Summer in a Bottle – Vickie's Book Nook and Meditation Corner

About the Book

ISBN-13:9781496740892. Publisher:Kensington. Publication date: 04/29/2025. Pages: 320

Dumped by her fiancé, opinion columnist Lyla Dune returns to small-town Echo Cove to heal, and to help her parents prep their house for sale. When she decides to open a time capsule she buried in high school, past memories lead her to a diary filled with memorable moments from the last summer she spent at home, right before college. Some of the events feel like they happened yesterday. That’s normal. Not so normal is that they actually start happening all over again . . .

Lyla gets a flat tire in the same spot and is saved by the same person. The same movie is playing at the theater. Her house has the same leak it once had. As her current summer increasingly mirrors that last one, Lyla worries it will end just as disastrously: with a category 3 hurricane—and with losing Travis, the best friend she was always secretly in love with. If only she hadn’t been too scared to admit it.

She revisits other fears too, like the fear of rejection that led her to abandon her passion for fiction writing. And when she reconnects with Travis, Lyla becomes certain that unless she does what her younger self was unable to do, she’ll suffer the same regrets. But if this time around she can gather her courage, maybe the life that was falling apart when she arrived will fall back together—even better than before.

My Thoughts

This entertaining novel has some deep truths in it and I really enjoyed the way the author brought them to the forefront as she weaved the tale of Lyla and her life. Lyla, dumped by her boyfriend, returns to Echo Cove, North Carolina, a small town that she gladly fled when she graduated from high school. She had great plans to be an author and she has kind of met that goal by becoming an opinion columnist who is well-known for her columns. Once she is back in Echo Cove, with the task of helping her parents sell their home there, Lyla is confronted with her past and her present dilemmas and has to decide what she will do about her future. I thoroughly enjoyed the light-hearted banter between Lyla and her friend Amanda and Lyla’s gung-ho attempt to win over Bernadette as a friend. The friendship between Travis and Lyla was realistically portrayed as was their gradual realization about their romantic feelings for each other, even if they didn’t want to pursue those feelings. I loved Lyla’s compassionate nature and how she reached out to Amanda when she knew she was hurting from all of her losses. Bernadette was feisty and reluctant to accept friendship, but her fun-loving and warm heart won me over. All of the characters were relatable, so much so that I just wanted to go into the pages of the book and tell them what they needed to do. The novel’s plot is fast-paced and engaging, with some complex elements woven into the simple tale of a girl who just wants to escape from her small town and never look back. The author masterfully creates a story around the central characters of Lyla and Travis and even includes snippets of Lyla’s opinions, some of which are humorous and others that are thought-provoking. I especially enjoyed the magical element that was included with the fireflies, noting that Lyla needed those little guys to point the way for her. What a clever way to get Lyla to pay attention and what a great reminder of the fun I had with those little bugs in my childhood! I loved everything about this book and even ordered my own copy so that I have one to keep and re-visit Lyla’s story.
Disclaimer: I voluntarily received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Annie Rains lives in a small, coastal North Carolina town, full of lovable folks, scenic downtown areas, and breathtaking nature—similar to the towns she writes about in her books. Annie’s love of reading and writing grabbed hold of her at a young age and never let go. Her first book was published in 2015, and she’s been writing heartfelt, page-turning stories ever since. When Annie isn’t writing, she’s reading from her never-ending TBR stack on her bedside table, taking long walks while plotting her characters’ happy endings, and living out her own happily ever after with her husband, three children, feisty rescue cat, and mischievous dog. Website: AnnieRains.com

Purchase Links

I don’t usually participate in First Line Friday, but I have a lot of books releasing next week, so I thought I would put a few of them on your radar.

I will not write my entire review here, but I will tell you that this book is humorous and offers practical advice that really makes you ponder how you do things. The main character, Lyla, is a newspaper columnist who writes her opinion about everyday circumstances and in so doing, she discovers truths about herself.

First Line: “Lyla Dune turned in to her parents’ driveway and parked, her gaze moving to the FOR SALE sign on the front lawn.”

Barnes and Noble has a 25% off sale now, so if you want to get this book at a good price, it’s a good time to get it. The sale ends today and requires the coupon code PREORDER25.

This quick read had me reading as fast as I could to find out what would happen to Florene. At the beginning of the story, she is tossed out of the car by her boyfriend, in the middle of nowhere and during a blizzard. What happens to her is God’s providence for sure!

First Line: “She’d made a mistake. And she was going to die. Florene Schroder lay on the hard, cold ground. Twisted and limp, she didn’t move.”

This quick read takes place in the Allegheny forest of Pennsylvania and is a book with riveting suspense and compelling characters. Eli is an FBI agent who hunts down cybercriminals and the focus of the story is that one of the bad guys doesn’t like being hunted so he is chasing down Eli and his young daughter who are on vacation in the Alleghenies.

First Line: “‘Daddy, why do you keep looking at the trees?’”

This story grabbed at my heart and wouldn’t let it go! It is the story of a young woman who has been rejected by her husband and is trying to start a new life for herself in a new town. Unfortunately, she has few resources and fewer items in her pantry and fridge, so she ends up at a food bank, much to her embarrassment. There she meets some welcoming and kind strangers who show her the way to acceptance and real love. Sigh! Great story!

First Line: “Kayla Harding had walked by the building at least a hundred times. She’d even dropped off items in the back on occasion. Back in another life.”

Again, if you would like to purchase any or all of these new releases, you can check them out at your local retailer. They all release on Tuesday, April 29th.

Question for you: Which book would you really like to see a blog about here on my page? Give me your opinion and I will try to accommodate your wishes, depending on my schedule.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed my first First Line Friday!