Summer of Roses [Hardcover]

Luanne Rice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 21, 2005

Few novelists today write with the power to move our hearts, quicken our souls, and enrich our lives like Luanne Rice. In New York Times bestsellers such as Dance with Me, Beach Girls, and The Secret Hour, she vividly captures the dramas that make all the difference in love and families. Now, revisiting the remarkable characters introduced in her bestselling Summer’s Child, she brings full circle one of her most compelling explorations of the human heart…all the many ways it can be broken…and the magic that can make it whole again.

Their lives were a tapestry woven together by love and loss, tragedy and hope. On the windswept coast of Nova Scotia, Lily and her eight-year-old daughter, Rose, are struggling to embrace a new life even as Lily tries to let go of painful memories of the past. Among the lives that will touch theirs are those of Liam Neill, a dedicated teacher living in self-imposed isolation; Maeve Jameson, mourning the loss of a granddaughter she devoted her life to protecting; and Mark Murphy, a dogged police detective obsessed with a woman who vanished years ago–who may or may not have found what he seeks in a tiny, out-of-the-way maritime village.

During this eventful summer of roses, the paths–and fates–of these unforgettable characters will intersect in ways that none of them could ever expect–and shape a future none of them could possibly foresee. For each of them it will be a time of renewal and transformation that will circle inevitably to a past left behind, a mystery unsolved, and a love reclaimed. Summer of Roses is vintage Luanne Rice–a novel that celebrates the ties of family, the passion of lovers, and the deep, unbreakable bonds that hold us together through all the seasons of our lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The New York Times bestselling author of Dance With Me and Beach Girls revisits characters from Summer's Child in this examination of the emotional fallout of battered woman syndrome. When Mara Jameson thinks about her wedding, she painfully and vividly recalls her betrothed, Edward Hunter, the Harvard rugby player with a "blank yet somehow charged" stare. Mara ran away after Edward began abusing her and shortly before she had her daughter, Rose. Now, nine years later, Mara's living as Lily Malone in an isolated cottage near Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, with Liam Neill, a member of the village's pre-eminent family. When Mara-cum-Lily learns Maeve Jameson, her grandmother, is comatose after suffering an undiagnosed "neurological event," she, believing Edward was involved, comes out of hiding to try to save her. Edward, ever the epitome of evil, soon hears the news of Lily's return and welcomes her back with an incendiary custody battle. Back in Cape Hawk, Lily's best friend Marisa, also a battered wife, longs to be reunited with her estranged sister in the Fallen Angels, their college fiddle and song duo. Prolific romance novelist Rice handles the complex plot with aplomb so all her likable characters win in the end and Edward, naturally, gets his comeuppance.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Rice continues the compelling story she started in Summer's Child (2005). Lily and her nine-year-old daughter, Rose, have survived by hiding from her husband in Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, where she found true love with oceanographer Liam Neill. Now Rose has had her final surgery for her heart and is on the mend, but Lily must travel to Connecticut to care for Maeve, her beloved grandmother, who is in the hospital in a coma. There Lily must confront the brute who drove her away from her beloved home. She finds unexpected support from those she abandoned years ago and takes strength from her resilient daughter and loyal Liam. Rice gives her readers an in-depth look at the devastation abuse causes to both the primary victim and her loved ones while simultaneously illuminating the healing that comes from love and loving relationships. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1ST edition (June 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553804103
• ISBN-13: 978-0553804102
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,282,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LUANNE RICE is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, most recently The Silver Boat. Her books, including Cloud Nine and Dream Country, often center on love, family, nature and the sea, and have been translated into twenty-four languages. A number of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations of Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells, and Beach Girls as a summer drama series for Lifetime Television. She has contributed a theatrical piece to the new off Broadway play Motherhood Out Loud. Rice loves nature and frequently writes about it. Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Rice divides her time between New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut, in the house where she spent all her childhood summers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't stand on its own, November 7, 2005

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summer of Roses (Hardcover)

When she discovers that her granny is sick, Lily realizes she must come out of hiding to see her. Nine years earlier, she fled her hometown Of Hubbard's Point after years of abuse at the hands of her husband, Edward. She asks her lover, Liam to spirit daughter Rose away so that Edward cannot find her. But soon Edward discovers that the wife and daughter he thought were gone are alive and well, and he plots to take vengeance, and soon a nasty custody battle is underway.

Working to help Lily out of the mess is Patrick Murphy, the detective that was investigating her "murder," and found her alive instead in Canada, as well as another of Edward's wives, Marisa, who also fled to Nova Scotia.

While the story ties up the loose ends of "Summer's Child," this story has difficulty standing on its own, as the majority of the back story is contained in another source. Lost is the love and longing between main protagonists, Liam and Lily, although the love story of Marisa and Patrick is finally played out. Combining the two would have made for a much more compelling and cohesive novel.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great sequal to Summer's Child, June 21, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summer of Roses (Hardcover)

Nine years have passed since a then pregnant pixie nee Mara Jameson fled her Hubbard's Point Connecticut home and the abuse of her spouse Edward Hunter for the sake of her unborn child. She changes her name to Lily Malone, relocates to remote Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, opened up In Stitch, and raised her ailing (heart condition) daughter Rose by herself until Dr. Liam Neill entered their lives.

Now Mara has come home accompanied by her child and her beloved Liam because her ailing granny in Shoreline Hospital needs her though she knows Edward will find out and probably come for her with hatred in his heart. When Dr. Kirkland informs her that the unconscious granny suffers from carbon monoxide poisoning, she concludes Edward tried to kill her. She knows Edward will come for Rose using legal means, manipulating the media as the deserted hurt spouse who is whispered by many as wife killer and other deadlier methods at his disposal to achieve what he wants, the destruction of Mara.

This terrific suspense sequel to the SUMMER'S CHILD continues the tale of Lily returning to the life she fled almost a decade ago courageously knowing the risk she takes. The story line is character driven by brave people not just the heroine and Liam, but others to include a surprising courtroom twist. Though Edward is a tarnished loser, something in his gene pool allows him to select intrepid women and sire brave offspring. SUMMER OF ROSES is a terrific thriller that can be read alone, but is enhanced when perused back to back with its delightful predecessor.

Harriet Klausner

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Sequel to Summer's Child, July 26, 2005

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Summer of Roses (Hardcover)

Shortly before I read Summer's Child, I learned a second book by Luanne Rice was to be published a couple of weeks later. And much to my happiness I also learned that the second book, Summer of Roses, was going to be a sequel to Summer's Child. Since Luanne Rice is one of my very favorite writers, I ran to the store the first day Summer's Child was on the shelves and immediately began reading it. Unfortunately I literally gulped down the book. And what a shame since this book was so very good I should have savored each page. But I hardly had the chance because it was as it the pages turned themselves till the end which found me sobbing. And again when Summer of Roses was available I wasted no time but again bought it and almost immediately read the second title. I wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand what I am about to say because I did enjoy Summer of Roses and it would be hard not to coma pre the two books, but I do think that Summer's Child was the better of the two reads. And now I seriously wonder why the two books were published when it might have been possible to write one longer book.

Lily Malone, along with Liam Neill and her daughter return home to hubbard's pint, Connecticut, to care for Lily's ailing grandmother. Lily continues to be wary of her ex husband who knows nothing about the birth of Rose. But when he learns that Rose is Lily's child and the dates match, he begins legal proceedings to find out if in fact she is his daughter.

And while this is happening in Connecticut,, at Nova Scotia, Marisa is reunited with her sister Sam. And it seems as though Patrick Murphy, who unrelentingly searched for Lily, is falling in love with Marisa and she with him too.

In recent years Luanne Rice's books feature some of the same characters from previous books in minor roles. Its always nice to revisit with these people and also become involved in Rice's new characters as well. Summer of Roses was a worthwhile read and perhaps it suffered because I loved Summer's Child so much and few sequels ever live up to my first read if I have loved the first one. When it comes to Luanne Rice's books, I often say that even a so so read from Luanne Rice is better than most.

Now once again I am looking forward to the next Luanne Rice book since I have read all of them. But now I don't have to wait too long to revisit a book which I loved since one of Rice's books, Beach Girls, has been adapted as a TV movie for cable and will be on this weekend. I do hope that all who read this review will have an opportunity to read Lane Rice if they don't already. She hardly ever fails to entertain me with her settings and characters who I feel after reading one of her books are my good friends.