THE GIRL FROM SUMMER HILL (SUMMER HILL #1)

Sparks fly as fiery Casey Reddick and brooding Hollywood actor Tate Landers clash in the Virginia summer heat. A chef who puts her career first and her love life second, Casey doesn’t see what every girl in town is swooning over. She made up her mind the moment she met Tate—he’s gorgeous, but stuck-up, nothing like his ex-brother-in-law, Devlin who’s playing the Wickham to Tate’s Darcy in local production of Pride & Prejudice. Casey makes the perfect Elizabeth Bennett—how could she be star-struck when she’s heard Devlin’s damning stories about Tate? As they rehearse together, however, Casey finds herself attracted to Tate—he’s much more down-to-earth than she expected and any physical contact between the two of them literally gives her a tingling, electric shock. As opening night draws near, Casey has some difficult decisions to make. Whom should she believe? The seemingly sincere, slighted Devlin or Tate, whose rough, arrogant exterior may only be skin deep. She’s come to love that jolt she gets when they touch—but will she get burned? 

Release Date: May 3, 2016

Ballantine Books

Contemporary Romance

Summer Hill #1

Review copy provided by publisher

Liza’s Review:

I've been a huge fan of Jude Deveraux since I read my very first historical romance by her when I was in 8th grade. I feel equally in love with her contemporary romances and she has been on my auto-read list for years. I was interested to see what Ms. Deveraux had planned with The Girl From Summer Hill, as I knew from reading the back cover, it was set up as a contemporary re-telling of Pride and Prejudice, which is one of my favorite books ever.

I enjoyed The Girl From Summer Hill very much. I felt Ms. Deveraux did a great job with writing the perfect characters for each of the original roles from Pride and Prejudice. I loved Casey from the moment we met her and absolutely loved all of her half-siblings we met along the way. Tate Landers was the perfect character to equal Darcy, though i will always picture Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in my mind. Devlin, Tate's ex-brother-in-law was perfectly cast as Wickham, and in fact his character was really the only one I hated in the entire book. Seriously Ms. Deveraux made me hate Devlin more than I ever hated the original Wickham.

The Girl From Summer Hill was a beautiful romance, but I also found myself laughing out loud so many times while reading this book. I honestly didn't expect to find as much humor in the story as I did and found it completely refreshing. I honestly think all fans of the original Pride and Prejudice will really enjoy this story and believe those who have never read it before, might feel compelled to read the it after reading The Girl From Summer Hill. 

4 stars (B+)