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A review by beate251
Summer Ever After by Jane Crittenden
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.
Alice and Andy met in Barcelona ten years ago, when they were 20 and 21 and had some unforgettable weeks together. They fell in love but something happened and Alice returned to London alone, but has never forgotten him. Now, ten years later, her work in a language school brings her suddenly back to Barcelona and to Andy. Unfortunately, he is married to the elegant Mariana and they want to buy the language school she works for!
There are two timelines: ten years ago narrated by Andy in the past tense, the now narrated by Alice in the present tense. This worked really quite well for me.
The utterly gorgeous cover drew me in, and the warm-hearted second chances story reads well.
I loved the copious food descriptions (both Alice and Andy are foodies) but instead of describing Barcelona's famous art and architecture the author concentrates on sunshine and food and while there is a genuine love for cooking shining through, I found it a little limiting as a description of a world-class city.
The main problem is that the miscommunication and misunderstandings trope is used too heavily. We don't find out what happened to rip them apart until the very end of the book (and it is so dumb!). Especially Alice is a very frustrating character, but Andy is also someone who just let life happen to him because of the trauma with his brother Matt's death, which he feels responsible for. He is in very good company with Alice here who thinks she is responsible for her mother's accident, and that her penance is to forever having to look after her. Honestly, sometimes I wanted to bang their heads together! Alice's pansexual sister Charlie is such a breath of fresh air, and has exactly the right approach with their mother, something Alice neither sees nor appreciates until late in the day.
The epilogue is lovely though, with a happy ending for everyone. This is a pleasant escapist summer read if you can get over the fact they could have had a happy ending ten years earlier (and if you forget that Brexit exists which means you now can't simply move country like that anymore).
Alice and Andy met in Barcelona ten years ago, when they were 20 and 21 and had some unforgettable weeks together. They fell in love but something happened and Alice returned to London alone, but has never forgotten him. Now, ten years later, her work in a language school brings her suddenly back to Barcelona and to Andy. Unfortunately, he is married to the elegant Mariana and they want to buy the language school she works for!
There are two timelines: ten years ago narrated by Andy in the past tense, the now narrated by Alice in the present tense. This worked really quite well for me.
The utterly gorgeous cover drew me in, and the warm-hearted second chances story reads well.
I loved the copious food descriptions (both Alice and Andy are foodies) but instead of describing Barcelona's famous art and architecture the author concentrates on sunshine and food and while there is a genuine love for cooking shining through, I found it a little limiting as a description of a world-class city.
The main problem is that the miscommunication and misunderstandings trope is used too heavily. We don't find out what happened to rip them apart until the very end of the book (and it is so dumb!). Especially Alice is a very frustrating character, but Andy is also someone who just let life happen to him because of the trauma with his brother Matt's death, which he feels responsible for. He is in very good company with Alice here who thinks she is responsible for her mother's accident, and that her penance is to forever having to look after her. Honestly, sometimes I wanted to bang their heads together! Alice's pansexual sister Charlie is such a breath of fresh air, and has exactly the right approach with their mother, something Alice neither sees nor appreciates until late in the day.
The epilogue is lovely though, with a happy ending for everyone. This is a pleasant escapist summer read if you can get over the fact they could have had a happy ending ten years earlier (and if you forget that Brexit exists which means you now can't simply move country like that anymore).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail