The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall

[Clair80]

Hi all.

Has anyone read this yet? I won a copy from June book giveaways and I haven't been able to put it down. The descriptive writing is abs. beautiful and the story line is so refreshing. I am so in love with Hungary esp with the british weather we are having at the mo!

Clair x

I read it - I got a free review copy from Amazon Vine and I agree, it's a great read.

I've just read it (also having won a copy in June book giveaways). She does evoke Hungary, its atmosphere, food, tastes and smells, really very well. It made it real (I'd like to visit Hungary now!) Some of her characters were fully realised, such as Marika and Zoltan. The build-up to the Big Revelation was also well handled, as was Erszi's youthful character as a child developing into a teenager.

The storyline didn't always fully convince me. Erszi's reaction to the Revelation struck me as excessive and unlikely, ditto the fact that she had been kept in the dark about it all her life. (How inept can a parent be? No wonder she didn't get on with her wishy washy father!) The more satisfying 'happy ending' nearly but not quite made up for the over-contrived and slightly unbelievable main plot. Other than these points, there were some very well-written pages and I did enjoy it, so - a good holiday read overall!

Just about to start reading this.