Ame’s review of The Summer of You by Kate Noble.

Lady Jane Cummings is certain that her summer is ruined when she is forced to reside at isolated Merrymere Lake with her reckless brother and ailing father. Her fast-paced London society is replaced with a small town grapevine. But one bit of gossip catches Jane’s attention- rumors that the lake’s brooding new resident is also an elusive highwayman.

Jane must face the much discussed mysterioso after he saves her brother from a pub brawl. She immediately recognizes him from London: Byrne Worth, war hero and apparent hermit-whom she finds strangely charming. The two build a fast friendship, and soon nothing can keep this Lady away from Merrymere’s most wanted. Convinced of his innocence, Jane is determined to clear Byrne’s name-and maybe have a little fun this summer after all…

Ok, I have a tough time reviewing books I love, so bear with me…

Lady Jane of Society Fame. In her comeout year, Lady Jane was the center of it all, she lived for the social whirl of the ton. But then her mother died and she had to go into mourning for a year. During that time, her father began to lose his memory and her older brother ran off, leaving her responsible for everything in his absence. But now that her brother is back and she has re-entered society, Jane finds that something is missing, she no longer craves society the way she used to.

That doesn’t mean she’s happy to go to the Cottage, her family’s summer home, a whole month early! Her brother doesn’t want their father’s condition known about among their peers and so drags his recalcitrant sister and their father to the country. He hadn’t meant to go along, but Jane “talks” him into joining them. If she must suffer, so will he!

Once at the Cottage, in the small village of Reston, Jane remembers the good times of her youth and she’s actually glad they’ve returned. The fresh air is doing well for her father but her brother still troubles her. He refuses to step up to the plate and face his responsibilities.

But Jane finds a port in the storm of her life – Mr. Byrne Worth. Byrne is in Reston because he inherited the Widow Lowe’s house near Jane’s home. And the isolated location is perfect for his needs – to heal from his war wounds. The villagers refer to him as a hermit and want nothing to do with his surly attitude. They even believe him to be the highwayman that has been plaguing their town since winter!

But in Byrne Jane finds a dear friend. Here is someone who is no longer who they used to be as well. And eventually their friendship turns to something more. But Jane tries desperately to keep the two parts of her life separate – her joy with Byrne and the responsibilities of her family.

There is so much more to this story that I’m leaving out, but I think I’ll leave it up to you readers to discover this wonderful world that Kate Noble has created. This is my first time reading her work and I’m hooked. I’m so glad I have her first two books in my tbr pile. I know I’m going to be reading them very soon.

First of all, the writing. Kate’s terribly talented. She writes with a sly humor that I love but there’s more to it than that. The emotional spell her writing wove totally had me in it’s grasp right until the last page, when I found myself almost crying! With happiness of course. I didn’t realize how caught up I was until I closed the book on the last page.

And then her characters! So rich! Jane and Byrne really complement each other. And the secondary characters are just as drawn out and vivid as Jane and Byrne. I found myself laughing over the antics of Jane and a few of her guests when it came to planning a ball.

But the central story, what a whopper. I had marked off a passage that really touched me. It just made my heart go pitter patter.

“You are not a lost cause! And you’re not a…a project to me!”
“Then what am I, Jane? If I’m not a lost cause or a project, you don’t pity me, and won’t hate me, then what else is there?”
He held her gaze then, saw the rise and fall of her chest as her breath came hard and heavy. He felt every nerve in his body come alive, every sensation pool at the base of his spine, as he repeated…
“What else is there?”
He saw it then, in her eyes. The awareness of what he was asking. The answer.
“Jane,” he said again, “what else is there?”
The moment fell between them. And then…
And then nothing was between them.

Every interaction between Jane and Byrne is humorous, touching, and satisfying. Their relationship starts off a bit bristly, since Byrne is seen as a hermit, but he begins to crave her company. And the rest, as they say, is history.

4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here.