Luck or Something Like it: A Memoir
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For more than half a century, Kenny Rogers has been recording some of the most revered and beloved...
A Visit from the Goon Squad
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Jennifer Egan's spellbinding novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an ageing former punk rocker...
SnapBridge
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With the SnapBridge app, downloading photos from Nikon cameras is easy. Supported Digital Cameras...
The Betrayal: The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball
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In the most famous scandal of sports history, eight Chicago White Sox players-including Shoeless Joe...
An Englishman Aboard: Discovering France in a Rowing Boat
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From the author of Pardon My French and A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi, this is the charming and...
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Land of the Living in Books
Feb 15, 2019
Time Out Bahrain Magazine
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Time Out Bahrain is a monthly guide to life in Bahrain – featuring restaurant reviews, big party...
Butch Vig recommended Country Life by Roxy Music in Music (curated)
The Girl with the Dragonfruit Tattoo
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Sometimes you have to rock the boat to catch a killer! On the tropical island of Paraiso, Plum...
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Our Summer Together in Books
Dec 14, 2018
This latest book by women’s fiction author Fanny Blake is an uplifting story about family and finding love later in life. <i>Our Summer Together</i> begins with Caro, a portrait painter, and part-time art teacher, running around after her two adult daughters, Lauren and Amy. With barely a moment to herself, Caro flits between looking after her three-year-old grandson and helping out at Amy’s florist shop. However, one day, a brief encounter on the train home sparks excitement back into her life.
From the train to decorating her house and, finally, becoming her lodger, Caro gets to know the mysterious Damir as he gradually opens up about his past. Despite being fifteen years younger than her, Caro falls in love with the Bosnian and he with her, but can this elation last?
Despite her new chance at love, Caro has so many other things to worry about. Her ex-husband Chris is filing for divorce so that he can marry his new, much younger woman. However, this involves selling the house that Caro lives in and where her children grew up. On top of that, her eldest daughter, Lauren, is sceptical about Damir and is not afraid of saying so. With life as she knew it crashing down around her, Caro must decide whether Damir is worth it, but, most importantly, does he really want her in his life?
The title of the book, <i>Our Summer Together</i>, creates a sense of foreboding from the very beginning. Implying that Caro and Damir will only have one season together puts the reader on tenterhooks: what will go wrong? Desperate for a happy ending, we plough through the chapters wishing that their happiness could last forever.
It is refreshing to read about a romance developing between older characters rather than the typical twenty or thirty-something. A second chance at love feels much more satisfying than a will-they-won’t-they, playing hard-to-get attempt at a first serious relationship.
Alongside the love and joyfulness is a darker history that opens the readers’ eyes to events occurring during their lifetime that they may not have been very aware of. Growing up in Bosnia, Damir was subjected to war and violence, losing all his family and having a disastrous start at adulthood. For Damir, his relationship with Caro is not only a second-chance at love, but a second-chance at life, too.
<i>Our Summer Together</i> is a relaxing book to read that can either be devoured quickly or eked out over a period of time. With humour, reality and a range of emotions, it is impossible to find the story boring. Whatever your usual genre of choice, this book will be a refreshing change.


