Customer Reviews

Summer's End

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book! It wasn't just the romance that made this book so wonderful, but also the other characters and their stories in the book. It was great to see everyone change and adjust to such a new thing is their lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants something light-hearted and enjoyable.

I agree. It's been way too long since we've had a Seidel book. I love all her work, and am always prone to say her current book is my favorite. SUMMER'S END is a great women's fiction read! The kind of book you lose yourself in. (I couldn't go to sleep last night until I finished it.) If you want murder, bloodshed, and throbbing loins, stay away! This book is about real people, real families, and real emotions. PLEASE, Kathy, don't make us wait so long for the next one!

I've read and enjoyed every one of Kathleen Gilles Seidel's single title romances, and she just gets better and better. To say that she writes with enormous intelligence and wit hardly begins to describe the immense readability of Summer's End. She took a situation that would make me cringe in real life--two newly-connected families warily attempting to become acquainted with each other at a remote, primitive camp in Northern Minnesota--and made me love every minute of reading about it. Her characterizations are subtle and appealing, her relationships beautifully nuanced, and her romance between the two youngest adult children was absolutely believable. The precision of her writing makes everything come alive. For example, one of the main characters is a world class ice skater, and even though I couldn't cross a rink without falling flat on my face, I now feel as if I know what it must be like to be a champion skater. This is a book that should appeal to readers of women's fiction, romance, and those who just plain like good writing.

I really enjoyed this book about a blending family. Each character, even the minor ones, was deeply characterized. I liked the way the book showed that children of the same parents can be completely different and have very different experiences within the family.

And I liked the portrayal of Jack, the hero who makes attention deficit disorder look like fun!

If you're a fan of LaVyrle Spencer, you'll love Summer's End by Kathleen Giles Seidel. This isn't necessarily a book about the main couple, Amy and Jack, it's a story about the entire family.

When Amy's father Hal marries Jack's mother Gwen, the two families are reluctantly brought together. After the marriage Hal and Gwen invite his three children and their families and her two children to stay at the Minnesota lake that has been in Hal's family for years.

This book was much more than a love story, it was about the changing family roles and feelings after a parent passes away and the surviving parent goes on with their lives.

My only complaint about this book would be that there wasn't enough to the love story between Jack and Amy, but the rest of the story made up for that. This is an excellent book to read also for the fact that it will get you thinking of your own family, your parents, your role and where you fit in.

I am sure I will get people who are furious with me for this review, but I felt like I wish someone would have warned me so here it goes.
Possible Spoilers:

This is not really a romance. If you are reading this for a romance fix than pick another book. This novel is full of family drama. It deals with a large family dealing with death, new siblings, and old prejudices. The romance was such a small part of this book I can't believe it was classified as such. The couple hardly have anytime in the book together. They are feeling eachother than bam...no contact for MONTHS. Then suddenly they love eachother. I get the whole staying apart bit but is it realistic that they should have only a handful of conversations on the phone and never talk about personal feelings? The bulk of the book shows the struggles the family goes through while on an unrealisticly long vacation at the lake. There are so many people in this book, and they all have some sort of family issue going on. Was this well written if you look it as simply a novel and not a romance novel, sure. Did I pick it up wanting to read a fiction novel, no. I like to read books with romance and there just wasn't much. I had my brain on track to read a romance. So, while I somewhat enjoyed reading all the angst the family was going through, I felt disappointed bc that is not why I picked it up.

So again, sorry to all the die-hard fans of this book, but I just wasn't feeling it. I felt no romantic conection to the characters. I did however feel the pain the family was going through bc of all the changes, bad parenting, and jealousy issues.

I have been a heavy-duty Kathleen fan since the first book of hers I picked up. Imagine my excitement at finding a new one. I believe that Kathleen is one of the most satisfying authors currently writing. I find her characters to be interesting and consistant, and I find the growth the main characters always experience to be reasonable and believable. I just can't figure out why her publisher doesn't apparently make any push to sell her books to people who have never heard of her! Everyone I have ever lent her books to loved them, and this one is no exception.

I connected right away with Gwen and Hal and their children. One of the things I enjoyed was the fact that some of the story centered around Iowa City, Iowa and the university there. A place where we spent six wonderful years visiting our kids. But that aside, I could easily identify in some way with many of the characters. Every family has the dysfunctional Joyce, the overachieving Holly, the trying to prove herself Amy etc.

On those long summer nights in Minnesota, the reader could become a part of the Legend famiy. From getting the feel of sleeping there during a summer storm, sitting around the campfire, and the simple decor of the cabins, we in some way long to be a part of that simple no frills kind of vacation.

Jack and Amy, our two lovers, connected instantly, but for the sake of the family, put their emotions on hold. Their relationship is sweet and brief, but on that, they build a strong and sure love. While a fair amount of time is spent dealing with the problems of the other characters, the attraction of Jack and Amy is the main thrust of the book. I only wish that we had been let to experience more than their one brief, intimate encounter at the lake. Still though, maybe that innocence is what makes the book so special. In that one aspect, much is left to our recommendation.

I would for sure keep this book to read again, as well and look for other Seidel titles.

Summer's End was all I could have wished of a book. Not only because it took place largely in wonderful northern Minnesota, but because every character was so real, so "touchable." I'm sure Ms Seidel doesn't recall meeting me in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980's at a Romance Writer's convention in the Mayflower Hotel, but I never forgot her. She's not only a terrific writer. She's a really neat person. Thanks for Summer's End, Kathleen.

I could not to put this book down, best book I have read all summer. I would like to see what happens in the next season of Amy's and Jack's life.