Come Summer [Paperback]

Sandra Steffen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

When artist Liza Cassidy heads for tiny Alcott, New Hampshire, she's traveling back in time - to the last year of her twin sister Laurel's life. Five years have passed since Laurel died, and Liza's grief is finally a dull ache instead of a fresh wound. But an unopened letter has revealed a secret about Laurel's last months that Liza never imagined: a child. Liza needs to meet the little boy who is the only remaining link to Laurel, but what she finds in charming Alcott is far more complicated than a child with the Cassidys' red hair - such as young Tommy's enigmatic father, Sheriff Jack McCall. For cautious, careful Liza, who was always the flip side of Laurel's free-spirited independence, connecting to Jack and Tommy is both a temptation and a risk. But as she settles into the community her twin called home, she suspects that finishing what Laurel began might be the last gift her sister had given her

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Arriving in sleepy little Alcott, New Hampshire, to fulfill her twin sister's final request, Liza Cassidy is shocked to discover she has a five-year-old nephew by the town sheriff, Jack McCall, who in turn is unaware that his son's mother died during a dangerous operation to remove a brain tumor five years ago. As Liza slowly settles into small-town life on the Atlantic coast, Jack and Tommy work their way into her heart and cause her to dream of a future with her newfound, ready-made family. But the busybodies of Alcott are hard at work, disapproving of this relationship as well those formed by Jack's brothers, and generally making life difficult for Liza and Jack. Steffen knows exactly how hard to tug on the reader's heartstrings for maximum effect, and in this leisurely, tender contemporary, she has outdone herself with a thoroughly memorable tale of family loyalties and small-town living in conflict with the very human need for comfort, companionship, and romantic love. Lynne Welch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Zebra (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082177557X
• ISBN-13: 978-0821775578
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,884,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Come Summer by Sandra Steffen, March 26, 2004

By 

Avid Reader "sixsisters6" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Come Summer (Paperback)

AWESOME STORY!
Wow, I just finished reading this book and I can't stop thinking about it! I loved everything about it. I love sister books anyway, and this is one of the best I've ever read. And the 3 McCall brothers make it even better...

When artist Liza Cassidy discovers an unopened letter from her beloved sister, who died 5 years earlier, everything changes for Liza, for the letter reveals that Laurel had a child. As Liza travels to the Atlantic seashore, she's travelling back in time--to the last year of Laurel's life. There's much to discover in charming Alcott, NH, such as her adorable nephew, his father, Jack, and jack's brothers, one a preacher, the other the family bad-boy. However nothing is quite as it seems, and a quest for knowledge becomes a discovery of a new life for the McCall brothers and three special women...

Hold on to your hats, because you're going to laugh, cheer, worry about, and fall in love with these characters.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real page turner, March 30, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Come Summer (Paperback)

Liza Cassidy leaves California to close her family home in Nevada following the death of her mother. As she goes through things, she finds the autopsy of her twin sister Laurel dead five years from a brain tumor. Liza is stunned as Laurel apparently gave birth to a child.

Liza travels to Alcott, New Hampshire where Laurel spent her last happy days. There she confronts Laurel's beloved Jack McCall, sire of her nephew and meets little Tommy recovering from chemo due to cancer now in remission. As Liza and Jack exchange information about the beloved Laura, they fall in love. However, will they be able to overcome the ghost of her twin to find their own happiness even though she would have wanted that for two of the people she most loved in the world.

COME SUMMER is clearly a tear jerker with Laurel's death and Tommy's leukemia. However, readers will too easily categorize the novel that way for the tale is much more as the entertaining story line is a deep character study that looks inside the soul of the lead couple and indirectly Laurel. The key support cast, mostly his relatives and friend, but also her deceased mom and sister, provide depth as each one is unique so that the audience receive a strong drama that will touch the heartstrings of fans. This work is dynamite reading

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super fast read!! Great Book!! Couldn't put it down!!, August 11, 2008

By 

Busy Mommy (MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Come Summer (Paperback)

I have just taken up the hobby of reading again. I started in a Harlin series and it brought me to Sandra Steffen. This was the first of hers, I have read Life Happens and am reading Just Between Friends! She is a GREAT author!! But I must say that this one so far is the BEST!! This book is SO hard to put down! I recommend it to EVERYONE!! She is a great author and I will continue to read her books!!