Monday, July 22, 2013

Summer Loving, by Nicola Yeager

3.5 out of 5 stars


I was asked by Endeavour Press, the largest independent digital publisher in the UK, to review a new adult book for their new US division.  Of course, I jumped at the opportunity!  I am always up for trying new authors and reads.  I decided to read Summer Loving by Nicola Yeager.

Saskia Lucas is on yet another luxury summer holiday in an exotic location. This time it’s in the Algarve, in the south of Portugal. She’s with Franklin, the man that she likes to refer to as her ‘provider’, or as some might say, her Sugar Daddy.  A wealthy businessman, and close on forty years older than her, Franklin and Saskia have little in common, apart from a taste for the finer things in life. Two years into the relationship, Saskia has expensive clothes, the latest handbags, lots of shoes, perfect blonde hair... and new boobs. Everything she ever wanted.  Except for love.  Unknown to Franklin, Saskia is still nursing a broken heart from a relationship she had when she was only nineteen with a surfer named Kirstan. And when Franklin abandons Saskia for a couple of days to play golf she decides to book some surfing lessons.  But she is in for a shock, one that will change her life forever.

Now for my confession time...Does anyone else reading a book set in the UK and Europe with British characters read with an English accent in their head?  Maybe its just one of my quirky things.  The other thing I have a slight issue with is the fact that the surfer guy is named Kirstan.  Now maybe in the UK guys have this name, but I have only experienced girls with this name so I changed his name in my head to Kristian.  It just worked better for me.

Nicola’s writing style reminds me of Sophie Kinsella, one of my favorite British authors.  (Confessions of a Shopaholic)  I really enjoyed reading the book because I love some of the British humor that was interjected.  There were several points in the book that I was chuckling to myself over the internal monologue from Sask.  She was a really lovable character.  Kirsten was also hilarious, his sense of humor won me over as well. 

My main issue with this book and the main reason for the 3.5 star review is that it was so incredibly short.  It was only 123 pages.  For me that is just an hour or so of read time.  Because of the length of the book, I felt the story was a bit rushed and I did not have time to fall as much in love with the characters as I could have.  The entire book basically takes place over 3 days.  There is a lot of build up to the climax of the book, but it is over and resolved in a couple of pages.  I don’t think it was bad, I just felt like the characters deserved more time to work through the issues or something.   

In conclusion, if you are looking for a short read to take on a car trip, to the beach or are just in the mood for a short and sweet read, you should give this novella a try.  Hopefully, Nicola will expand on their story and there will be a sequel so we can see what the characters are up to in the next part of their life.  

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