Book Review #valentinepr #thesummeryoufoundme #elizabethoroark
Elizabeth O’Roark really had her work cut out for her in this novel. Taking an unlikeable heroine, who was a part of the catalyst in book two, did not give this book the easiest of starting places. The Summer You Found Me is messy, emotional and angsty, and O’Roark carefully weaves these elements together to show true character growth and development. O’Roark’s writing is clear and engaging, she has a way of bringing the reader into the complexity of her character’s world which give her work a more authentic feel, people are complicated and they don’t always make the right decisions and O’Roark explores this through relatable characters and situations.
This novel interweaves with the second in this series and because of the way the moments and growth in the characters work, I do find that at least book two and three should be read in order. O’Roark explores many hard topics in this romance, so please check content warnings, some things explored are lose of an infant during birth, marital problems, and substance abuse. This novel is truly about the heroine’s journey of learning how to love herself again, and find a way to move forward with her life. The hero is a safe place that she has always been drawn to, and he has loved her from afar. So they both also learn better how to support the other and work through hurt that they have created to themselves and others. It is definitely through physical exploration that the heroine begins to see her world and past relationships in a different light. This is a novel about forgiving oneself, about forgiving others and about taking responsibility for one’s own situations.
Elizabeth O’Roark will definitely take you on a deeply emotional ride, but one that will always leave you hopeful in the end. Although I went into this novel knowing the heroine was going to have a hard time redeeming herself to me, I think O’Roark clearly lays out her past and the moments that bring her to her lowest point and then does the work to show her grow and understand the path in a new light.
Thank you so much to Valentine PR for an eARC, all thoughts and opinions are my own.