These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
🌊🏝️ Messy Rich Families | Inheritance Games | Delicious Dysfunction
Welcome back to SPOILEDBOOKS, where wealthy families come to implode and I bring the popcorn. And friends… this book absolutely scratched the itch.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love stories about messy family dynamics, especially when money is involved. Because let’s be real — behind the closed doors of enormous estates and private islands? The secrets are always worse than you imagine.
This book delivers. I could not put it down.
🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨
This review contains FULL SPOILERS, including the inheritance terms and ending. Proceed accordingly 😌
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
Death of a parent
Sexual assault (discussed)
Pregnancy termination
Emotional abuse & manipulation
Infidelity
Sexual content
Family trauma
🏠 The Setup: Rich People + A Dead Patriarch = Chaos
When billionaire Franklin Storm dies, his widow and four adult children are summoned to the family’s private island off the coast of Rhode Island. Waiting for them? One last act of control from beyond the grave.
Franklin has left behind an inheritance game. The rules are simple and cruel: each family member must remain on the island for a week and complete their assigned task. Only then will anyone receive their inheritance.
Naturally, this goes extremely well.
Our main character, Alice Storm, returns to the island after five years of estrangement — banished after exposing a sexual abuse scandal tied to the family business. She arrives already complicated, having just had a one-night stand with Jack Dean, her father’s longtime fixer… who is now in charge of enforcing the inheritance rules.
Awkward doesn’t even begin to cover it.
🌪️ FULL PLOT SUMMARY (ALL THE TEA)
Each sibling is handed a task designed to punish, expose, or control:
Greta, the eldest, must end her decade-long secret relationship with Tony, Franklin’s pilot.
Sam, the only son, must perform manual labor and endure periods of silence while grappling with the loss of his expected CEO role.
Emily, the youngest, receives a letter but no task — suspicious in itself.
Alice is told her task is simply to stay. If she leaves, nobody gets anything.
Meanwhile, the family prepares a lavish memorial service while pretending they aren’t emotionally combusting. Secrets spill fast:
Sam’s wife leaves him when she learns he won’t inherit the company.
Greta is forced to end her relationship and emotionally collapses.
Alice learns her father has been quietly manipulating her art career from afar.
As a massive storm traps everyone on the island, the real reckoning begins.
Elisabeth, Franklin’s widow, finally detonates the truth:
Emily is not Franklin’s biological child — she’s the result of Elisabeth’s affair.
Greta’s gap year was actually to hide an unwanted pregnancy and abortion.
Alice later discovers her hidden inheritance letter, where Franklin apologizes and admits he always believed she should have run the company.
Jack resigns his position to prove his love for Alice.
And then comes the will.
💸 The Inheritance (AKA My Favorite Part)
Elisabeth inherits the island and house.
And each Storm child?
💀 $1,107 each.
That’s it. The exact amount Franklin used to start his company.
I laughed. I clapped. I savored it.
❤️ The Ending
The siblings, stripped of money but armed with truth, begin rebuilding their relationships.
Greta leaves with Tony.
Sam must finally get a job.
Emily returns to the mainland with her wife.
Alice leaves the island with Jack to start a life that isn’t controlled by legacy or money.
The Storm empire ends not with a bang, but with accountability.
⭐ Final Thoughts
This is not a boring romance.
Yes, you can predict who Alice ends up with early on — but the story isn’t about that. It’s about money, control, family damage, and the ways parents try to own their children forever.
Sharp, emotional, funny, and deeply satisfying.
⭐ Final Rating: 4/5.
📚 If You Loved This, Try These Next
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Succession (HBO vibes, obviously)
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
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