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    Summer I Dared
    Summer I Dared
    Summer I Dared
    Audiobook14 hours

    Summer I Dared

    Written by Barbara Delinsky

    Narrated by Julia Gibson

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Set on a beautiful island off the coast of Maine, this deeply moving and powerful novel by New York Times bestselling author and "first-rate storyteller" (The Boston Globe) is about three people who survive a boating accident, exploring not only how each person deals with his or her own twist of fate, but also the effect each survivor has on the other.

    WHAT COMES AFTER THE MOMENT THAT FOREVER CHANGES YOUR LIFE?

    This is the question that haunts Julia Bechtel, Noah Prine, and Kim Colella, the only survivors of a terrible boating accident off the coast of Maine that claimed the lives of nine other people.

    Julia, a forty-year-old wife and mother, has always taken the path of least resistance. Pigeonholed by her controlling family and increasingly distant husband as "loyal" and "obedient," she realizes in the aftermath of her brush with death that there is more to her -- and to the world around her -- than she ever imagined.

    Feeling strangely connected to Noah, the divorced, brooding lobsterman who helped save her life, and to Kim, a twenty-one-year-old whose role in the accident and subsequent muteness are a mystery, Julia begins to explore the unique possibilities offered by the quiet island of Big Sawyer, Maine. Suddenly, things that once seemed critical lose significance, and things that seemed inconsequential take on a whole new importance. With each passing moment, each new discovery, Julia grows more sure that after coming face-to-face with death, she must have more from life.

    Resolving to make things right for the future and drawing on an inner strength she never knew she possessed, Julia passionately awakens to a new world, fearlessly embracing uncertainties in a way she couldn't have imagined only a few weeks ago.

    Set off the coast of Maine, where lobstermen leave with the tides each morning to haul and reset their traps, and neighbors gather each night to feast on the catch of the day, Barbara Delinsky's The Summer I Dared is a deeply moving story of the risky but rewarding search for self, a story of survival, and of the irrepressible ability of the human spirit to rebound from disaster and to create life anew.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9781442343108
    Summer I Dared
    Author

    Barbara Delinsky

    Barbara Delinsky has written more than twenty New York Times bestselling novels, with over thirty million copies in print. Her books are highly emotional, character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship. She is also the author of a breast cancer handbook. A breast cancer survivor herself, Barbara donates her author proceeds from the handbook to fund a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Visit her at BarbaraDelinsky.com.

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    Reviews for Summer I Dared

    4/5

    20 ratings11 reviews

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    • 2/5
      If you like pastels, identify with women who have never thought for themselves, can tolerate 40-year olds still crushed by the indifference of their parents and agonizing over every decision, and love "happily ever after," this book may work for you. It does have some interesting drama, and condensed to about 1/4 its size, it would probably even be good reading.
    • 5/5
      You know when you have read a book and you keep it for always, tuck away on a shelf and everytime you touch that book, memories of passion come back to you, that is an indication of a great book that made a difference in your life...Barbara Delinsky has a way of putting in writting what I think. The Summer I Dared says it all. Just dare something, be unreasonable and do it.An easy reading book, one to pass on from dear friend to dear friend!
    • 2/5
      Light entertaining
    • 5/5
      What happens after the moment when your life is forever changed? This is the question that haunts Julia, Noah, and Kim - the only survivors of a devastating boating accident off the coast of Maine, that claimed the lives of nine other people. What follows is an emotionally intricate story of three lives irrevocably changed by a single tragic accident.Julia, a forty-year-old wife and mother, has always taken the path of least resistance. Careful to never shake up the status quo, she has always done exactly what others expected of her. Characterized by her controlling family and increasingly distant husband as "loyal" and "obedient"; in the aftermath of her brush with death, Julia suddenly realizes that there is more to her - and to the world around her - than she ever imagined.Feeling strangely connected to Noah, the brooding, divorced lobsterman who helped save her life, and to Kim, a twenty-one-year-old whose role in the accident and subsequent muteness are a mystery, Julia begins to explore the unique possibilities offered by the quiet island of Big Sawyer, Maine. Suddenly, the things that once seemed so critical lose significance, and things that seemed inconsequential, now take on a whole new meaning and importance. With each passing moment, each fresh discovery, Julia grows ever more sure that - after coming face-to-face with death - she deserves more from life.Overall, I found this book to be quite good. The story was somewhat predictable - and I may have learned much more than I actually ever wanted to know about certain subjects - but other than that, I liked it. I give this book an A! and hope to read more from Barbara Delinsky in the future.
    • 2/5
      Another "I shouldn't have listened to the abridged version" audio book, though I'm not sure I should have listened to this at all. Delinsky was a favorite author of my mother's and I'm missing her a little, so dared the book. For car "ear reading" it was okay, though I just wanted to shake Julia and make her be a grown up. But when she and Noah finally get around to acting on the quivering liquidity they feel inside whenever they're near, I did shout out, "oh come on! Get real", making the driver next to me think I had road rage. I believe the exact turn of phrase that made me shout was, "cushioned by the mist, they made love against the side of the truck." Bet that produced some pretty bruises on the backside.
    • 4/5
      Lobsters and romance--Having survived a ferry crash, Julia finds it is time to re-evaluate her life, her marriage, her relationships. While visiting her sister on Sawyer Island she gets to know the other two survivors of the crash, all finding a bond in being the survivors. Good descriptions of the lobster fishing industry and raising Angora rabbits.
    • 5/5
      This book is the first book I read by Delinsky. I bought it a book sale. I thought I would like this book least of the books I bought that day, but actually I liked it the most. Yes, it is a bit predictable, but it is a very good read.
    • 3/5
      Beginning was good, ending was good but the middle was slow.
    • 4/5
      Twice I read the first paragraph of this book, put it down and chose something else to read. I just didn't think I could get into a lobstering book. The next time, though, I read a few pages in, and then I was hooked. I wanted a book to escape into, and this did it for me. I have so many "issues" that it can be hard to read books without getting mired in thinking about my own life, and I really didn't want that. The heroine has issues, to be sure, but, well, it was still light. Despite my initial worries, I was never bored by lobstering (or angora rabbits) and I never put it down because I'd got to a too-boring part or out of frustration with the actions of the characters. I enjoyed escaping into the world Ms. Delinsky created for me.
    • 4/5
      Great beach read (exactly where I read it). Quaint location, quaint characters. I thought that the murder mystery was an unnecessery addition to the novel. The lobstermen and fishing village backdrop was quite interesting and could have been used to develop the main, as well as the secondary, characters better. All in all the book is an easy quick read with an ending that is palatable. The book does it's job.
    • 3/5
      Romance = learned alot about catching lobsters and angora rabbits