Customer Reviews

May Summer Never End (Arabesque)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

From the moment this novel began, I was sucked into this beautiful, exotic foreign location, with wonderful countryside scenes and exquisite descriptions of the food and the music. But I have to say that Simona Taylor's strength lies in her description of her leading men. Evan is a shipbuilder living in the South of France with his little sister Frankie; they are all alone since their parents died. That alone shows you what a wonderful, loving man he is, to give up his life to ensure that his sister is well taken care of.

Rissa lost everything when her stuff got stolen, and now she has to rely on Evan to help her survive all alone in a strange country until the end of summer. Of course, they fall in love and have loads of sex. And if there's one thing that Simona Taylor does well, it's good sex. She must have a very interesting life.

Anyway, this one's a keeper.

Just another wonderful book written by Simona Taylor. Her books always give me the impression that I am sitting next to her and am part of the entire story.
Keep the good work going!

As a teenager in the 80s I read more than my fair share of Mills & Boon romances and the like. But after the nth novel I got bored with the trite, predictable plots and the flaccid sex. After nearly 20 years a friend convinced me to give romance another go and I'm happy to say at last I've found some romance for grown ups. Simona's writing is fresh and intelligent, her descriptions vivid, and the sex is anything but flaccid! I really enjoyed her French adventure and now I'm looking foward to catching up on her back catalogue of steamy Caribbean fare. More of this, please!

I have read all of Simona Taylor's books set in Trinidad and I always thought that she was good and very clear at describing exotic places. I have been to France a few times myself and I have to say she really got it down, it really feels like I am in France myself. You can almost smell the wine and taste the delicious cheese! And the relationship between Rissa and Evan was so sweet. He really was one of those sweet, nice-guy heroes, not one of those gruff types that are always putting the girl down. Wish I knew somebody like that! I really enjoyed this book! Simona, I cannot wait until your next book is out!

This novel made me want to visit France. The setting was so lovely, and the details were exquisite. Evan was a real hunk! I think what was different about this one was that the emotions that Simona Taylor dealt with were very real, not the fake romancey stuff you get sometimes. I loved it, and I'd recommend it to anybody. That other reviewer must be crazy. She totally missed the point.

This book is not really a romantic suspense. And thank goodness for that because the three main characters are way too interesting for Taylor to whittle away the word count on a large suspense subplot. So I'm reviewing MSNE as a traditional romance, suspense element be-damned.

After MSNE's first two chapters, I tagged Rissa as beige: low on excitement but always pleasant. I thought of her like that because though she'd had all her clothes, money and tickets stolen, we don't meet her at the American Embassy wailing at an advisor, we don't see her in a police station demanding the thieves be apprehended, we don't hear her on the phone begging her bank manager back home to FedEx her new credit card...no. She's heading to a bookstore somewhere in France to see if she could get a job there to tide her over till she gets enough money to go home. And Rissa hasn't whined yet.

Rissa has been through a lot in her short life (the sad details of which I won't spoiler here, but its enough to get you scampering to a doctor for a check-up) but she never bawls - she never even seems to *think* - `Why me Lord, why me?'. It's only when Taylor took us past her public face of composure to the emotional distress underneath, I realized, this girl is anything but beige.

Evan is a wonderful hero. He's entrepreneurial; he's successful (black man in France running tings? Hello!); he loves his sister; he wants to be a Daddy; and his butt is round, firm and looks good in jeans. This, we all know, is a deal maker.

Since we're discussing romance, you may take it as a given that the chemistry between the two characters will always work, but that's rarely the case. Many romance novels - particularly the suspense hybrids - suffer from poor protagonist chemistry. Happy to say we get both emotional connection and nice sexual chemistry here. After making Rissa and Evan believable - and likeable - as individuals, Taylor made their attraction authentic as well.

The conflict between them is real and given the set-up for most of the story where Evan pays Rissa (but not for *that* - untwist yer knickers while you crawl out the gutter), I liked that she managed it as more client-consultant than employer-employee. Not beige.

Now romance aside, let me talk a little bit about the love stories. These are the elements I actually enjoyed the most and wished they could have been fleshed out more if Taylor had had more space to play with. The love stories are between:

1) Rissa and Frankie. Their friendship was interesting. For most of the novel I wasn't sure how the dynamics would evolve but you don't see too many (healthy) relationships between the heroine and a teenage girl where the heroine isn't her guardian or her nanny or her bestest bestest friend evah! Frankie is a spoilt, annoying teen but a realistic one. I don't know if I would have had the patience Rissa showed in dealing with her, but then again, I would have been the one demanding my credit card by overnight delivery.

2) Frankie and Evan. I didn't cry but I could have teared up. Rissa isn't the only one with a tragic story in MSNE and at some points I just wanted to jump into the book and say: Group Hug everybody! Group Hug!!! The age difference between the two of them accounted for a lot of their issues because Evan found it hard to navigate through the sibling-not-parent waters. I felt for him, I felt for her. I loved their love story.

Okay, I said I wouldn't have spoken about the suspense plot - and I won't - except to say I wish it hadn't been included so I could have spent more time reading about the three different love stories. Way more interesting than some lame-o Catalan malcontent! Just saying.

Dalia King
Blogging in Black Reviews
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I never fail to fall in love in Simona Taylor's leading men. I've read all of her books and in every one I fall in love and think there is no way she can come up with a more sexy,lovable man. But she always does!

Don't get me wrong, I love her women too. They're intelligent and interesting and stand on their own two feet, but are just spicy and feisty enough to really keep me reading.

May Summer Never End is another great read and has delicious descriptions of France as a big bonus. Don't miss this one!

Read this book in a span of 3 days couldn't seem to put it down, would have finished sooner but I do have a family to tend to :). I truly enjoy an author who can seduce you mentally. It fulfilled all of my emotional senses. It is for certain that Ms. Taylor has found a new fan in me.

This book was boring as all get out. I was very disappointed. Things did not really start getting interesting until almost the end of the book. Also, what is up with ALL the "big words" in this a romance novel. Don't get me wrong, I love "big words" and enjoy adding a new word to my vocabulary now and then, but not when I am reading a romance novel. Sorry to say, but this book really was not good and I wish I could get a refund....that is how bad it was in my opinion.