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A review by 00leah00
Late City Summer by Jeanette Bears
3.0
“Late City Summer” is a historical, second-chance romance set in 1942 and 1946. It has a dual timeline as each time period has dedicated chapters, rather than flashbacks. It’s also the debut from Jeanette Bears.
Emily Stanton has just graduated college in Boston and is headed to New York City to get married. Kate Alessi is the wedding photographer hired by Emily’s mother. What no one knows is that four years ago, Emily and Kate met and fell in love while Emily was in NYC on summer break.
At first this seemed like the perfect book for me, I love the cover and the setting. I love second chance romance, it’s my favorite trope, but this one just didn’t click with me. The chemistry between Emily and Kate didn’t wow me or make me believe in their relationship, past or present. I think because Bears did both timelines, it was hard to really feel the connection from either one as there isn’t a lot of time spent in one time. I did like both main characters and several side characters. There’s good character development with Kate and Emily and I enjoyed how it unfolded.
What I thought Bears did well was the slow burn with the two women coming to understand and accept their feelings for each other in the 40’s. The expectation is for Emily to get married and become a housewife even though she’s just gotten a degree. Kate is expected to give up her job once the war is over but neither are happy with these choices. Being gay was not widely accepted at the time and I always enjoy reading about people that defy the times for not only love, but their way of life.
I had some issues with this that I think are common with debuts. There seemed to be a lot of head-hopping and I wasn’t always sure whose point of view I was reading. A majority of the book is in Emily’s point of view but every so often, I would realize it’s been switched to Kate’s and then I’d have to go back and re-read the passage. The pacing was also problematic for me. The first 30% or so is pretty slow and reads more like a love letter to New York than a romance. It got better after that but it seemed to take a while to get there and get me invested.
While this didn’t completely work for me, it seems like it worked a lot better for others. I recommend reading other reviews to get a better feel.
I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Emily Stanton has just graduated college in Boston and is headed to New York City to get married. Kate Alessi is the wedding photographer hired by Emily’s mother. What no one knows is that four years ago, Emily and Kate met and fell in love while Emily was in NYC on summer break.
At first this seemed like the perfect book for me, I love the cover and the setting. I love second chance romance, it’s my favorite trope, but this one just didn’t click with me. The chemistry between Emily and Kate didn’t wow me or make me believe in their relationship, past or present. I think because Bears did both timelines, it was hard to really feel the connection from either one as there isn’t a lot of time spent in one time. I did like both main characters and several side characters. There’s good character development with Kate and Emily and I enjoyed how it unfolded.
What I thought Bears did well was the slow burn with the two women coming to understand and accept their feelings for each other in the 40’s. The expectation is for Emily to get married and become a housewife even though she’s just gotten a degree. Kate is expected to give up her job once the war is over but neither are happy with these choices. Being gay was not widely accepted at the time and I always enjoy reading about people that defy the times for not only love, but their way of life.
I had some issues with this that I think are common with debuts. There seemed to be a lot of head-hopping and I wasn’t always sure whose point of view I was reading. A majority of the book is in Emily’s point of view but every so often, I would realize it’s been switched to Kate’s and then I’d have to go back and re-read the passage. The pacing was also problematic for me. The first 30% or so is pretty slow and reads more like a love letter to New York than a romance. It got better after that but it seemed to take a while to get there and get me invested.
While this didn’t completely work for me, it seems like it worked a lot better for others. I recommend reading other reviews to get a better feel.
I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.