Friday, 3 June 2016

The Summer We Danced by Fiona Harper (Romance, Contemporary fiction, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

April 2016, Mira, 384 pages, Paperback, Review copy from NetGalley

Content: mild romance

Summary from Mills & Boon
After a humiliating divorce and watching her former rock star husband leave her for a model live on reality TV, Pippa is determined to disappear. So she returns to the small Kent village where she grew up to make a fresh start.

Little did she know that would mean saving her beloved childhood dance school or falling for her old school crush Tom too!

Nayu's thoughts
Returning to dance class changes Pippa for good! She needs a lifestyle change among others and I think it's a testimony to the writing that, to use Pippa's own words, happiness leaked out of my eyes at the end. And before then for each little achievement she makes. She was so down at the start, assuming she knew what people thought of her, when in fact they weren't thinking things at all. 

All areas of her life need work, and the new friends and frenemies she meets all contribute  that. She suffers greatly at the hand of her childhood friend who is Miss Frosty (my label), one of several external issues she can't control when she helps at the ballet school, but with a bit of encouragement somehow she digs deep and chooses to fight with all she has. 

I love Pippa's cat who makes her smile and sigh for being a typical cat and doing her own thing. I enjoyed how full of life Lucy is, and how readily she accepts Pippa into her life, unlike her dad who, well, just read the book! Miss Mimi is a law unto herself, and I think she is fond of Pippa to let her he in the older lady's life. lt's firmly on my reread shelf; it's a feel good, inspirational read!

Find out more on Fiona's website.

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