Review: Summer of Love by Katie Fforde

Summer of Love by Katie Fforde

Blurb from Goodreads:

A gorgeously romantic summer read about fresh starts, friendships and falling deeply in love. 

Sian Bishop has left the hustle and bustle of the city to throw herself into an idyllic new life in a charming countryside cottage. 

With her young son, her picture-postcard garden and her furniture restoration business, she's very happy and very busy. She is not - repeat not - looking for love. 

But Sian’s good intentions are torpedoed one glorious summer’s evening with the arrival of Gus Berresford. One-time explorer and full-time heartbreaker, Gus is ridiculously exciting, wonderfully glamorous and a completely inappropriate love interest for a single mother. 

But she and Gus have met before. And, despite Sian's best intentions, it isn't long before she's falling for him all over again ... 

My Review:

Katie Fforde is one of my favorite British authors; I just love her quirky chick-lit and especially the towns/villages she creates in her books -- they usually involve an outsider moving into the small and quaint place and being welcomed (eventually) by the town.  I really liked Sian and her son Rory but I adored Gus and his mother, Fiona -- I was almost more invested in her story than the main one but this was a fun and fast read. My one gripe about this was the conflict -- when it evolved, it was swift and severe and due to a lack of communication !!  This could have totally turned me off the book and I was seriously put off by Sian in this instance but the HEA was good and I just loved so many of the other characters that I still enjoyed this overall.

This is a great summer book; as I mentioned, I always love the villages that Katie Fforde creates and this one is no exception! This one also reminded me of another favorite with this particular twist on the second-chance romance trope, Just for Fun by Rosalind James.  My other favorite Katie Fforde's are Highland Fling and Stately Pursuits -- both highly recommended, especially if you love British chick-lit!  Summer of Love was released last week on July 8, 2016, and you can purchase HERE.

Fiona Matcham and Rory were up the far end of the garden when Sian brought out the mugs of tea.  Sian sat down on one of the chairs and sipped hers, watching them together.  She was pleased that Rory had forgotten to be shy and was making friends.  She had been a bit worried about taking him away from everything he knew in a busy city out into the country, although, as Richard had pointed out, it was in a village, not in a remote location miles from anywhere.  There was a school, a pub, a church and two shops, one of which was also a post office.