Summer’s Lease // A Perfect Summer Read That Makes You Want To Lie In The Sun

Summer’s Lease – Carrie Elks
Published: 13th July 2017
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
My Rating:

If music be the food of love, books are certainly the appetizers . . .

Cesca Shakespeare has hit rock bottom. Six years after the play she wrote bombed at the box office, she’s unable to hold down a job, keep an apartment, and worst of all her family have no idea how far she’s fallen. So when her fairy Godfather offers her the use of his friend’s Italian villa for the summer, she grudgingly agrees to try writing a new play. That’s before she finds out the house belongs to her arch-nemesis, Sam Carlton.

When Hollywood heart-throb Sam Carlton sees his name splashed across a gossip rag, all he wants to do is hide. That’s how he finds himself traveling to Italy, deciding to spend the summer in his family’s empty villa on Lake Como. Except when he arrives it isn’t as empty as he’d hoped.

Over the course of the hot Italian summer, Cesca and Sam have to come to terms with their pasts. What begins as a tentative friendship quickly grows into an intense attraction – and then a scorching fling. But they can’t hide from reality forever . . . as their different worlds collide, Sam and Cesca face a choice: is this just a summer romance, or could their love weather even the coldest winds?

This is a book I was excited to read because it sounded like the perfect easy summer read. Woman with writers block escapes to Lake Como to housesit for a family and ends up trapped in a villa with a man she loathes. Who doesn't love hate to love romance set in Italy with a celebrity romantic lead? Ok, it does sound like a bit if a busy story but it still sounds fun.

Fun it was. I enjoyed myself reading. I felt a strong urge to sit in the sun and drink wine and do something spontaneous. I wanted to travel Europe and have fun and also had a strong urge to go to the theatre and all the best summer reads make you want to do something fun.

Cesca is in a bit of rut with writers block and no job and little hope in her life until she escapes to Italy where she gets her reading mojo back. It's going great until Sam Carlton, famous actor and man who ditched her theatre debut, shows up and ruins things. The two argue and I enjoyed the spark between them. Seeing the banter progress from hateful jibes to cheeky flirtation was awesome. I love a good hate to love and Sam and Cesca's path to romance was difficult.

I did find myself rolling my eyes at a couple of things though. Cesca had a sexy Italian neighbour up on the lake and he was obviously a potential love interest for her. He was such a non characters and he felt very forced and two dimensional. So much so I can't even remember his name. He felt unnecessary and purely there to push the plot along. My other grumble is that Sam and Cesca's relationship obstacles seemed a bit ridiculous. Like they had issues bit they both really needed to just use their damn words. It wasn't the end of the world but it was a little frustrating.

If you're look for a fun romance set somewhere different then check this out. It is a really enjoyable read.

About the Author

Carrie Elks lives near London, England and writes contemporary romance with a dash of intrigue. She loves to travel and meet new people, and has lived in the USA and Switzerland as well as the UK. An avid social networker, she tries to limit her Facebook and Twitter time to stolen moments between writing chapters. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found baking, drinking wine or working out how to combine the two.

What is your perfect summer read? Are you like me looking for some easy romance to lose yourself in or do you prefer something meatier?