Anne Foster left her hometown
in Midville, Virginia years ago to study veterinary medicine, to get away from the sadness
in town after one of the teenage girl’s had gone missing, and to get over Liam
Wellington, her childhood crush. But now Anne
is back to help her Mom, Nancy, get through the death of her father, Pete. Anne loved her father very much as did everyone in
town. Anne decides to stay for a month to
help her Mom get settled and adapt to life without Pete.
For years, Anne always worked along side her father as a horse trainer of
Thoroughbred horses at the Wellington horse farm and it doesn’t take long for Anne to
begin working with Liam at the farm. It also
doesn’t take Anne long to realize that her feelings of love for him are as strong as
ever. Anne can’t believe that after the
years apart she still loves Liam and that he still thinks of her as his little sister. Anne begins dating a little bit while she is home
and finds it encouraging when Liam exhibits his unhappiness over her dating. Anne and Liam
spend a lot of time together, going to the horse races and working together to come up
with ideas on how to save the Wellington farm. Liam’s
horse must win or Liam will lose everything.
Days after Anne is home, the
body of Leslie, the teenage girl who went missing a decade ago, surfaces and all leads
point to Liam as the murderer. Could Liam
have killed Leslie? On the night that Leslie
disappeared, Anne herself saw Leslie and Liam arguing, a fact that Liam never shared with
anyone. What was he trying to hide by not
telling anyone of the argument? Despite all
evidence pointing to him an worrying over his future, Liam realizes his true feelings for
Anne. Anne is ecstatic that she and Liam will
be together and looks towards a future with the one man she has always loved. But can they have a future with these dark clouds
hanging over their heads? Can they save the
Wellington farm?
Joan Wolf pens a contemporary
romance that is a delightful read. The
excitement and thrill during each horse race draws the reader into the story and into the
lives of Liam and Anne. Each race is
detrimental to Liam, if his horse doesn’t win, he could lose everything. This draws in the reader and has them rooting for
“Buster” to win every race. The
only real issue I had with THAT SUMMER is that the synopsis (blurb) on the back cover of
the book was rather misleading. I say
misleading because when I read the back I got the impression that the murder that took
place years ago, to be the big focus of the book. But
it is actually the fate of Wellington Farms and whether Liam and Anne will end up together
that are the focal points. The murder takes a
back seat in THAT SUMMER and I found it disappointing after reading the back cover and
anticipating a mystery.
But Joan Wolf writes a
wonderful romance that I thoroughly enjoyed despite the murder taking a back seat. The characters were wonderful and entertaining. Anne’s Mom, Nancy, had to deal with the death
of her husband and moved on, taking it day by day. It
was easy to see where Anne got her strength from. THAT
SUMMER is a classy tale that readers can enjoy for love, drama and the characters.
Reviewed by Tracey West for The Road to Romance
August 21, 2003 |
