That Last Carolina Summer: A Gripping Southern Tale of Sisterhood, Secrets, and the Haunting Power of the Past (Original)

Their mother, Elizabeth, is succumbing to dementia and Addie can’t cope.Phoebe was struck by lightning as a 9 year old and when she is home has premonitions, and Addie is afraid that Phoebe’s new friend, Celeste, and Elizabeth’s new doctor, Liam, are using Phoebe for her dreams. They want to find out what happened to their daughter/sister, Julia, 20 years ago.Meanwhile Addie is punishing herself for something by dating abusive men, and ignoring her daughter, Opehlia, who the majority of the time is left in Elizabeth’s care.Phoebe doesn’t want to move back to South Carolina but the circumstances keep indicating that is where she belongs.

I could not put it down! This is another well-written book by Karen White! I hope we see the characters again.

That Last Carolina Summer is Karen White’s Women’s Fiction novel set near Charleston, South Carolina. Like most of this author’s works, this story contains a family drama with intersecting storylines. The closed-door romance is secondary to the female characters’ development. This story contains no violence, profanity, or sex scenes.When Phoebe Manigault was nine years old, she was playing in the creek near her house when she was struck by lightning. As a result, she had severe burns and developed the “gift” of premonition and became plagued by unsettling dreams. Eventually she grew tired of living in the shadow of her older, beautiful sister, Addie, and facing her mother’s constant criticism. After finishing college and graduate school, she got a job as a middle school science teacher in Bend, Oregon. Now Addie is struggling to care for their mother, who is exhibiting signs of dementia. So Phoebe reluctantly agrees to return to Mount Pleasant for the summer.Phoebe is shocked by Addie’s sense of entitlement and her failure to acknowledge their mother’s cognitive decline. Phoebe immediately steps into the role of caregiver to both their mom and Ophelia, Addie’s nine-year-old daughter. Phoebe fulfills the nurturing parental role that Ophelia so desperately needs, similar to Aunt Sassy’s relationship to the young Phoebe. Soon after Phoebe meets Celeste Fitch, a local artist who volunteers at Ophelia’s school and is watching her 10-year-old grandson for the summer. 75-year-old Celeste is a retired nurse who has been grieving her missing daughter, Julie, for the past 20 years.When Phoebe takes her mom to a highly recommended neurologist, she is stunned to encounter the grown-up version of the green-eyed boy who saved her life by performing CPR after the lightning strike. Dr. Liam Fitch is Celeste’s son and Will’s father. Soon Phoebe is overwhelmed caring for her mother and Ophelia while Addie takes the car out every day and returns home in the mornings drunk and beat up. After Phoebe straightens out her mother’s finances, she hires Celeste to be her mother’s part-time caregiver.Unfortunately, Phoebe’s recurring nightmares return, so she spends her free time (when she’s not caring for Ophelia) researching Julia’s disappearance and her late father’s strange actions. Meanwhile there’s a lot of conflict between good-girl Phoebe and irresponsible Addie. To top it off, there’s a romance brewing between Phoebe and the handsome Dr. Fitch. Celeste and Liam are keeping secrets from the Manigaults, so things are going to come to a head eventually.That Last Carolina Summer is another unforgettable Southern family drama by Karen White. Readers will feel like they are alongside Phoebe and Celeste on their adventures because the descriptions are so clear. The characters’ emotions are so authentic that readers will have “all the feels” and root for Phoebe and Liam to find their happy ending. The tension between Phoebe and Addie is so finely strung, and readers will find themselves wanting karma to happen.Karen White is the queen of the modern Southern gothic novel, and That Last Carolina Summer does not disappoint.I received an Advance Review Copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am a long time fan of Karen White and have read all her books. I was not disappointed with this one, even though the ending was not a surprise. If you like her usual standalone books, you will like this one. It is about family and the trouble its members sometimes cause. It only took a couple of days to read it, and I will be looking forward to the next one.

I have read all of Karen White’s books and have loved all of them. The problem I have with this book is the copy editing. I found it to be distracting as I was reading. Totally unlike a Karen White book. Great characters, good story.