Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: Summer Lovin’ (hardcover)
Author: Carly Phillips
Publisher: HQN
ISBN: 0-373-77019-7
Release Date: August 2005
Genre/Sub-genre: Romantic Comedy (with a touch of suspense)
Year/Setting: Contemporary, United States
Overall rating: 5
Sexual content rating: Subtle/Sensual
Carly's Website: www.carlyphillips.com
Zoe Costas is a woman who knows her future. She grew up in a loving family who made sure she became an individual with her own mind. She wanted adventure so she went through the FBI training and became a secret service agent. She knew her own future so well that when she decided to live by her own rules and regulations, she left the service and started her own security company with the help of two partners.
Imagine her surprise when her life begins to veer from the future she had mapped out. Her fun-loving, eccentric parents have taken in a teenage girl through the foster care system and are in the middle of adopting her. They were having a birthday/anniversary party for Samantha, the foster child, when her biological uncle came to call. Ryan Baldwin haled from the Boston Baldwins. It was their uptight living that had originally made Samantha’s mother run away in the first place. Ryan has been looking for his sister for years only to find that she had been killed and left a child. He just knew that his niece needed rescuing and he would be there for her. Of course his timing couldn’t have been much worse as they were being entertained by a monkey who liked to moon the crowd. Her name wasn’t Spank for nothing.
As the process began for everyone to get to know one another and figure out Samantha’s future, someone has begun to look for Sam or something that Sam has. Ryan and Zoe have to work together to protect the little girl that they both love – not only from this someone but also towards finding the right place/home for her to be in.
Carly Phillips’ Summer Lovin’ touched many emotions throughout the telling of the tale. Zoe showed great strength and confidence in herself and not just as a woman but as an individual. The one flaw that made her truly human was her inability to say "I love you" and I am sure that many of us can relate to that. Ryan showed an individual who could learn from life’s new experience and grow and develop. As I watched them develop as individuals as well as a couple, I saw tenderness that made me misty; I saw fright for a young girl that made me a bit angry; I saw the way that only a couple in love can argue that made me laugh and I saw love in relationships that exemplified hope. Not just the relationship between Zoe and Ryan but also the way all of the adults came together out of their love for a child. A high society lady and a woman who dressed as a geisha can work together for a child.
As far as the suspense part, I have to admit it wasn’t until I was halfway through the book that I realized there would be some suspense. It kind of crept up on me. I found that interesting since in reality, isn’t that what would happen in real life? Great book!
Lori
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