Author AMY MASON DOAN--compelling women's fiction set in California--sun, sand, secrets..."Some secrets shine brighter in the sun"

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.

Reviews

 

"Engaging and nostalgic, Summer Hours is a story of friendship, love, and golden moments. Doan's writing sweeps you away to the high-speed, sun-soaked backdrop of nineties California and takes you on a woman's journey toward finding herself."-Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient

"With Summer Hours, Amy Mason Doan deftly explores the powerful pull of the past and the way nostalgia informs our lives. A beautifully crafted story of love, ambition, and friendship."-Jamie Brenner, bestselling author of The Forever Summer and Drawing Home

"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 touching novel of friendship, forgiveness and compassion."
-Abbi Waxman, author of The Garden of Small Beginnings and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

"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


ALSO BY AMY MASON DOAN: 


 

The Summer List

In the tradition of Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters, The Summer List is a tender yet tantalizing novel about two friends, the summer night they fell apart, and the scavenger hunt that reunites them decades later—until the clues expose a breathtaking secret...

Named a Best Book of Summer 2018 by PopSugar, Coastal Living, Family Circle, and The Globe & Mail
 
Laura and Casey were once inseparable: as they floated on their backs in the sunlit lake, as they dreamed about the future under starry skies, and as they teamed up for the wild scavenger hunts in their small California lakeside town. Until one summer night, when a shocking betrayal sent Laura running through the pines, down the dock, and into a new life, leaving Casey and a first love in her wake.

But the past is impossible to escape, and now, after seventeen years away, Laura is pulled home and into a reunion with Casey she can’t resist—one last scavenger hunt. With a twist: this time, the list of clues leads to the settings of their most cherished summer memories. From glistening Jade Cove to the vintage skating rink, each step they take becomes a bittersweet reminder of the friendship they once shared. But just as the game brings Laura and Casey back together, the clues unravel a stunning secret that threatens to tear them apart…
 

Praise for The Summer List

"This is a lovely debut by Doan, exploring themes of motherhood, daughterhood, and first love with tenderness and humor. The writing is fresh and charming, a perfect read for anyone who spent her teenage years reading the racy bits of cheap paperbacks out loud to their best friends."-Booklist (Starred Review)

"This accomplished debut novel from Doan cleverly blends a coming-of-age tale, the story of a long-simmering mystery, and a thoughtful study of relationships between childhood friends.... Doan's characters leap off the page, believably struggling with the conflict between resentment and tenderness. With lovable characters and a scenic small town, Doan's pleasant mix of mystery and high school nostalgia will please readers who grew up with the novels of Judy Blume."
-Publishers Weekly

"With a vivid sense of place and characters as real as your high school besties, this debut novel is sure to please fans of Kristin Hannah and Elin Hilderbrand."
-Library Journal

"If this Portland writer's debut novel were a beverage, it would be a glass of frosty sweet-tart lemonade, sipped with that one friend from way back who knows you better than you know yourself. It's an ideal summer read... a compelling blend of love, betrayal, secrets and reconciliation."-The Oregonian 

Amy Mason Doan

 

 


Amy lives in Portland, Oregon. She grew up in California, but as a girl she visited the Oregon Shakespeare Fest with her grandparents every year, and she now considers both states home.

As a writer for publications including The Oregonian, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired and Forbes, Amy has interviewed everyone from beer-brewing monks to nanotechnologists. Amy has an M.A. in journalism from Stanford University and a B.A. in English from U.C. Berkeley.

THE SUMMER LIST is her first novel, and draws on her beloved summers in lakeside Pinecrest, California. SUMMER HOURS will be published on June 4, 2019.

Connect with Amy on twitter, Instagram or via her website, amymasondoan.com.