A Summer to Remember

By Victoria Cooke.

Thanks again to NetGalley and HQ Digital for allowing me to read this novel early!

An absolutely joy from start to finish. We begin with Sam’s traumatic experience of losing her husband in a motorbike accident before the story jumps forward seven years. Sam is hell bent on staying single, to forever preserve the memory of her husband, Kev and hasn’t so much as looked at a man. After the accident Sam upped and left the Cotswolds to start afresh in London focusing completely on her marketing career at Pink Apple. Only having a handful of friends Sam has been desperate to try and get onto the business chance of a lifetime – spending three months in Boston, Massachusetts promoting a new brand of trainer.

After years of trying she finally gets accepted and flys off to Boston. It isn’t all she has hoped for to beginning with, bumping into one very rude American who refuses to take her picture and being surrounding by men who won’t listen to her fresh ideas in the boardroom. It’s takes a visit out to Provincetown where she meets Barney and Harry to start getting her life on the right track. And there she also meets Ethan. Be still my beating heart! What a guy. Rough around the edges but hot, hot, hot! We journey through Sam’s emotions as she is desperate to keep Kev’s memories alive and also adamant not to betray him or their wedding vows. Does she ever learn to let go and start to live a little? Does she let go of the past and look towards the future finally? Have a read and see!

After having gone through a traumatic sudden death myself my emotions completely mirrored Sam’s and at times I found myself sobbing. Victoria’s manages to put into words grief in such a way that I have struggled with many times. She does it so perfectly that I’ve written down parts of the novel that really moved me and spoke to me to help me through my grief journey. I am so glad I’ve read this book and finally found a way to describe my grief and all I can do is thank Victoria Cooke for her brilliant way and also her sympathetic way of handling such raw emotions. It takes a lot to get me into a blubbering mess but this novel certainly did but in such a good way. I absolutely loved every moment of it.

I want to visit Boston. Victoria’s descriptions were so clear I feel as if I’ve visited there myself already. I could feel the sun beating down on me on the gorgeous beaches and the chill of the air later in winter.

An emotional read, but worth every second. Thank you so much for writing this novel Victoria Cooke.

Give it a go Booklovers and let me know what you think.