[Alicia] Darr and Kennedy can often come across as awful, self-absorbed humans, and yet, somehow, Gable makes them sympathetic characters for whom you want to root ... It’s perfect for a day at the beach or a lazy pool or lakeside afternoon. Easy-to-read, with rich characters, Gable knows how to deliver a balance of fun and interesting. The writing style is breezy and works in a lot of detail ... I absolutely had a hard time putting it down.
Gable...seamlessly weaves this modern love story with history, ensuring romantic tension that doesn't end with the acceleration of Jack's career ... Based on real events, this compassionate and intelligent blend of Adriana Trigiani's All the Stars in the Heavens and Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.'s Empty Mansions offers massive cross-genre appeal.
There are no new revelations in Michelle Gable’s novel ... But it seems particularly crass to market a book on the enduring appeal of the Kennedy family and then spend 400-plus pages denigrating them ... Family matriarch Rose Kennedy is 'shrill and slight. 'Bobby is 'shifty and ratlike.' A key character claims to have proof the Kennedys killed Marilyn Monroe, and Gable suggests one of Jack’s closest chums 'services' him when no women are available. A thin modern-day plotline about an errant envelope links past to present in an attempt to reel the reader through to the book’s conclusion.
This book has all the salacious elements of a juicy page-turner: illicit romance, wealth, greed, power, adultery, gossip, blackmail, and intrigue. Readers will also notice a take on the Kennedy clan that is not often portrayed but does feel authentic. The one stumbling block is Alicia herself. As a main character, she’s difficult to like or to root for: opportunistic, flighty, and a glutton for punishment by Jack and his family. The reader observes Alicia’s foolish, often callous, behavior and begins to wonder if she deserves anything better. There is space for greater emotional depth here, but those opportunities fall by the wayside as Alicia pursues her next meaningless relationship, moneymaking scheme, or wealthy friend on her quest to climb the ladder of fame and fortune. A more nuanced heroine would have made this story irresistible.
Gable makes it easy to get lost in a world unlike any other. The Summer I Met Jack is full of real life events and facts due to all the research that Gable done while writing this love story ... a lovely novel that shows you a different side of JFK and the Kennedy family. A time before the presidency when Jack was in Congress. This story is one that is sure to stick with you.
Alicia is an excellent match for Jack intellectually, sexually, and socially, until a secret from her past causes him to call off their engagement. Alicia leaves Hyannis for Hollywood and begins to make her own way, maintaining intermittent contact with Jack until he becomes president. Gable brings her flair for multigenerational stories rooted in New England summers to this inspired-by-a-true-story tale that will appeal to Kennedy watchers, seasonal romantics, and fans of old Hollywood.
Gable...brings Polish émigré and artist Alicia Darr to vivid life in this sparkling novel ... [she] elegantly captures the glitter, glamour, and gossip of 1950s Hollywood without resorting to melodrama, and, while JFK is a perennially fascinating figure, this is Alicia’s story: a splendid portrait of a spirited survivor thriving in a man’s world, even as memories of Jack, her only true love, linger. This bittersweet tale will enthrall readers.
As the Kennedy family becomes increasingly powerful, Alicia’s position as Jack’s true love seems to put her in great danger. Based on true events from the life of American socialite Alicia Corning Clark, the story offers an alternate Kennedy family history that will leave readers wondering whether America knew the real JFK at all. A riveting tale about America’s most romanticized family.
