Book Review for That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White

 

That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White

Published: July 22, 2025 by Park Row

Genre:  Mystery Thriller, Family Drama

Taken from Goodreads:  Beloved New York Times bestselling author Karen White returns with a brand-new contemporary stand-alone novel about sisterhood, secrets and one woman’s reckoning with the past

As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creeks near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the West Coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother.

As Phoebe’s return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn toward Celeste, whose granddaughter went missing years ago. Their connection, woven through shared losses and hope, brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste’s adult grandson Liam resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe’s past.

But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify—bringing her closer to the shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything. Unfolding against the lush backdrop of the South Carolina Lowcountry, That Last Carolina Summer is an unforgettable family drama and mystery about the unbreakable bonds of family and the gift of second chances.

My Thoughts:  I love a good family drama and this book is full of drama.   The drama in this book surrounds Phoebe’s return to her hometown to figure out what is happening with her mother.   She returns to her sister not taking care of her daughter or her mom, the neurologist being more than her mother’s doctor, and the same doctor’s mother stepping in to help take care of her mother.    There is a lot happening in Phoebe’s family and life.

The romance of this book is great.  The attraction happens from the beginning but there is more happening than meets the eye.  Karen White wrote wonderful twists and turns into the story.   The biggest twist is one that I saw coming but enjoyed the build up to it.   

Thank you Park Row for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from her website):  With almost two million books in print in fifteen different languages, Karen White is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 36 novels. Her latest releases include The Author’s Guide to Murder (November 2024), a collaboration with bestselling authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig, and the soon-to-be-released That Last Carolina Summer (July 2025) and The Lady on Esplanade (November 2025), the third book in her New Orleans-set mystery series. She grew up in London but now lives with her husband near Atlanta, Georgia.