Book Review: Snowbound Summer by Sally Clements

SnowboundSummer

ASIN: B00RDOWW2U

Once upon a time Summer Costello had it all.  A wonderful family, a dream career, and wonderful boyfriend.  Well, at least most of that was true.  She thought once she made the move from her hometown in Ireland to London, that her life was even more perfect than it’d always been.  Turns out, everything was not as it seemed, and after losing everything but the loving family (who had no idea about her recent failures, as she described them), she returned to her family’s home to spend the holidays alone, while her family vacationed in Spain.  Her plans were derailed when she found an injured dog and called the vet to help her rescue him.

Turns out the new vet is Nick Logan, her younger brother’s hot best friend, who’s always had a thing for Summer.  When a snowstorm strands the two together, alone with the Fella, the rescued dog, Nick finally gets to reveal the secret crush he’s always had on her.

The premise was actually pretty good, the delivery, however, extremely lacking.  The entire plot seems forced, and there was not enough togetherness between the two prior to the revelation that each was extremely important to the other.  Summer had no idea Nick had a crush on her, and although she’d never thought of him as another brother, she’d also never thought of him as more.  The relationship was rushed, the timeline flawed, the problems too easily fixed, and some events were the offspring of cliche.

For instance, the dog was on the brink of death, but less than 12 hours later chased a rabbit- in the deep snow -at a speed that made it difficult for anyone to catch him.  It seems like the two only spent one night together before Nick is offended by a lie she told to her parents; so offended that he’s ready to call the whole one-day relationship off without even questioning her or giving her a chance to explain. This is the epitome of cliche, just like the event where he thought she was with the ex-boyfriend (although she wasn’t) and instead of asking her, he gets attitude and drinks himself into oblivion, leaving her to wonder what was wrong.  And, although he was mad just moments before, when he heard her simply tell his co-workers and friends at the Christmas party that she had just gotten out of a relationship (something he thought she’d lied about), he immediately dismissed his anger and got the hots for her, so much so that he had to take her outside, kiss her relentlessly, and then leave the party early so he can take her home and make love to her.  Really?

I found the whole speaker-phone at the dinner table thing to be flat out ridiculous and far-fetched, even for fiction.

Parts of the book were enjoyable, but the story as a whole is totally lacking.

Rating system: Cups of coffee – the less the better

0: You won’t need any coffee to stay up for this one. It’s intriguing enough all on its own.
1: You’ll stay up late, but not all night. Brew one cup.
2: You’ll read as long as you’re not tired. If you are, two cups should do the trick.
3: I hope you got plenty of rest; you’ll need it, or at least 3 cups.
4: If the cable goes out, read the book. It’s better than nothing, I guess. Oh, don’t forget your brew!
5: Find anything else to do- it doesn’t matter what it is. Don’t waste your coffee. Too much caffeine is bad for you.

My rating: 4 cups of coffee

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