Summer's Never Over - Softcover

Bozeman, Darby

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0593953533 ISBN 13: 9780593953532

Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

In this addictive dual-timeline debut novel, a woman confronts her past at the remote Southern summer camp where the tragic death of her fellow counselor may not have been an accident after all.

Five years ago, Greer left her family's summer camp in the mountains of Georgia and vowed she'd never return. An idyllic season had turned into a nightmare after a mysterious Phantom began stalking the camp--and ended with Greer's friend and fellow counselor dead. Losing Steph shattered everything, and Greer's been fleeing from the grief ever since.

But then Greer's mother dies, and Greer finds herself back at Dread's Cove, surrounded by the people she was closest to that intense summer. Two ex-boyfriends--one a childhood sweetheart, the other the guy she's never gotten over--and old friends. Including Margo, Steph's best friend.

Greer and Margo didn't leave things on the best of terms. But now, Margo needs her. Margo never believed that Steph's death in that horrific fire was an accident--and she's on the trail of an explosive secret Steph took to her grave.

Greer has to make a choice: keep the Cove's secrets and her own, or finally face the truth about that summer.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Darby Bozeman grew up in Portland, Oregon, but she's spent the better part of her adult life in the South. She has a master's in teaching from the University of Georgia and she taught middle school English for five years. When she's not reading or writing, she loves acting in community theater and discussing pop culture. She lives in Knoxville with her husband, Bryan, and their cat, Claude.

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CHAPTER One

NOW

When I found out my mom was dead, I was scrubbing vomit off the floor of the bar bathroom. It was just before midnight, and I'd been at Dogwood House for close to seven hours. I was caked in sweat and chunky glitter, and I bore the battle scars of three beers that had been spilled on me by a bachelor party who hadn't even tipped.

My phone vibrated on the sink, and I shook my head and ignored it. Rig. As if I'd had a change of heart, in the middle of the night. But he called me again, and again, then finally texted the words he knew would get my attention: It's your mom.

I called him back, and he upended my whole life in a few words. It was sudden cardiac arrest, on a late-night walk around the lake. Her cousin-my Aunt Val-had been the one to find her. She'd been only fifty-one. Way too young to die. Healthy and strong, on the brink of the most important summer of her life.

And now, she was gone. Without any warning or preparation.

I shrieked so loudly that people started pounding on the door, threatening to break it down if I didn't open it. I just slid slowly to the floor, feeling the earth shift entirely beneath me.

"No, that can't be right, when the ambulance gets there, they'll-"

"She's gone, ladybug," Rig said, gently cutting me off. "They're already here." His voice cracked, and I closed my eyes, struck dumb by the raw shock of pain.

Rig's voice had always been comforting, and I was briefly disoriented by the wave of nostalgia that came over me. But listening to him now, as he told me that she'd been dead before she hit the ground, was the least comforted I'd ever felt. And the most alone.

The tears were flowing freely down my face, into my mouth and onto my shoes. My mother was not- She could not be- No. She'd texted me just last week, hadn't she? A picture of the new mess hall, which I hadn't responded to.

"This isn't real. Say it isn't real. Please."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"What do I do?" I whispered, though I already knew. Of course I knew.

Rig sighed, the sound terrible and heavy on the other end of the line. "You come home."

I could picture him with shocking clarity, knowing he was sitting hunched over on his heinous plaid couch, the same one Chelsea and I had fallen asleep on hundreds of times as kids; somehow, it had been left untouched by the fire. He'd be running his hands through his hair, helpless, wondering how he was going to run Dread's Cove without my mom. They'd been doing it together for almost thirty years. He'd be looking out the window at the full moon, bright and ominous, seeing the sky lit up with the stars I never saw the full scope of here in Atlanta.

"Do you need me to come get you? I'll drive down there right now. Or I can send Wes."

There was a buzzing in my ears as he spoke, a numbness in my fingers that was slowly crawling its way up my arms, over my shoulders, down my spine.

"No, it's okay." I swallowed the boulder-size lump in my throat, drummed my chewed-up fingers on the cool tile floor. "I can do it. I'll drive myself." Even though the thought of being back there-of seeing camp for the first time in five years, seeing it without her, and without Steph-was enough to steal all the breath from my lungs. Enough to consume me, yank me beneath the surface, down into the depths.

"I know what happened that summer was hard on you," Rig said, like he was reading my mind. "You've got a lot of bad memories here. But you've got good ones, too. This is where you belong. With your family."

The banging on the door was getting more insistent. I hauled myself up off the floor and opened it to a line that was ten people deep; the purple-haired woman at the front looked murderous. But when she saw my face-my bloodshot eyes, mascara and snot-smeared cheeks-she put her hands up in surrender. I barreled past her, down the dark hallway, and out into the night.

On the other side of the alley, at the front entrance of Dogwood House, a group of a dozen college girls were cackling and snapping photos of one another. I watched them for a long moment, slack-jawed, because I couldn't reconcile the fact that the world was still moving, that people were still laughing and happy, and my mother was no longer alive.

I pressed the phone closer to my ear and squeezed my eyes shut. "I'll be there," I said. "I'll be there soon. Give me a few days to get my-to get it together."

"Thank you." There was so much exhaustion in his voice. So much despair. "I know that the timing-I know that this is horrible. All of it. But the last thing your mom would want would be for us to postpone anything. She and Chels have been working on next weekend for months, and-well, getting the Cove reopened is all she's wanted for years. I guess what I'm saying is, we're gonna need you, kid. I'm gonna need you."

I sucked in a breath, overcome with a guilt so strong that it almost knocked me over.

I had sworn up and down that I would never, ever return-that summer had taken far too much from me. But I'd taken things, too. Things I thought I'd never be able to give back.

Things I was so tired of carrying.

CHAPTER Two

NOW

I didn't realize how suffocating it would be, to see her face everywhere.

I kept my head down as I weaved my way through the mess hall, and by the time I made it outside and onto the deck overlooking the lake, I was practically gasping for air.

My mother's photos were hanging on every surface-childhood moments on the tire swing, my grandfather hugging her beneath the hand-carved Dread's Cove sign, and even a few snaps of her ill-fated wedding to my dad. In all of them, she seemed caught in a laugh; the same way she'd been her whole life.

But I'd felt her eyes watching me since I'd gotten in last night. She was blaming me for waiting so long to return. For not being here when she'd died.

Welcome Back Weekend was supposed to be fun, allegedly, even with my mother's funeral now happening tomorrow. While I knew this was how she'd want to be remembered, I couldn't find any sort of peace. Instead, all I felt was grief and shame. And a sense of foreboding that I couldn't shake, living on my skin like a parasite.

Thankfully, there was no one else outside, and I hoped the oppressive heat would be a deterrent for anyone considering following me. As I looked out over the water, I took a sip of wine that was so big I almost choked. The off-brand Riesling was cheap, too sweet, and not at all cold enough, but I was preparing for four straight days of schmoozing and being schmoozed, so I was already on my second glass.

The sky was cotton-candy pink, right before sunset. As a kid, this was always my favorite time of day. I'd stand on this very same porch and watch the sun dip behind the mountains. Standing here tonight felt like stepping into a time machine, if only for a few moments.

Behind me, I heard the squeak of the screen door. I tensed, afraid it was another reporter, foaming at the mouth for an interview I would have to not-so-politely decline. But it was only Wes again, coming to check on me for the third time in the last hour.

"How you holding up?"

I shrugged, resigned, knowing he'd stand next to me, regardless of whether I told him I was fine. I'd already tried.

"I'd be better if Chelsea hadn't skimped on the good wine." I swished some around in my mouth and grimaced, mostly to be dramatic.

In another life, a different summer, Wes would have laughed at this. Bumped his hip into mine, pulled me close. Instead: "Go easy on her, okay? She hasn't exactly been having a good time."

My skin burned like he'd slapped me, though I guess I deserved it. Not that Chelsea had yet given me an opportunity to go easy on her; she'd been ignoring me since I'd...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593953533
• ISBN 13: 9780593953532
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 369
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: BERKLEY; https://www.penguin.com/?s=BERKLEY; ; Unit 2 Limavady Business Park; Limavady; County Londonderry; BT49 0HR; Vereinigtes Königreich
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar