The Summer Pact

Emily Giffin is an American author and a native of the Midwest who studied history and English in college and went on to receive her law degree from the University of Virginia. After working for a law firm for a few years, Giffin turned to writing full-time. Her debut novel, Something Borrowed, was published in 2004 and reached the New York Times Best Seller list. This book launched a career that includes 12 books to date, several of which have been New York Times, USA Today, and international bestsellers.

Giffin’s books generally involve American characters facing a crisis in their romantic, marital, or family relationships. In Something Borrowed, Rachel, a young woman hiding her love for her best friend’s fiancé, finds the courage to tell him about her feelings, bringing on consequences that test her most cherished relationships. In Something Blue (2005), the sequel, Rachel’s former best friend, Darcy, faces her own reckoning about her future as she deals with an unexpected pregnancy. The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone (2012) is a prequel to Griffin’s first two novels that offers a glimpse into the formative years of Darcy’s life through her teenage diary. Although these three novels are interconnected, her other nine novels (as of 2025) are standalone.

These nine novels often focus on romantic relationships and the various conflicts that manifest in them. In Baby Proof (2006), a friend’s marriage tests the bond between a childless couple, while in Love the One You’re With (2008), a young newlywed deals with unresolved feelings when she runs into her ex. The Heart of the Matter (2010) features alternating narrators, two very different women whose lives are entangled by an unexpected tragedy. In Where We Belong (2012), an unmoored adolescent seeks out her successful birth mother, leading the other woman to reflect on the choices she’s made. The One and Only (2014) features another young adult protagonist, a young woman who finds her dreams changing when she becomes close with a childhood friend’s father. In contrast, First Comes Love (2016) portrays two sisters navigating different paths to motherhood while they deal with the family trauma of losing their brother several years earlier.

Heavier themes appear in All We Ever Wanted (2018), which follows a family in turmoil after the son of a complacent couple shares exploitative photographs of a young woman online. The Lies That Bind (2020) delves into the suspense genre when a young woman who meets a charming stranger on the eve of a national disaster discovers that he isn’t what he seems. The novel before The Summer Pact, Meant to Be (2022), offers a glimpse at recent American history as it tracks the love affairs between a privileged golden boy and a model from a very different background. The Summer Pact continues to address some of Giffin’s favorite themes of tragedy, recovery, romance, and fraught family dynamics but is unique in its focus on friendship as the tie that binds.

Donna Edwards, in an Associated Press review of Meant to Be, calls Giffin’s writing “consumable and rich, balancing dialog and descriptions” (Edwards, Donna. “Review: Giffin Marries Romance and History in ‘Meant to Be.’” Associated Press News, 7 Jun. 2022). A Kirkus review of The One and Only says that Giffin writes with “wit, intelligence and discernment” (“The One and Only.” Kirkus Reviews, 20 May 2014). Giffin is frequently praised for her realistic dialogue, her plots that blend humor and heartbreak, and her depictions of the evergreen theme of realizing one’s dreams. While her novels are sometimes classified as “beach reads,” due to the fast-paced writing and often optimistic endings, Giffin doesn’t shy away from topics such as difficult family relationships, the consequences of loss and tragedy, and social realities like prejudice and discrimination.