Summer Hours

Commencement meets The Graduate in this sparkling novel about a secret affair, the summer it all unravels, and the reunion a decade later that will be one woman’s happy ending or her biggest mistake.

Becc was the good girl. A dedicated student. Aspiring reporter. Always where she was supposed to be. Until a secret affair with the charming Cal one summer in college cost her everything she held dear: her journalism dreams; her relationship with her best friend, Eric; and her carefully imagined future.

Now, Becc’s past is back front and center as she travels up the scenic California coast to a wedding—with a man she hasn’t seen in a decade. As each mile flies by, Becc can’t help but feel the thrilling push and pull of memories, from infinite nights at beach bonfires and lavish boat parties to secret movie sessions. But the man beside her is not so eager to re-create history. And as the events of that heartbreaking summer come into view, Becc must decide if those dazzling hours they once shared are worth fighting for or if they’re lost forever.

Set in the mid ’90s and 2008, Amy Mason Doan’s Summer Hours is a warmly told novel about the idealism of youth, the seductive power of nostalgia and what happens when you realize you haven’t become the person you’d always promised to be.

“Engaging and nostalgic. Doan’s writing sweeps you away.”
—Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient

“A beautifully crafted story of love, ambition, and friendship.”
—Jamie Brenner, bestselling author of The Forever Summer and Drawing Home

“A touching novel of friendship, forgiveness and compassion.”
—Abbi Waxman, author of The Garden of Small Beginnings and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Summer Hours is a dreamy, nostalgic coming-of-age tale full of wisdom and heart. I love this book.”
—Andrea Dunlop, author of She Regrets Nothing

“A beautifully rendered and indelible story. Amy Mason Doan crafts an immersive world filled with vivid locations and complex people.
I sank into all of it and didn’t want to leave.”
—Julie Clark, author of The Ones We Choose