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One Perfect Summer by Paige Toon
Blurb
A Dorset summer, a chance meeting, and Joe and Alice, both 18, fall into step as if they have known each other forever. But their idyll is shattered as quickly as it began. Joe leaves without warning; Alice heads off to Cambridge University and slowly picks up the pieces of her broken heart. Years later, when she catches the attention of gorgeous, gifted, rich boy Lukas, Alice is carried along by his charm and swept up in his ambitious plans for a future together. Until news of Joe reaches her once more, but he's out of reach in a way that Alice could never have imagined. Life has moved on, the divide between them is now so great. Surely it is far too late to relive those perfect summer days of long ago?
Review
I get Alice's infatuation, I really do - first love and all that, and I know how it feels to have one's heart broken - but I got the feeling she was a bit obsessed. She has the chance of happiness with a man (not the memories of the boy she carried in her heart), and one who worships her, at that (lucky, lucky lady), but she fails to commit to him, and it is Lukas I feel sorry for in all this... Yes, he may well have issues with wanting to control her, but I put that down to the poor bloke knowing Alice didn't love him (or at least, far less than he loved her).
I did feel the book was overly long because of its repetitive nature, and yet the ending seemed really rushed. Also, the summer she harks back to was far from perfect, and throughout the book I kept expecting another summer which was perfect to pop up!
All in all, I felt this was a book aimed at the teenage market...
About the Author
Paige Toon was born in 1975 and grew up between England, Australia and America, following her racing driver father around the globe. A philosophy graduate, she worked at teen, film and women's magazines, before ending up at Heat magazine as Reviews Editor. Paige is married, has two small children and lives in Cambridge. The Sun in Her Eyes, out 21 May 2015, is her tenth book. Visit Paige's website at paigetoon.com to sign up to her free book club, 'The Hidden Paige', and say hi to her on Twitter @PaigeToonAuthor and Facebook.com/PaigeToonAuthor
