Summer at the Lake

It was a wedding invitation that changed everything for Floriana...

If she hadn't been so distracted at the thought of having to witness the one true love of her life get married, she would have seen the car coming.

If she'd seen the car coming, there would have been no need for elderly spinster Esme Silcox and local property developer Adam Strong to rush to her aid.

And if Floriana hadn't met Adam and Esme she would never have had the courage to agree to attend Seb's wedding in beautiful Lake Como.

For Esme, Lake Como awakens memories of when she stayed at the lake as a nineteen-year-old girl and fell in love for the first time. So often she's wondered what happened to the man who stole her heart all those years ago, a man who changed the course of her life.

Now it's time for both Esme and Floriana to face the past - and the future - on the shores of this most romantic and enchanting of lakes.

My opinion: This is the first book I have read by Erica James and it certainly won't be the last.

Floriana receives a wedding invitation through the post that upsets her so much that she doesn't concentrate on where she is going and ends up getting knocked down by a car. Two onlookers, elderly Esme and property developer Adam, step in to ensure that she is ok and the three of them become unlikely, but firm friends.

Esme is an elderly spinster who lives with her cat in a house full of beautiful paintings which tell the story of her life. Adam has just split up with his girlfriend and has bought the house next door to Esme with a view to renovate it. Floriana is an eccentric young lady who is a tour guide in Oxford and is trying hard to move on from the past. Each character's story unfolds throughout the book and we get a snapshot of the past, and an opportunity to see them move into a new future.

I really enjoyed this book. It was really well written and drew me in right from the beginning. I loved the characters, particularly Esme with her wonderful past at Lake Como and the downtrodden Floriana trying to deal with her awful sister Ann. The descriptions of the young Esme's trip to Italy with her father were so colourful, I could imagine myself being there with her. I have always wanted to go to Italy and this book has made me want to go even more. This book was  bit of a slowburner and quite a hefty tome so sometimes I felt that it dragged a little - my only reason for not giving it five stars.

Overall, a wonderfully descriptive and romantic book and I look forward to reading more of Erica James' books.

My rating: Four stars

I received a review copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley and Orion Publishing in return for an honest review