It is my great pleasure to be one of today’s stops on the blog tour for The Summer House by Jenny Hale, published on 9th June by Bookouture. Thrown you for a loop there haven’t I? Well I like to keep people on their toes you know.
My thanks to Kim Nash for inviting me to take part in the tour. I’ll be sharing my review with you in just a moment, but first of all – the booky bits.
The Official Book Blurb
Some summers will stay with you forever…
Callie Weaver and best friend Olivia Dixon have finally done it: put their life savings into the beach house they admired through childhood summers, on the dazzling white sand of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. They’re going to buff the salt from its windows, paint its sun-bleached sidings, and open it as a bed and breakfast.
Callie’s too busy to think about her love life, but when she catches the attention of local heartthrob Luke Sullivan, his blue eyes and easy smile make it hard to say no. He’s heir to his father’s property empire, and the papers say he’s just another playboy, but as they laugh in the ocean waves, Callie realizes there’s more to this man than money and good looks.
Just when true happiness seems within reach, Callie and Olivia find a diary full of secrets… secrets that stretch across the island, and have the power to turn lives upside down. As Callie reads, she unravels a mystery that makes her heart drop through the floor.
Will Callie and Luke be pulled apart by the storm it unleashes, or can true love save them?
The Summer House is an absolutely gorgeous, heart-warming summer romance, about the importance of family, not keeping secrets, and learning how to open your heart.
Sun, sea, storms, surf, millionaires and romance. Who could ask for anything more right?
Callie and Olivia have the opportunity of a lifetime to renovate and reopen a bed and breakfast in the small seaside community of Waves, North Carolina, a place they have loved since their childhood. Callie isn’t looking for love, her focus is on the house and getting ready to open by the end of the summer, but a chance meeting with local millionaire Luke, and a tropical storm blowing in from the Atlantic, threaten to throw her plans into disarray. Oh and boy do they…
I don’t want to say too much more about the plot – the blurb gives a hint of what you can expect after all. But what I will say is that, in spite of the troubles that Callie and Luke face, this is a truly beautiful and heart warming read that will have all us old romantics feeling the warm and fuzzies for sure.
I really liked the characters of Callie and Olivia. They were both down to earth and easy to get to know and warm to. The story centres more around Callie obviously, but Olivia, her Grandmother Gladys and her son Wyatt are also key parts of the story and all equally lovable. Gladys was brilliantly imagined, a strong independent woman who looked out for the young women and supported them all that she could and I could recognise my own gran in her humour and wisdom. Brilliant. Olivia was fun too, a great friend to Callie, and her tentative flirting with old college chum Aiden was quite sweet.
But Callie and Luke – that is where the sparks fly. They may have met by accident but the chemistry bled from the page and although you knew it was never going to be an easy ride, they way in which they fought to overcome the expectations and misconceptions about who Luke really was was so endearing and beautiful to read. Told you. Warm and fuzzies. Callie had her own demons to overcome, ones which overshadowed her relationship with Luke, and her trust issues added a real layer of conflict, especially when she trusted his reputation over taking man she saw in front of her at face value. And as for Luke? Tall, tanned, surfer dude millionaire. What is not to like in that?
Now, as in every good romance, there is another layer of conflict which threatens to derail this romance before it even really begins. And boy is it a good one. Not only do they have to contend with a tropical storm which threatens to wipe out all of the progress they have made on the house, but a deep rooted secret comes to the fore and for some of the residents it is a hard thing to take. Whether they all make it through okay… Well you’ll have to read for yourself won’t you?
There are so many moments in this that will make you swoon, go awww and just have a right good old chuckle. I said it before and I’ll say it again. This is a beautiful, engaging and heart warming read, with excellent characterisations and descriptions so vivid I want to get straight on a plane to North Carolina right now. (I also want me a hot millionaire but realise I have more chance with the plane ticket…)
Fans of Jenny Hale will not be disappointed. A perfect summer holiday romance read.
…
My thanks to Netgalley and publishers Bookouture for the advance copy of The Summer House. It is available now from the following retailers.
Amazon UK | Amazon.com | Kobo
About The Author
When she graduated college, one of Jenny’s friends said “Look out for this one; she’s going to be an author one day”. Despite being an avid reader and a natural storyteller, it wasn’t until that very moment that the idea of writing novels occurred to her.
Sometimes our friends can see the things that we can’t. Whilst she didn’t start straight away, that comment sowed a seed and several years, two children and hundreds of thousands of words later, Jenny finished her first novel – Coming Home for Christmas – which became an instant bestseller.
www.itsjennyhale.com
Follow Jenny on Facebook or Twitter
Be sure to check out all the other brilliant blogs taking part in the tour as well.
If you liked this please share the #booklove
