REVIEW: Entertaining, Reminiscent and just plain fun are things that come to mind when I think about Every Now and Then by Lesley Kagen. This was the first book I’ve read of hers and I am sure I’ll be looking at her other books for another great read. 

I enjoyed reminiscing about my own childhood summers when I would be out with friends all day and our parents weren’t worried about us. We usually showed up at someone’s house for lunch and went home for dinner. We just had to be home by dark. Parents wouldn’t be so free with their kids today. We never locked our houses and you didn’t have to worry about theft. Those were the days. In this story we followed Biz, Viv and Frankie on their escapades during the summer of their 11th year. They got into a few more scrapes than I did at their age!

I was entertained throughout. The book was told from Biz’s point of view and I think in my mind it became more of a young adult novel but, it does very well in all age groups. 

I won a copy of this book from the author in a giveaway. All thoughts are my own. Thank you Lesley Kagen! 

SYNOPSIS: For fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and This Tender Landcomes a heartfelt story about three young girls searching for adventure during the summer of 1960 from the New York Times bestselling author of Whistling in the Dark.

That summer would change us . . . forever.

The summer of 1960 was the hottest ever for Summit, Wisconsin. For kids seeking relief from the heat, there was a creek to be swum in, sprinklers to run through, and ice cream at Whitcomb’s Drugstore. But for Frankie, Viv, and Biz, eleven-year-old best friends, it would forever be remembered as the summer that evil paid a visit to their small town–and took their young lives as they’d known them as a souvenir.

With a to-do list in hand, the girls set forth from their hideout to make their mark on that summer, but when three patients escape from Broadhurst Mental Institution, their idyllic lives take a sinister turn. Determined to uncover long-held secrets, the girls have no idea that what they discover could cost them their lives and the ones they hold dear.

Six decades later, Biz, now a bestselling novelist, remembers that long ago summer and how it still haunts her and her lifelong friends in Every Now and Then, a story about the ties that bind us, the timelessness of grief and guilt–and the everlasting hope for redemption.