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Summer State of Mind
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Gallery books
384 pages
Published May 5, 2026
Goodreads/Amazon.com/Bookshop.org
I am very familiar with miss Harvey’s work over the years. This book, however, is a substantial departure from most of her previous novels. If a reader is expecting a light and fluffy read, which is what most of her books are, and that is what they are looking for in their summer reading experience, they may be disappointed. Since I sometimes find her books to be a little too light and fluffy for me, I really enjoyed this novel. It had the flavor of summer which is what I look for in her books but at the same time, there was more to it than just the seasons.
This book opens with a baby being found in a dumpster. That is how the reader knows that this book will be more then mere summer fluff. The author handles the difficult subject of child abandonment by a teenage mother with aplomb and grace. She does not make judgments. The novel unfolds with a hospital worker who becomes emotionally attached to this baby and wants to take care of the baby herself. At the same time, the town searches for the mother of the baby. That is all I will say about the plot because I do not want to give it away. However, the author develops the plot well and flushes out the characters by speaking through multiple perspectives. Sometimes in a book, this can become confusing. I often do not enjoy books with multiple perspectives because I find them confusing. In this case, the author does this very proficiently and the reader does not become confused. This allows us to understand the different characters in the novel. We can have empathy for all of the different characters. At the same time the author maintains the light and breezy summer character that she is known for. There are also romance and family relationships embedded within this novel. Of course, the romance matches the summer breeziness of Miss Harvey’s trademark novels of summer. The exploration of family relationships gives this work depth, along with the very serious subject of child abandonment. This novel may be the only one of hers that may lend itself to rereading. There is a great deal of content to grasp. The pacing of the novel was also stellar. There is nothing negative that I can say about this book. I think it was the perfect book for the beginning of summer even though it was far more serious than I was expecting.
Thanks to gallery books and Edelweiss for providing me with an advanced copy of this wonderful novel. Five stars.
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