One More Summer

One More Summer is the newest release from Liz Flaherty and Carina Press. From the author’s website.~

Grace has taken care of her widowed father her entire adult life and the ornery old goat has finally died. She has no job, no skills and very little money, and has heard her father's prediction that no decent man would ever want her so often she accepts it as fact.


But she does have a big old house on Lawyers Row in Peacock, Tennessee. She opens a rooming house and quickly gathers a motley crew of tenants: Promise, Grace's best friend since kindergarten, who's fighting cancer; Maxie, an aging soap opera actress who hasn't lost her flair for the dramatic; Jonah, a sweet, gullible old man with a crush on Maxie.


And Dillon, Grace's brother's best friend, who stood her up on the night of her senior prom and has regretted it ever since. Dillon rents Grace's guest house for the summer and hopes to make up for lost time and past hurts—but first, he'll have to convince Grace that she's worth loving...


This is the first book I’ve read by Liz Flaherty and I was able to get an early copy of One More Summer from NetGalley. I really liked the characters from this book. I especially loved Grace and her best friend Promise. They each would do anything for the other, including keeping secrets and protecting one another. I liked Grace’s siblings Steven and Faith as well, and loved seeing the siblings grow closer as the book progressed. Dillon was a bit of a surprise to me, but I soon saw he only wanted to protect and get to know Grace as an adult.


One More Summer threw out some major surprises as the love story between Grace and Dillon progressed. I’ll admit one secret Grace had been keeping didn’t totally shock me, but still surprised me that she finally opened up and shared her secret. Grace’s father was such a total jerk with his youngest child that she has never really trusted anyone but Promise with her true feelings, not even her brother and sister. Dillon has a few secrets of his own from his past that make it hard for Grace to believe he really loves her.


With each secret that is brought to light, Grace becomes a much stronger woman. Grace was always strong, but her new strength comes from finally accepting help and love from all her family and friends. Her strength is tested as it quickly becomes apparent that Promise has little chance of surviving her cancer.


One More Summer was Grace’s story from start to finish. I thought it was a good story, but did think she had a bit more on her than any one person should ever have to deal with. Overall, I liked the author’s writing style and will look for other books from her in the future. One More Summer is set for release from Carina Press on January 2, 2012.