The Summer That Changed Everything

A passionate, sharply plotted story about a daughter’s quest to exonerate her estranged father, who is serving a life sentence for murder.

The past in its many incarnations figures prominently in The Summer That Changed Everything, an emotionally nuanced romantic suspense novel by Brenda Novak. 

Lucy Sinclair’s life hasn’t been easy. When she was just 17 years-old, Lucy’s father was found guilty of murdering three locals in their small hometown of North Hampton Beach, Virginia. 

In the aftermath, Lucy fled the town and lived a vagabond existence, ultimately becoming a professional poker player in Las Vegas. Unsettled, still traumatized and soul-searching, Lucy now feels the need to reconnect with her father, from whom she’s been estranged for 15 years. 

Her father admitted to killing an old couple who lived in a trailer park. However, he vehemently denied killing the third victim, Aurora Clark, a ‘mean girl’ peer of Lucy’s, the “most popular girl” in her high school. This always haunted Lucy, who becomes determined to finally get answers and, if true, find a way exonerate her father for Aurora’s death. 

Lucy’s quest reconnects her with Ford Wagner, an old beau whose own life is in flux. As Lucy and Ford revisit memories from the past, including the fateful murders, they ultimately unite to root out the real killer of Aurora Clark. But their investigation soon unearths surprising new details that suddenly endanger their lives. 

Novak’s (The Banned Books Club) premise hooks readers from page one. Her passionate story weaves a ratcheting, suspenseful plot that intricately braids together elements of romance and mystery.

The Summer that Changed Everything by Brenda Novak

MIRA (HarperCollins), $18.99 paperback, 9780778387688, 368 pages

Publication Date: June 3, 2025

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

Link HERE to learn more about author Brenda Novak

The Match

A poignant, wholesome rom-com about how an epileptic child’s search for a service dog inspires romance for her single father and an epileptic woman. 

In The Match, Sarah Adams infuses serious subject matter with poignant humor and lovable dogs sure to charm rom-com readers.

 

Cheery and optimistic, Evelyn “Evie” Grace Jones is a 26-year-old who suffers from epilepsy. She moves away from her snooty, status-conscious “Charlestonian” parents to work for Southern Service Paws, an organization that led Evie to Charlie, her beloved service dog. Evie adores her job, helping to match other people with canines who offer remarkable assistance to the disabled.

 

Samantha Broaden is a 10-year-old who also suffers from epilepsy. After her parents’ divorce--her mother leaves to pursue acting aspirations--Sam is doted on and cared for by her overprotective, self-sacrificing, single father, 33-year-old architect, Jacob. Sam loves Jacob, but he’s resistant to his daughter pursuing independence by sharing her life with a service dog.

 

When Sam sneakily lures Jacob to Southern Service Paws, he locks horns with Evie, who finds him rigid, but also romantically irresistible. As Evie searches for a loyal canine companion for Sam, Jacob comes to witness Evie’s compassion toward his daughter and her condition. When Evie ultimately finds Sam a beautiful service dog, Daisy, Jacob softens and lowers his defenses. Romance blooms with Evie. However, Jacob’s insecurity from his failed marriage and the return of his ex-wife--along with Evie’s meddling family--set up obstacles to the couple’s happiness. 

Adams’s (The Rule Book) uplifting, wholesome romantic comedy delivers positive messaging and feel-good hope.  

The Match (It Happened in Charleston, Book One) by Sarah Adams

Dell (Penguin Random House), $17.99 paperback, 9780593871713, 320 pages

Publishing Date: July 2, 2024

To order this book via Indiebound/Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (July 19, 2024), link HERE 

Valley Fever

A broken romantic relationship propels a disillusioned young woman back to her hometown of Fresno, Calif., in Katherine Taylor's vivid, enjoyable second novel, Valley Fever. This story of family, friendship, loyalty and betrayal is narrated by sharp-witted, 30-something Ingrid Palamede, who settles into the colorful backdrop of the Central Valley and her family's faltering 20,000-acre riverside vineyard--Palamede Farms. The vineyard has a storied history: Ingrid's father, Ned, inherited his first hundred acres and, over the years, kept buying and cultivating more land. But the farm is now in financial trouble, Ned is ill and Ingrid's mother is contemptuous. With plenty of free time now, Ingrid offers to help. Is she the savior the farm needs?

As she becomes embroiled in the small-town landscape that shaped her, Ingrid revisits her past, brushing up against an old flame, an estranged best friend and an employee suspected of stealing from the farm. Ingrid's sister, Anne--a successful voice-over actress in Los Angeles who would do anything for her--is leery about Ingrid's plight. And then there's "Uncle" Felix, Ned's oldest and dearest friend, another vintner, who makes his living by purchasing grapes from other farmers--including the Palamedes. With Ingrid in charge, will Felix hold up his end of the bargain, or will sour grapes and self-interest trump professional bonds?

Taylor (Rules for Saying Goodbye) delivers a vivid, bittersweet, entertaining drama that harvests ripe truths about self-discovery, the workings of the heart and the tangled vines of families and fortunes.

Valley Fever: A Novel by Katherine Taylor

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26 Hardcover, 9780374299149, 304 pp   

Publication Date: June 9, 2015

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (6/30/15), click HERE