SUMMER WINE
HELEN RAVELL
ISBN #: 978-1-936000-04-3
May 2009/Previously Released June 22, 2007
Desert Breeze Publishing
www.desertbreezepublishing.com
E-Book
$5.99
108 pages
Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3 Cups

Claire is an Australian, a tour guide, and a well educated woman from a working class family. She, like her family, is warm, honest and loving.

Sam is a winemaker. He is very handsome and charming but very reticent about his background. He seems totally in love with Claire.

After a whirlwind romance, Sam and Claire get married. Things become a bit rocky when he begins to make all the decisions without her input and leaves her to the care of his unpleasant mother. Things are going to have to change if Sam expects to remain married or to realize his dream of starting his own winery with his best friend, Cal.

I really liked Claire right from the beginning. Sam is much harder to like, he is self centered, spoiled, and inconsiderate early on. Claire’s life in California is pretty horrible thanks to Sam’s mother, but he does nothing to help her, he just has a temper tantrum and deserts her for his work. Things come to a head pretty quickly, which makes things more exciting. I liked the way the author contrasted the three lifestyles Claire leads. Her middle class upbringing in Australia is warm and happy, her married life in her wealthy mother-in-law’s house is cold and lonely, and her stay in the poorer side of town is tough but enlightening. This is a formulaic, but entertaining, love story and I enjoyed it.

Maura
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More