June Baby by Shannon Garvey

June Baby by Shannon Garvey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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At seventeen, Ruth lost her mother to cancer, and her father, unable to handle his grieving daughter, shipped her off to Block Island with nothing but a name scribbled on the back of a receipt: Diana Beckett. Diana, a renowned photographer, took Ruth in for the summer, and Block Island became Ruth’s refuge, a place of beauty and creativity, a place where she could nurture her dreams of being a writer, a place where she could fall in love for the first time—with Diana’s nephew, Charlie.

Now, at twenty-seven, Ruth has spent the last ten summers living and working among the lucky few who get to vacation in this wealthy beach town, and the rest of the year just scraping by, yearning to return to the place where she feels safe and unburdened. But then Ruth’s world is upended by tragedy again. Desperate for an anchor, she reaches for the person she’s been pining for since she met him—Charlie—who has his own startling revelation to share. And when another surprise comes in the form of a box left to Ruth by Diana, its contents raise questions about just how well she knew the two women who raised her. Torn between what to believe about her past, and what her future might hold, Ruth is faced with another choice: does she dare to rewrite her story entirely?

Both a heartfelt coming-of-age story and a tender exploration of love and grief, set against a backdrop of golden dunes and seaside sunsets, June Baby shows us what it might look like to embrace a life shaped not by loss, but by possibility.
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When I think of a "beach read," I think of a light, breezy read, maybe a contemporary romance or a romcom or even a women's fiction novel. This book is not that. It does take place on an island in the summer. However, beyond that, it does not resemble the kind of book that I usually would stick in my beach bag and bring with me for a light, breezy summer read. Does that mean I didn't like it? Obviously not, as I gave it four stars.

This is instead a meaty, character-driven story that allows the reader to dig deep into the lives of characters and get to see their many facets as they move through one summer on Block Island. This is most of all a novel that is a study of grief and how it impacts different people. However, in the midst of great loss, there exists the possibility of new beginnings. The main character, Ruth, is, at different turns, sympathetic and wildly frustrating, and the descriptions of Block Island had me able to picture in my mind a place I have never visited before due to the vivid detailed writing. This speaks to the beautiful writing of this debut novelist.

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