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| Goodreads Amazon Barnes & Noble Source: review copy provided by Kismet Book Tours Published: June 2012 Lakehouse Press |
Book Synopsis: I have spent every summer since I was ten years old with my father in London. Every summer, since I was ten years old, has been uneventful and boring.
Until this year.
And this year, after a freak volcanic eruption strands me far from home, I have learned these things:
1. I can make do with one outfit for three days before I buy new clothes.
2. If I hear the phrase, “You’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto,” even one more time, I might become a homicidal maniac.
3. I am horribly and embarrassingly allergic to jellyfish.
4. I am in love with Dante Giliberti, who just happens to be the beautiful, sophisticated son of the Prime Minister of a Mediterranean paradise.
5. See number four above. Because it brings with it a whole slew of problems and I’ve learned something from every one of them.
Let’s start with the fact that Dante’s world is five light-years away from mine. He goes to black-tie functions and knows the Prime Minister of England on a first name basis. I was born and raised on a farm in Kansas and wear cut-off jeans paired with cowboy boots. See the difference?
But hearts don’t care about differences. Hearts want what they want. And mine just wants to be Dante’s girl.
My heart just might be crazy.
Somehow, books come along right exactly when I need them. I was desperately wanting something light, but that would be satisfying. This sounded like it would be just the thing, and it was. Perfectly light and beautifully satisfying. I was certain that I'd enjoy it, but what surprised me was just how much I did.
I found Reece to be captivating and engaging. I liked her Midwestern charm and her down-to-earth personality. I liked that she tried to play it cool with everything, but totally had an inner fangirl going on most of the time. That is SO me.
I liked that she had to put some effort into things. Nothing was just handed to her. Okay, so maybe a plane ride with Mr. Hotness was a gift from Heaven, but the rest wasn't. She actually had to DO things. Also, she wasn't 'the plain girl who never had any friends and all of a sudden is the most beloved person on the entire planet and maybe Mars too'. I can't even tell you how much I liked that bit. She had her friends, she had her enemies, and she had pretty much everyone in-between. That is so much more like real life and since this is a contemp, I feel perfectly justified in expecting bits of reality to creep through far more often than in fantasy.
Dante makes me completely firm in my resolve that I need a foreign boyfriend. I'm telling you, the foreign guys pretty much have an unbreakable lead in how to treat the ladies. (also, for the record, I speak of this through personal experience and not just books) Dante was awesome. If I'd done my book boyfriend post from earlier after I'd finished this book, I'd have included him on it. He's totally there in spirit.
I really liked the story and absolutely ADORED the setting. An island paradise in the Mediterranean? Yes, please. I felt like I was walking the same perfect beaches as Reece and Dante. I seriously could SMELL the ocean breeze! As for the story, it was perfectly paced and beautifully written. It was the perfect combination of light and serious - just exactly what this reader wanted in a story right then.
I'd totally pick this one up again and I'm planning on picking up the finished book when my budget increases. It gets 4 Eiffel Towers!
Content Advisory
Language: Moderate
Sexuality: Moderate
Violence: Moderate
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- Release: June 29th by Lakehouse Press
Courtney Cole
Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.Learn more about Courtney and her books at www.courtneycolewrites.com
