Review: Summer Island

Synopsis:

New York Times bestselling author Shelley Noble pens a heartwarming story of a mother-daughter road trip to the beach and to self-discovery.

When reporter Phoebe Adams loses her job and her fiancé on the same day, it never occurs to her that she’ll also have to support her mother, Ruth, through her divorce from Phoebe’s father after thirty-five years of marriage. They both need a haven, and Phoebe knows just the place–Summer Island, where Grandma Alice still rules the roost from the big New England beach house Phoebe and Ruth once called home.

But “home” has changed. There’s a trendy new look downtown. Large beach houses are replacing the old. The Harken house next door is in disrepair.

Phoebe’s plan for a peaceful retreat is quickly hijacked when globe-trotting Great Aunt Vera makes an unannounced pit stop. With Vera around, no one can stay morose for long, not even Lars, the grumpy widower next door, or his son Ty, formerly geeky middle child all grown up into a handsome and enigmatic man. Soon they’re all enjoying things they used to do and discovering new ones. Each adventure opens a part of themselves they’ve neglected for too long and brings them closer together.

But when an accident threatens to destroy the tenuous tie between them, Phoebe realizes how fragile life can be, and that she has some serious choices to make about her own life. It will take the support of her newly awakened family and the magic of Summer Island for Phoebe to embrace the challenge of an unexpected future and to trust her own heart.

Rating: 4-stars

Review:

Summer Island by Shelley Noble is a great story. I loved the book more when it started with the scene of the heroine being burned by her former fiancé. She dumps him after finding out what he plans on doing with his father’s legacy business, The Sentinel. I liked the female friendship between heroine and her best friend from the newspaper. They supported each other. The heroine is left struggling to find where to go and what to do next. She knows in her heart what she wants to do next. She then has to deal with her protective yet divorced mother. Together, they embark on a summer journey. That is where the story really begins. The characters had enough depth to them. There was drama, and themes of family and romance too. As much as I liked all of that, the pacing was too slow. I had to stop and begin reading again later. If you do not mind the bit of a snail pace, then this book is for you! The characters are enjoyable and realistic. I loved that the heroine did not give up her dream.