask about.

I read this largely for the portion of the story that takes place in the past. I go through phases of wanting books about the 60s and 70s, though (unhelpfully) I can never quite decide whether I want something realistic or something idealized. This falls more in the former camp; although Winnie is wrapped up in the countercultural movement, this isn't all hippies and Woodstock and free love. Instead Winnie is trying to figure out how to eke out a creative life, and constrained by the limitations of the time and place, and unable to fully advocate for herself within her relationship or within her family. Meanwhile her sister Miranda—Dawn's mother—is taking over the family business, and although she has a head for it and a love for it and a strong support system, the 60s and 70s are not an easy time to be a woman in male-dominated business.

Overall it's a fairly quiet book. My heart went into my throat when Winnie had the ethics run-ins (vague to avoid spoilers!), but that's resolved quietly too. At some point it became clear to me how the family parts of things were going to play out, and from there it was largely a matter of the pieces all coming together, a climax for the past storyline, a climax for the present storyline. Perhaps worth noting that there's a fair amount of discussion of drinking and sobriety, which will be appealing to some readers and warrant caution to others; there's no glorification of rock-bottoms, which is nice, but it's something that Dawn in particular spends a lot of the book thinking about.

3.5 stars for a thoughtful family story with some food for thought.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley and for inviting me to take part in a blog tour.