Thank you to Sarah Hardy from @BOTBSPublicity for organising this tour and to Sue Roberts, Bookouture and NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for a honest and unbiased review.
Synopsis
Sun, sea and a sizzling romance… the perfect holiday, right? Wrong.
After a work party gone disastrously wrong, Samantha suddenly finds herself jobless and jilted. So when her sister invites Sam to stay at her little whitewashed farmhouse on a Greek island, Sam leaps at the chance to escape. Before long, she’s trundling up the cobbled driveway, almost colliding with sexy neighbour Spyros.
It isn’t all sunshine and smiles though. For every afternoon spent lounging by the pool, cocktail in hand, there is a morning spent adjusting to life with boisterous six-year-old nieces. When Spyros invites Sam to explore the island with him she’s tempted, but with his carefree, live-for-the-moment attitude, he couldn’t be more different to Sam with her five-year plans and high-maintenance hair. One drink, as friends, couldn’t hurt though? Over glasses of fruity Greek wine and honey-sweet baklava, can he – and the other charming locals – help city girl Sam to appreciate the simple pleasures the Greek life has to offer?
Just as Sam is considering ditching her designer gear for good though, she runs in to an old flame from home, and suddenly her London life comes hurtling back. Can her smooth-talking ex convince Sam to return to the concrete jungle, or will the lessons she’s learned from her Greek escape persuade her to stay?
A fun, fabulous and completely laugh-out-loud summer read perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan and Sophie Kinsella.
My Thoughts
One of the things I love the most about Sue Roberts’s writing is the characters. They are always real – never totally perfect and not always part of the ultra-beautiful elite – just characters who are down to Earth and are dealing with everyday life. Reading Sue’s books is such a joyous thing to do and they never fail to make me smile, shed a tear or two and become utterly lost in the plot.
Sam is quite a glamourous but still a sweet character. An innocent mistake leads to devastating consequences and Sam flees the country to stay with her sister in Greece. Unwinding and healing, Sam begins to re-evaluate her fast-paced life back in London until a blast from the past shows up. Is Sam’s heart and future in London, or Greece?
For me, the main theme of this novel was Sam’s recovery from a fairly devastating event. The media and public’s reaction to it all made me so cross as poor Sam received all the backlash and merely a finger was risen in the direction of the man involved. Sue creates a perfect representation of reality through this and it really made me think about how things are portrayed and perceived in the public eye and how others react. This made me feel really protective over Sam. I wanted to take her under my wing and protect her until everything went away – thankfully her best mate and sister did a pretty good job of it.
Set between London and Greece it was great to recognise familiar places in London whilst exploring new places in Greece. The description was rich and colourful and really brought both places to life and made them easy to imagine – even if you’ve never visited.
Despite the opening being quite emotional, the plot is full of humour and gentle romance which makes it a perfect summery read. It’s a short book and the shortish chapters make it one of those novels you just cannot put down once you begin.
Likeable characters, beautiful settings make this a must for your TBR.
Author Bio – Sue Roberts
Sue Roberts lives in Lancashire with her long term partner Derek and has had a lifelong love of writing, encouraged by winning a school writing competition at the age of 11.
She always assumed that ‘one day’ she would write a book, always having a busy household and a job, the idea remained firmly on the back burner but never forgotten.
The inspiration for her first novel came to her on a holiday to a Greek village. Her daughters had left home and suddenly the time had come to write that book!
https://twitter.com/suerobertsautho
Buy Links:Amazon: https://bit.ly/3bFSHt2Apple: https://apple.co/3bI9LhZKobo: https://bit.ly/2ScJhOBGoogle: https://bit.ly/37YjSNW
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