Today is whYAnot Review’s stop on the Endless Summer blog tour! An Endless Summer is the second book in the Summer series by C.J. Duggan. The first book, The Boys of Summer, was a great New Adult contemporary romance novel and I was delighted to read An Endless Summer. I have a huge soft spot for books by Aussie authors set in Australia! There’s also a tour wide giveaway towards the end of my post so don’t forget to check that out too!
Title: An Endless Summer (Summer #2)
Author: C. J. Duggan
Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Publisher: Self published
Publication Date: 11 July 2013
Pages: 311
Rating: 4.stars
Synopsis (from goodreads):
Sean looked out over the lake, squinting against the sunlight. He turned to me, his expression sobering as his eyes flicked over my face in a silent study.
“Come on Amy, I saved you once, I’ll save you again.”
I met his stare unflinchingly. “I don’t need saving.”
A wicked grin formed slowly. “Don’t you?”
After a rebellious summer night that almost claimed her life, Amy Henderson – the Onslow publican’s only daughter – is sent away to suffer a fate far worse than any other punishment:
Boarding School.
Three years on, a now nineteen-year-old Amy returns to Onslow for the summer. What once was a cauldron of activity with live bands, hot meals and cold beers, the Onslow Hotel now lies dark, deserted and depressing. All fond childhood memories of loitering on the hotel stairs and eavesdropping on customers’ colourful conversations are in the distant past.
How had her dad let it come to this?
With the new threat of putting the Onslow up for sale, Amy reluctantly turns to a local tradesman for help: Sean Murphy, the very same Onslow boy who saved her life all those years ago. With his help and that of some old friends, the task is clear: spend the summer building the hotel back up to its former glory or lose it for good.
In an endless summer, Amy soon realises that sometimes in order to save your future, you have to face your past, even if it’s in the form of a smug, gorgeous Onslow boy
My Review:
Oh, those Onslow boys strike again! In An Endless Summer (which can be read as a standalone novel) , Amy Henderson finds herself back in the small rural town of Onslow. But she never thought she’d be returning to ruins. Her father’s pub is now falling down around her so she enlists Sean Murphy’s handyman skills to help her restore the Onslow back to the pub she grew up in and loved.
I have to admit that after reading The Boys of Summer, I was all prepared to continue on not liking Sean. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. Seems I wasn’t the only one. Despite saving Amy’s life more than once, Amy also seems to be irritated by the gorgeous tradesman. They have great chemistry and I was rooting for them by the end of the book. In fact – I loved how the romance developed over time. They take a while to get there but by the time they do I felt like both had earned the other. My favourite kind of romance!
Amy was another surprise. At the start of the novel she’s rather selfish and tends to be a little egocentric. But as she gets into fixing up the old pub and learning about it, she learns about herself and really grows as a character. Sean is a bit mysterious and perhaps his self-evolution wasn’t as profound as Amy’s but still enjoyable to read.
I’m not a huge fan of New Adult as a genre but it’s books like this that are changing my mind. This really is the story of a girl finding herself and who is she as a person. Amy’s journey from teen to a strong independent adult was a pleasure to be a part of and the romance was fantastic to read too.
About the Author
C.J Duggan is an Australian author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia.
The Boys of Summer is Book One in her Mature Young Adult Romance Series.
Website│Twitter│Goodreads│Facebook
***GIVEAWAY***
1 Signed paperback copy of either The Boys of Summer or An Endless Summer (INT) and 5 ebook copies of The Boys of Summer or An Endless Summer (INT).
Purchase the novel from:
Amazon U.S || Amazon U.K || Amazon Canada
The Boys of Summer (Summer #1) is also just 99 cents from Amazon at the moment!
