Beyond Summer (Blue Sky Hill Series) [Mass Market Paperback]

Lisa Wingate (Author)

Book Description

Series: Blue Sky Hill Series | Publication Date: July 6, 2010

National bestselling author Lisa Wingate returns with an uplifting novel set in Blue Sky Hill, where unexpected challenges and new relationships give deeper meanings to "home".

When Tam Lambert learns that her family's upscale home is in foreclosure, the life she's known is forever changed. Tam and her family must move to a changing Dallas neighborhood called Blue Sky Hill...

New resident Shasta Williams knows nothing of real estate schemes when she and her husband purchase a home in Blue Sky Hill. To her it's the perfect place to raise her children. Better yet is getting to know Tam, who lives next door. When neighbors realize that a corrupt deal could force them from their homes, friendships and loyalties are tested. Over the span of one summer, two young women discover the strength and maturity to do the impossible. They find that even in Blue Sky Hill, life-altering relationships and amazing possibilities can begin to blossom...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Eighteen-year-old Tam Lambert has a good life. Sure, her trophy stepmother and her four preschool-age brothers and sisters are high maintenance and her elderly live-in aunt is a bit loopy, but she never wants for anything—until the day an eviction notice is delivered. Tam’s father became wealthy flipping houses for a real-estate company called Householders, and now, facing jail time for embezzlement and fraud, he has run off to Mexico, leaving his broke family behind. Tam and her family are soon moved into a Householders home in a gentrifying Dallas neighborhood, across the street from another Householders home, owned by Shasta and Cody Williams, a young married couple with two small kids. Thrown together in a strange neighborhood, Shasta and Tam form a friendship, but when Householders’ mortgage fraud hits the news and Shasta finds herself a victim, Tam and Shasta’s friendship is put to the test. A timely story about finding strength and wealth in the most unlikely of places. --Hilary Hatton

About the Author

Lisa Wingate writes both Accent novels and contemporary romances for NAL.  She lives with her husband and two sons in the central Texas hill country, where she is a popular inspirational speaker, writing instructor, and magazine columnist.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (July 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451230019
• ISBN-13: 978-0451230010
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #767,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Wingate is a magazine columnist, inspirational speaker, and the author of a host of mainstream fiction novels, including the national bestseller, Tending Roses, which is currently in its fourteenth reprint. Her books have been featured selections for Doubleday and Literary Guild book clubs, selected for The Reader's Club of America, and have garnered LORIES Best Fiction and Reader's Choice Awards, and been nominated for the ACFW Book of the Year Award. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others, as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Lisa loves sharing with readers via Facebook, Youtube, and her website. More information about Lisa's novels can be found at www.Lisawingate.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Summer by Lisa Wingate, July 6, 2010

By 

Ed Stevens - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Summer (Blue Sky Hill Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lisa Wingate's latest book, Beyond Summer is an inspiring, motivational and uplifting book! Aunt Lute's "the best things in life hide around blind corners" is only one of many lessons taught. Beyond Summer is an exciting journey with three individuals who meet as a result of shady real estate deals causing good families to lose their homes and meet at the Summer Kitchen.

Tam is the 18 year old daughter of a once wealth former Dallas Football star. She and her family are evicted from their country club home. Terence, Dell's biological Dad who was in prison during Dell's childhood years, gets a chance to help Seasy, the homeless person. Terence comes through magnificently! The stories of these individuals causes a range of emotions from sadness, to happiness and joy. And in the end this reader was left with a mind filled with good feelings!

I very highly recommend this book!

Ed

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book of the summer, a great read!, July 12, 2010

By 

SHERRY - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Summer (Blue Sky Hill Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love this book! As usual, Wingate gives us characters that wind their way into our hearts. I was excited to meet again some characters from the Tending Roses series and Teddy from A Month of Summer. When Shasta and family move to a run-down Dallas neighborhood she soon sees that house after house is being gobbled up by a real estate firm and suspects that their first home purchase could be in jeopardy also. Tam, whose family (sans the father) moves in across the street becomes a friend as they help each marshall the community to deal with the real estate issues, illiteracy, and a homeless women who starts out as faceless, but becomes a real person to them. Learning more about what happens to Dell and Jace and more about Dell's father is a bonus to me, a long-time Wingate fan. Now, we finally know the rest of the story... It's the best summer read out there and clean and uplifting, too! Wingate has done it again.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wingate's best yet -- well...read on, September 13, 2010

By 

Kennedy (St Lou) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Summer (Blue Sky Hill Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love, love, love this book. I read every book by Wingate and think this is her best yet -- possibly replacing my all time favorite, Tending Roses, Wingate's first novel. Others have written about the story, so I'll just say that I am again amazed at the variety in Wingate's books. This one deals sensitively about the difficult economic times we are in, about illiteracy, and homelessness while it tells about a friendship between two young women who move to the same inner city neighborhood. Although I love Karen Kingsbury, I think Lisa Wingate has more depth with social issues and still gives us a captivating story. This is a great choice for a book club -- so much here to discuss.