Summer on Sag Harbor A novel

Hostin's follow-up to Summer on the Bluffs (2021) follows another one of Ama's goddaughters, Olivia Jones, who inherits a house in an exclusive Black enclave in the Hamptons. Deciding to take the summer to try to reconnect with her late father's estranged family, Olivia moves into the house with her white fiancé, Anderson. She makes fast friends with a group of nearby women, but it's not all smooth sailing: the neighborhood is in danger from an unscrupulous developer who is buying homes from desperate Black residents to build mansions in their place. Then there's Garrett Brooks, a neighbor with whom she immediately feels white-hot chemistry. Hostin packs a lot into this breezy beach read, organically touching on issues of gentrification, racism, colorism, and infidelity while unfolding Olivia's transformation from a slightly uptight perfectionist to a more relaxed woman who knows what she wants. With hints of Elin Hilderbrand's beachy escapism and thematically related to Alyssa Cole's When No One Is Watching (2020), Summer on Sag Harbor will appeal to readers wanting an escape with a little depth. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Readers who know Hostin from The View will clamor for this summer read.

In Hostin's uneven latest (after Summer on the Bluffs), a 20-something woman inherits a house from her godfather in Sag Harbor Hills, N.Y., a historically Black community in the Hamptons. Olivia Jones, an analyst for Goldman Sachs, longs to learn more about her father, Chris, who died when she was a baby. She gets the chance after Omar Tanner wills her the Eastern Long Island property Chris visited in the summer as a child. Joel Whittingham, the community's unofficial mayor, knew Chris and welcomes Olivia, as do a busybody neighbor and a goodhearted real estate agent who's passionate about blocking a predatory developer, ASK Properties, from gentrifying the area. Around these accepting new friends, all of whom are Black, the dark-skinned Olivia comes to terms with the colorism she dealt with while growing up. At the same time, she feels ashamed by her fiancé, Anderson Edwards, an aspiring comedian and TV writer, who is white, because of his need to support himself with food delivery work, and she explores a mutual attraction with another neighbor. Hostin's strengths lie in depicting the community's joyous camaraderie, but the plot tips into unnecessary melodrama with revelations about Chris and far-fetched connections between Anderson and ASK. This is charming and frustrating in equal measure. (May)

An elite Black enclave in the Hamptons welcomes its newest resident, hoping she'll help preserve the integrity of the community. When investment banking whiz Olivia Jones arrives in Sag Harbor (packing her Sergio Hudson mohair poncho, her Dior limited edition tote, and other brand-name essentials) to claim the home she's inherited from her late godfather, she quickly bonds with the longtime residents--other wealthy, accomplished Black women as well as a genial older real estate agent, a gentleman with connections to her family and memories of the father Olivia never knew. Not fitting in quite as easily is Anderson, Olivia's White boyfriend, an Uber driver and stand-up comedian. Though the two got along great during lockdown in Manhattan and "his words and presence were like chamomile lavender tea on a cold winter night" and his "cheekbones [could] cut diamonds," poor Anderson simply is not going to be able to hold his own against new next-door neighbor Garrett Brooks, a Black single dad and veritable love god. Garrett was just about to sign a deal to sell his home to the real estate developers who are trying to take over the area, but the arrival of the exquisite Olivia, and her alliance with the locals who are fighting the developers, seems poised to press pause on those plans. Meanwhile, Olivia starts therapy with the insightful Dr. LaGrange to work herself free of the burdens she bears due to a pyramid of losses and betrayals in her past. The family history is complicated and will be quite a bit easier to follow if you've recently read the first book in the series, Summer on the Bluffs (2021), which introduces Olivia's godparents and their three talented goddaughters, setting up the history of secrets and connections that continue to unfold here. A few steamy bedroom scenes provide all the "velvet hammer sliding into silk" and ice-cream-cone metaphors you could ever want. The political and social dynamics of Sag Harbor are fascinating even if some of the writing is a bit eye-rolling. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.