The Summer Without You By Karen Swan

[amazon_link id=”1447255208″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Summer Without You’ is the latest book by Karen Swan.

Rowena Tipton isn’t looking for a new life, just a new adventure, something to while away the months as her long-term boyfriend presses pause on their relationship before they become engaged. But when a chance encounter at a New York wedding leads to an audition for a coveted houseshare in The Hamptons – Manhattan’s elite beach scene – suddenly a new life is exactly what she’s got.

Stretching before her is a summer with three eclectic housemates, long days on white sand ocean beaches and parties on gilded tennis courts. But high rewards bring high stakes and Rowena soon finds herself caught in the crossfire of a vicious intimidation campaign. Alone for the first time in her adult life, she has no-one to turn to but a stranger who is everything she doesn’t want – but possibly everything she needs.

I settled into Karen’s newest book whilst working at a car boot sale and as the rain drizzled around me, I was transported off to the sunny and glamorous sand dunes of The Hamptons to accompany our reluctant heroine, Ro deal with the unexpected pause in her life as her boyfriend of ten years takes himself off on an expedition to find himself whilst promising to finally commit to her on his return. But not one to wallow in self pity, Ro takes herself away to New York to photograph a young socialites wedding and it’s working at this wedding that she runs into Hump, a young retired doctor who has now become a waiter, Bobbi a driven and determined young architect plus Greg, a handsome friend of Humps and together the four of them decide to house-share Hump’s Hampton’s cottage.

It’s on this sudden house-share that Ro’s life takes on a sudden turn of events and she finds herself embroiled in political twists, new friends and an unwanted attraction to another man who isn’t Matt.

This book was an unexpected treat for me, far from being the romantic love story that I expected it to be, it turned out to be a bit of a gripping thriller in parts with the bonus of a love story thrown in. I was initially a bit imitated by the sheer size of the book and thought it would take me a while to read it but once I started it, I found myself enthralled with the story and unable to put it down.

The story is seen from the perspective of Ro, a budding photographer who’s career is going from strength to strength and she’s content with her love life. But suddenly there’s a shift in the relationship when her long term boyfriend decides to go travelling for six months. Despaired at the thought that this could mark the end of it, she throws herself into her work and finds herself working for Ted. A man that she had a nasty first encounter with but after working for him, she begins to see another side to him and finds herself drawn to the man who is fiercely protective of his children.

As well as working on her own photography, Ro finds herself helping out Florence an elderly woman who has a strong voice in the local community with an opinion to be heard but it seems that not everyone agrees with her as local elections come around causing a few dark and sinister incidents to occur.

A story that flows along at a nice pace, Karen’s latest book is a lovely summer story packed with delicious characters all running from love, hurt and drama and filled with the glamour of the sophisticated Hamptons. The perfect escapism story that will keep you guessing with its many twists and turns, ‘The Summer Without You’ is the perfect poolside read.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1447255208″ target=”_blank” ]The Summer Without You from Amazon [/amazon_link]and is available to buy from good book shops.