Sipping the last glass of the High Summer Readathon iced tea

Hi, folks and happy day one of September to you! Not only has the fall season started(unofficially, I suppose) but the end of Seasons of Reading’s High Summer Readathon has arrived as well.

My goal was to read at least three books with the word “summer” in the title and one of them was a new to me author, Carley Fortune.

Well, I did read a Carley Fortune novel yet instead of One Golden Summer, I wound up with Every Summer After instead. Since OGS does tie into that book, it made sense for me to tackle it first upon spotting it at my local library.

Our leading lady is Persephone “Percy” Fraser, whose family has been spending their summers in Barry’s Bay, a small Canadian tourist town, and over the years, has been best friends with Sam Florek, sharing a love of nature, horror movies and ambitions for a future together.

It’s been years since the two of them got together but when Percy gets a call from Sam’s brother Charlie about the death of their mother, she instantly knows that respects and so much more need to paid here.

I won’t say more than that regarding the plot ; what really strengthens the story is the narrative hook of the characters and the indelible portrait of Barry’s Bay that the author brings to life on page. 

You feel so connected to these fictional people that you want to talk back to them(much like a good horror movie when you shout out warnings to the screen!) and encourage them to avoid certain situations. Then again, we wouldn’t have much of a book if everyone was a Cautious Cathy, now would we?

I do allow myself to switch out a book if necessary during these challenges and in this case, it was a pretty good call. Now I know that I like Carley Fortune and still have another book on hand (which happens to focus on Charlie, so there’s more nuance for me on that front) for another time.

As it happens, this particular book was turned into an adaptation for a  certain streaming service with a title change(Every Year After) and from what I understand, a major plot point change as well. I don’t intend to watch the show but if it gets that audience more interested in reading, then those alterations will be well worth it:

As for the books I intended to read originally here, Ali Hazelwood’s Problematic Summer Romance is similar to Every Summer After in that it is connected to another book by the same author.

In this circumstance, I did read the earlier title(Not in Love) where the main characters in this novel were  just supporting players. This time around, Maya is traveling to a remote island in Italy for her brother‘a destination wedding , an event that comes with some unexpected setbacks, and while she’s happy to be there, the biggest issue for her is dealing with Conor.

Conor is her brother’s best friend and business partner, plus much older than Maya(she’s twenty three, he is thirty eight). Out of all those potential problems, it’s the age difference that holds Conor back from pursuing a relationship with Maya. Can this time together get them to look past that or will this end things once and for all?

I do enjoy Hazelwood‘s takes on romance and appreciate the dynamic of Conor not wanting to use his status as an older man to dominate a younger potential romantic partner. However, some of those arguments about that issue between those two went on for a bit too long there.

While I did get some Jane Austen’s Emma vibes from the book, even Mr. Knightley and Miss Woodhouse knew when to call a truce! All in all,  I would say that PSR is good entertainment, particularly if you’ve read Not in Love first:

And finally, I got to experience These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean.

The Storms of the title are a family whose  wealthy patriarch Franklin has recently passed away. His daughter Alice has been estranged from them for several years but nonetheless, comes home to their New England island retreat to pat her last respects. Unfortunately, her father’s will holds a few (not totally unexpected)surprises for her and the remainder of the family.

Enforcing those final requests is Jack, who Alice happened to meet on the train coming in and wound up having what she thought would be a one night stand. What’s more annoying is that while Jack certainly knew who she was, Alice had no idea who he was or what role he was about to play this particular week.

Alice and her siblings are asked to jump through some hoops in order to gain their inheritance, with Alice’s only task is to stay the full week of mourning. Since her mother and most of her family are as emotionally toxic as any nuclear waste disposal, her urge to leave is strong but if even one of them refuses to take part, then all of them will lose out on the money.

The story stays mainly with Alice but the viewpoint does get shifted to her other family members at times such as her obnoxious brother Sam(whose wife Sila is even worse) and older sister Greta, who is being made to end a secret relationship with a longtime staff member. That helps to round out the overall story and gives more depth to their characters.

MacLean is another new to me writer that I would love to read more from and I’m glad that I listened to some good word of mouth about this book. It’s a great read for any time of year, if you ask me.

While this novel will naturally bring comparisons to shows like Succession, I can see a little Jane Austen in this engaging mix especially when it comes to dysfunctional family relationships with the worst fear being to economize or as the Eliots of Persuasion would shudder to say “Retrench?!”:

Thank you to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for another wonderful reading event and I’m already making plans for FrightFall later this season!

In the meanwhile, I hope that all of you had a good end of summer despite the daily turmoil being shoved in our faces these days . One of the toughest hits that we’ve collectively shared is the passing of Miss Dolly Parton, an icon in so many wonderful ways.

As a reader, it’s been amazing to see her Imagination Library, a program that sends free books to young children, take off like it has. From a project meant to help kids from her own home town(in honor of her father) at first, it has become an international organization that jumpstarts the love of reading for people both in this nation and abroad.

Despite federal budget cuts, the Imagination Library is still bound and determined to keep going and judging by the overwhelming donations since Dolly’s passing, that mission will continue indeed.

This is one of the reasons that people around the world have taken the departure of Dolly Parton to heart so strongly; her unfailing kindness to others. Some might sneer at the attention given to her life and legend but those  cynical beings fail to comprehend the overflowing goodness that she gave to all of us without hesitation.

There are  the many acts of charity that she made(both known and unknown) and advocacy for folks oppressed by so-called “polite society “, not to mention a good sense of humor about herself, plus her incredible musical talents  and other pop culture appearances. We were blessed to have Dolly among us and hopefully, her legacy will be a path for others to follow.

So, thank you, Miss Parton for sharing your bounty with us and when we hear one of your songs or watch one of your movies or see a child enjoy a picture book for the first time, we will always think of you as the best that humanity has , and hopefully will continue, to offer: