At age 20, Shelly Cato decided that she wanted to find her birth mother. Shelly was found on the day of her birth on the beach in Kill Devils Hills, North Carolina, and saved from near death by Daria who was 11 at the time. After none of the parents of the baby showed up, Daria’s family adopted Shelly. As Shelly grew up, it was apparent that she was slightly mentally hurt, probably by her traumatic first day of life but she grew up as a wonderful happy young woman with a family that protected an...

2.5 starsOne summer morning, eleven year old Daria finds a baby girl, placenta still attached, lying on the beach at Kill Devil Hills, NC. She swoops the baby up and takes her to the beach cottage where her family summers, and thus the baby is saved. The family adopts the baby and this story picks up 22 years later as a boy (now a man) who spent his summers in the cottage opposite theirs comes back as a true crime television host to try and solve the mystery of who the mother was and how this ba...

I couldn't put this book down and read it in a day. I liked it instantly and enjoyed the characters. Everytime I thought I had the "who done it" figured out, the book twisted on me again. I definitely did not predict the ending at all which was great because I hate when books are predictable. This is my 2nd book by this author, but I definitely preferred this book to the other.

I have a huge soft spot for Diane Chamberlain’s books and I have to say that this is my favourite read of hers so far. I love books that are family orientated with a dash of mystery and romance and I especially like how the author combines all of these factors to produce something that is so enjoyable to read, yet all feels so natural – the romance element never feels as if it is “tacked onto” the main part of the story.Twenty two years ago, eleven year old Daria found a baby on the beach, Shell...

Oh wow, this was a massive disappointment. A few years ago I read, and absolutely loved, The Midwife's Confession, and ever since have been waiting for a chance to read another of Diane Chamberlain's book. There's no doubt that Chamberlain is a good story teller -- her narrative is totally plot-driven, and I'm okay with that, of course, when it works. I've got time now and then for a book that feels like a Hollywood movie. I do.The major reasons that I struggled with this one was the total unrea...

With all due respect....what a bunch of crap. I am giving this book 3 stars as it was light and easy to read and it was not that I didn't enjoy it but what a bunch of nonsense. Everything just worked out so perfectly and the names of those beach houses drove me to the point of craziness!!I enjoyed her last book, Cee Cee Wilkes, but that one deserved a Pulitzer compared to this!! Don't let my review deter you. It is readable especially after reading a heavy duty Lionel Shriver before it. What get...

This was such a beautiful yet haunting story. And while I didn’t understand the motives behind the character’s actions, I couldn’t help but feel compassion for them anyways. Such decisions aren’t easy under any circumstances, let alone at such a young age. I kind of felt like I was a part of the story, puzzling out the answers alongside the rest of them and was just as shocked as they were when the final reveal came!

What a weird book. I love Diane Chamberlain but this one wasn't that great. It was WAY too long first off. There were too many characters and most of them weren't needed. I did not like Grace at all. Rory was an idiot. Why would he fall for a woman who was married and wanted nothing to do with him? And he asks her back to his house and for her number immediately after meeting her. Anyone would have known her interest was in Shelley but not poor stupid Rory. He kept pining over her and just could...

When she was 11, Daria found a newborn baby girl lying on the beach and saved her life. Despite efforts by law enforcement to identify the mother (with suspicions cast on every teenage girl in their small cul-de-sac), the mother was never found and Daria's family subsequently adopted the baby, who they named Shelly. Later as an adult, Shelly became curious about her roots and asked an old family friend, Rory, to try to find out who her mother was.The book was light and fluffy. Even though there

This was a beautiful story of love and hope with many secrets and past events unfolding. I was attracted to the novel because of the premise of a child that was found...but what I found were so many different angles that related to my own story. Obviously, when a reader identifies with the characters there can be some interesting things happen. What surprised me was the fact that this novel helped me deal with some losses that I had and for even the curious question as to why my birth mother wou...

Loved it! For one thing the setting is about 30 mins away from me (Outer Banks, NC) and the author does a great job in depicting the different locations. I love reading books which are set in my little corner of the world.Then the story itself....so good! And those last few chapters had me picking my jaw up off the floor! Just wow! Love love love this author!!

I purchased this audiobook on Audible.com as it was a special of the day and looked interesting. I had heard of Diane Chamberlain, but have never read one of her books before. After purchasing it I looked at some of my friends reviews on GoodReads, and was disappointed to see that all but one of my friends who read it gave it 2 stars or less! By that stage though, I had already started listening to it and was enjoying it, so I thought I would see how long I could hold out. Well, so glad I didn’t...

As usual Diane chamberlain does not disappoint. I was hooked from the start of this book. I found all the characters really warm and loveable and very 3D. I felt like I actually knew these people. I was left guessing until the end and what a great twist it was. I'd definitely recommend this book.

"She'd run the distance of several cottages when she stopped short. Had it really been a baby? Could it have been a doll, perhaps? She looked back over her shoulder. Yes, she was certain it had been a real, human baby".Summer's Child by Diane ChamberlainFirst, might I say..wonderful cover art! I would give a star for that alone!That being said I didn't like this as much as I expected although it was an interesting read all the same. It was not as ethereal as I expected. But it has several good p...

Diane Chamberlain is a story teller and so I suspect readers will happily tend to go along with the story of 11 year old Daria Cato who found a new born baby on the beach. I know I did. With some help from the local hang gliding priest, the baby is adopted by the Cato family. They name her Michelle but she is known as Shelly. From her rescue of the baby people refer to Daria as Supergirl and she attempts to live up to their expectations. As an adult Daria takes care of Shelly after her mother di...

First off, I can’t believe I waited TWENTY years to read SUMMER’S CHILD! It is one of the best books I’ve read this year so far. The twists and turns just kept on coming and hooked me from the very first chapter!Diane Chamberlain has always been a favorite author of mine and SUMMER’S CHILD is exactly why! She stole my heart from the very first pages and she never let it go! SUMMER’S CHILD is the story of Shelly, a baby who is found in the beach, abandoned, found by a little girl, Daria.  Daria r...

This is a perfect beach or holiday read. It was published back in 2000 but had a re-release in 2010. I found it on the Amazon Kindle charts for less than a pound, so that's why I got it. On the morning of her 11th birthday, Daria Cato finds a newborn baby on the beach. She takes her home and with a little help, her parents adopt the baby and call her Shelly. 22 years later, Shelly writes a letter to Rory Taylor, who used to live near the Catos but is now a successful TV host. He specialises in T...

Chamberlain never seems to disappoint with her novels. In this story, Daria is out walking on the beach checking for shells. She idly turns over a horseshoe crab she'll and finds a baby. Her parents adopted the little girl but Daria always felt like her caretaker since she had found her and when both her parents died, she continued to take responsibility for Shelly's well-being since she is developmentally slow. Years later, Rory Taylor shows up in his family's cottage which he has not been to s...

For the most part, this was an enjoyable read. The story centers on discovering a girl's parentage after she was abandoned as a baby and the lives of her adopted sisters. While the cover of the book proclaims Chamberlain as a "Southern Jodi Picoult", I am not certain I would agree wholeheartedly. I did, however, very much appreciate the idea that Shelly, the grown-up abandoned baby, expresses throughout the novel: that as an adopted child, it wasn't that she felt her adopted family was bad or la...

This was good and got even better at the end. I wasn't able to guess who left their newly born baby girl on the beach that night so I was happy that it stayed a mystery and that when it was revealed it made sense.