June Baby, by Shannon Garvey

   

Born the only child to a to a working-class family, Ruth is suddenly sent from her home by a father grieving his wife’s—her mother’s---horrible and long-awaited death from Cancer. Ruth has no direction—school is out and her mother is gone. They had been very close and now Ruth is alone on Block Island, a place her mother loved, but where Ruth has never been. She’s to stay with a woman her mother had known when she was seventeen, coincidentally Ruth’s age when she died.

Though she is grieving and afraid, Ruth goes to Dianna, a successful photographic artist, and serves as her intern. Dianna gives her a home, purpose and encourages Ruth’s own creativity. Even better, Dianna’s nephew Charlie comes to stay, and Ruth and Charlie become best friends.

But it is ten years later, and now Dianna has died. Ruth knows two things—she wants to stay on Block Island forever, and she’s in love with Charlie.

Grief is an overwhelming emotion in this book, and while it wants to be a meaningful summer read, it leaves the reader dreading every decision Ruth makes. The setting is wonderful—hard not to love the vacation atmosphere, and most of the characters are fun if a bit stereotypical. Ruth’s on again off again boy toy, Louis may be the steadiest of all the characters. Charlie’s new fiancée Natalie also seems a bit one dimensional. But they serve to lighten a book that seems to be wearing a shroud with little hope for recovery.

Garvey writes well, and I will look for something a little more hopeful in her future books. June Baby was published May 12, 2026, by Random House. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.