Summary from GoodReads:

Set against the beautiful backdrop of Cape Cod, The Gin & Chowder Clubis an eloquent, tender story of friendship, longing, and the enduring power of love. . .

The friendship between the Coleman and Shepherd families is as old and comfortable as the neighboring houses they occupy each summer on Cape Cod. Samuel and Sarah Coleman love those warm months by the water; the evenings spent on their porch, enjoying gin and tonics, good conversation and homemade clam chowder. Here they’ve watched their sons, Isaac and Asa, grow into fine young men, and watched, too, as Nate Shepherd, aching with grief at the loss of his first wife, finally found love again with the much younger Noelle.

But beyond the surface of these idyllic gatherings, the growing attraction between Noelle and handsome, college-bound Asa threatens to upend everything. In spite of her guilt and misgivings, Noelle is drawn into a reckless secret affair with far-reaching consequences. And over the course of one bittersweet, unforgettable summer, Asa will learn more than he ever expected about love—the joys and heartache it awakens in us, the lengths we’ll go to keep it, and the countless ways it can change our lives forever. . .

My Review:

My review of this book is double-edged. First, what I enjoyed about it.

The Gin and Chowder Club began with exactly what a summer read should be. With beautiful descriptions of the Cape, the ocean, good food and strong family relationships I settled down to enjoy a relaxing, idyllic story.

Now, I’ve read books with affairs in them. While I have moral objections to the subject matter I expected to be able to handle it thinking that, typical of this type of literature, a lesson would be learned.

Be careful there are some spoilers ahead.

Instead, what I got was a book that almost bordered on Christian Literature (many verse references, bible passages, a strong church background, pastors daughter (and can I just say I hate that stereotype being one myself), prayer and a Godly home portrayal), but that threw out all of that base groundwork to focus around a story that was so clearly out of character for the people involved.

First, there’s Noelle, a young woman married to a man many years her senior who has absolutely no respect for that man, nor his friendships and is willing to risk it all for a few moments in the sack – and then there’s Asa, a teenager, not even old enough to drink, being given beer and other alcohol freely, being encouraged by this older woman and forsaking his “strong, moral upbringing” with lies, an affair and straying from the path.

I was raised in a strong Christian home. I can tell you right now that it is not normal to do what Asa did and not feel strong, almost crippling guilt – especially considering that special care was made by the author to let us know that the lie he told his mother in one part of the book was the first of its kind. It simply is not that easy to forsake years of training, of examples, of strong, kind fellowship with a close-knit family to do something of this magnitude.

At the end, I felt blase and had a bad taste in my mouth. It seemed to me as if Nan Rossiter tried to go both ways for a novel of this kind – by giving it the gentle, heartwarming ending a summer read book should have, but also the intrigue and carelessness that would keep a reader wanting to read more. It just didn’t work – it seemed completely unreal and I was disappointed.

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