Friday, December 4, 2015

Book Review: Summer by Summer



Book Jacket:
When Summer took a job as a nanny for a couple vacationing in Belize, she imagined it would be a fresh start before starting college in the fall. And while she adores her charge, Josh, she can’t say the same for her employers’ oldest son, Bray. He’s cocky, inconsiderate, and makes her feel she’s a chore he has to put up with. In short, he’s everything she dislikes in a guy.

Bray had a plan for the summer: party, hang out with friends, and forget all the responsibilities waiting for him back home. But every time he’s forced to be around Summer, her dour, serious mood sets him off. Not to mention she has a habit of picking up on what he already knows is wrong with him.

Then the two find themselves on a dive trip gone wrong, stranded on a remote island. As they focus on survival, their differences melt away, and they find being together may be what both needed all along.


My Review

This book's stunning cover art stirs the soul!  I close my eyes and I can smell the salty sea air, feel the sand between my toes and feel the heat of the sun as it kisses the skin.  Summer by Summer is as refreshing as of all of that ~ and stays with you as you drift from the concluding last page of the epilogue. 

The summer for Summer starts out slowly, with lunches and shopping trips with  family the family she's hired to work for.   Little Joshie's mom takes a liking to her immediately and treats her like a daughter, all the while her heart is troubled from a darkened past.  She loses her boyfriend, Michael, in a fatal accident and she finds healing to be almost impossible.  Accepting the job as a nanny for little Joshie's will give her some time to get away and try to heal.  She keeps her heart guarded, especially where Joshie's much older brother, Bray, is concerned.   He seems like trouble, and she knows it, and she doesn't have time in her life for his partying ways and carefree life.  

 "I don't think I'm above you.  I think the people like you - the pretty people, the rich people - thinks the world revolves around them. And the really awful thing, It kinda does."  {book quote}


That is until a boating trip goes wrong and they find themselves in the middle of a deserted island!   Forces to cooperate together for survival, this almost coming of age book is filled with intrigue. From the shark that aims for Bray while searching for the lost boat anchor to the strangers on the other side of the island suspiciously involved in something illegal, they fight for survival.  Their need for each other grows stronger each day, as does their attraction for each other, depending solely on each other for comfort, shelter, food, safety. 


Quiet, thoughtful Summer, who wears vanilla as her signature scent, 
 wants nothing to do with Bray when she's hired as the summer nanny. 
 She wears her purity ring with pride and holds fast to her beliefs of abstinence until marriage.  However,  be warned:  There is sexual tension displayed through-out this book.  The desires are clear, and Burke doesn't dimension the longing between these two as they get closer.  If you are looking for a more guarded book without any mention of the desire between two kids, this book isn't it.  In addition, there are talks of underage drinking at parties 
and drinking and driving.

There are beautiful inclusions of witness scattered through out this book.  Summer is able talk with Bray about loss and devastation and eventually, healing.  She's instrumental in leading his heart towards what God can do in times of trouble.  Bray is able to open his heart and to the possibility of strengthening his relationship with God.  "If God got us out of this, and back home to our families, like Summer was so certain He would, I'd want to explore this whole thing with that made Summer so filled with such faith against such difficult odds."  {book quote}

I was captivated to the very end - darting through this book quicker than sand passes through the fingertips at the ocean's edge.  Perfect for the summer months!

                                 I thank BookLook bloggers for the chance to review this book 
                        and my review is a positive opinion expressed by me on my own accord.

 

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