Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
| Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs | |
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| Category: Women's Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A delightful story about relationships that makes for the perfect holiday read. Recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 544 | Date: May 2011 |
| Publisher: Mira | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0778304760 | |
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Olivia Bellamy does not seem to have a lot of luck with men. When we meet her she's just about to put her third broken engagement under her belt and head of into the wilderness of the Catskills with Freddy. Don't get excited – he really is just a friend. They're going to revamp the family's old summer camp in readiness for her grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary celebrations and right now it seems like the best way to forget about her love life. Things turn from bad to worse though when she finds herself not only stuck up a flagpole but having to be rescued by the man who was her first boyfriend some nine years before.
Have you ever had one of those days when you get bad news but there's absolutely nothing you can do but try and distract yourself? You need something easy, undemanding and interesting and Summer at Willow Lake proved to be the perfect solution for me. It's simple to sympathise with Olivia: she's been looking for the perfect man rather than the man she couldn't live without. Her parents divorced when she was a child and the scars haven't healed. Connor Davis was never going to be the right man for Olivia. She came from Money (of the sort the merits that inappropriate capital letter) and Connor was the son of the camp caretaker. Worse still – he was the son of the drunken camp caretaker.
A summer at camp always worked wonders for the people who went there and this summer is no different for Olivia. It works for other people too. Her Uncle John's marriage is breaking up and he needs to get back in touch with his children again. Connor's brother is going through a tough time and it won't take much to push him over the edge into delinquency. Not everything's good though – Olivia discovers a family secret that's going to put quite a few cats amongst the pigeons before the summer is over.
It took me a couple of days to read the book and I felt refreshed and relaxed at the end of it. It would make the ideal beach or holiday read, with characters you get in there and shout for when the going gets tough. The story has enough twists and turns to make it unpredictable – and to make you realise that relationships are based on the people you love and not the right people.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
It's targeted at teens but for more about summer camps try Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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