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Anonymous
Posted February 2, 2012
First must read book of the year!!!
The first thing you should know is that I am not your typical reviewer. I refuse to be the person that gives you all the details in a book. That's what the summary is at the back of the book is for.
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What I will tell you about this book is it took me on a journey of love. Yes, love between a man and a woman but most importantly love between the people we let into our hearts. I laughed, I cried, and I mourned. I was outraged and I was touched. This book will remind you what it is to love, trust, and share in the lives of the people around you.
Liz Flaherty if you ever read this review, thank you. Thank you for reminding me of the connections between brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters, friends, and the people who touch us through our lives. -
Amazing book about the power of friendship!
My Review:
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When I started this audiobook, I was expecting a light contemporary romance, but what it is...is so much more than that! At the center of this book is Grace. She is the youngest of three siblings and has always been inexplicably hated by her father. He was mean, spiteful, and abusive. The odd thing about this was his horrible actions only applied to Grace, not her older brother Steven, or her older sister, Faith. Nevertheless, Grace was the one that stood by him and took care of him until he finally died. Now Grace is trying to start a new life by turning the family home into a bed & breakfast. And despite it all, Grace is a wonderful giving and thoughtful person who takes care of everyone else in her life.
There is a whole cast of characters to this book who serve as Grace's support system. She is an incredible person, despite her difficulties growing up and her friends realize what a special gift she is.
*Dillon- Steven's best friend and best-selling writer. He moves into the guest cottage on the property as a favor to Steven who knows that Grace needs the money. He stood her up for the prom, but his reason (that she isn't aware of) is so heartbreaking. He also has a secret in his past that shattered him emotionally.
*Promise- Grace's best friend. She moves into the house when she finds out that she has cancer so that Grace can help her through the chemo. Promise has been dating Grace's older brother Steven for 20 years.
*Steven- Grace's older brother and Promise's boyfriend since high school. Also a doctor who lives several hours away.
*Faith- Grace's perfect older sister. Kind-hearted to the point where no one can dislike her.
*Grant- Faith's husband who is a banker.
*Maxie- a friend of Grace's mother and father who simply never left after the funeral. She has moments where her age is showing and she becomes confused.
*Jonah- he loves Maxie and is helping Grace handle some of the handyman type issues on the property.
There is a love story to this book between Dillon & Grace. There are also gorgeous love stories between Promise & Steven and between Maxie & Jonah, but at the heart, this story is not about romantic love. This book is about love of friendship. At the heart is Grace, Dillon, Promise, and Steven and their road through this book IS NOT an easy one. It was incredibly moving and emotional. Even thinking about it now, 24 hours after I finished it, the power of the emotions are so strong that I still well-up with tears.
The wonderful thing about audiobooks is that you have the time to soak in all of the nuances of the story. The narrator on this one, Rebecca Gibel, was just wonderful. She handled the emotions through her voices so incredibly well. There is a huge cast of characters to this book and she managed to give them ALL their own distinct sound through all the ups and downs of the book. It was really well-done and I think completely added to my enjoyment of this book. While I think that I would have enjoyed reading it, I KNOW that the audio version enhanced my emotional reaction to the book to the point where I absolutely fell in love with it. It's definitely one that I recommend! -
awesome book
One More Summer by Liz Flaherty
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Grace Elliot has returned to the family house where her brother Steven and sister Faith have turned over their 1/3 of the property to her as their father had passed away a few weeks ago.
She planned on running it as a Bed and Breakfast but an Inn would be better for long term residents which a lot of them are the elderly of the town.
Her best friend, Promise Delaney is going to be going through breast cancer surgery and chemo and will need her help.
Dillion Campbell, the boy she was to attend the prom with but didn't show up after speaking to her father, is back in town. He was a reported covering the war and now writes novels.
He's so tired he needs to rent Grace's guesthouse in the back to reucperate and to help by paying for his stay.
Jonah who had lost all his retirement money was living there.
Maxie's cousin stayed after her dad's funeral and never left.
Daily life goes on as they get the guesthouse ready for Dilion, he does most of the work with others helping with the light sewing.
They are all there for Promise after her surgery.
Grace is starting to feel comfortable with Dilion again and she talks to him about his new book and how to make it better than the last one he wrote. She has a LOT of issues from the past, mostly her dad who didn't have a good word to say about her at all.
She has to overcome all that.
A lot of secrets come out and the rest of the book helps make sense of what happened earlier in their lives. Awesome read!