Title: Summerhaven
Author: Tiffany Odekirk
Release Date: February 14, 2022
Length: 272 pages
Genre: Historical Romance
****Review****
An interesting mix of enemies-to-lovers, fake-relationship, and friends-to-lovers tropes. Completely unexpected, but this unique regency story with a fantastic cover has all that is necessary to keep your attention until the very end.
A children’s pledge… One invitation and everything changes for our sweet heroine Hannah. She will return to Summerhaven, walk through the same paths, and renew some old friendships. Here is the long-awaited chance, maybe now is the right time for her and Oliver. The once childish hope and an innocent friendship can grow into a beautiful love. Making all her naïve girlhood dreams come true. And the old hopes of their mothers will be fulfilled…
But the ways of fate are strange. Time has the power to change everything, right? And everything has changed. Oliver isn’t the same anymore.
Everything requires a good plan, concerted efforts, and a good idea. A little deception, a little pretense, and everything will be as it should be. Yes, very often friendship of convenience leads to a truly sweet romance. But which friendship are we talking about?
What will happen when the veil of childhood naivety is outgrown and replaced by strange butterflies and quivering sighs?
Summerhaven is a sweet love story, full of summer-adventure vibes and interesting moments. This is the first book by this author and I believe it will not be the last. Her storytelling skills are quite superb, which can be seen from the way this love story is woven. Solid research and a huge amount of effort have gone into it, which is more than obvious as you turn the pages. The way she balanced the characters and their emotions are quite engaging. The plot is quite compelling with perfect pace and detail. It was also greatly adapted to the period in which the story is set and with well-developed characters. Hannah is the perfect epitome of a girl from that period. Her thoughts and actions contain a little dose of naivety and stupidity. Her path toward self-discovery and recognition of the facts and feelings is quite remarkable.
Although I don’t prefer it, here I especially liked that the whole story is told from her perspective. Somehow I had a great chance to empathize with her. I felt her thoughts, hopes, sorrows, and joys just that way more deeply. It was especially interesting to see Damon’s explanations through her eyes for explanations behind all of the things he did to her when they were young. As well as their exceptional banter.
Damon on the other hand is an amazing character who manages to charm readers with his unique sense of humor and mischief. His good nature and kindness are more than evident in his actions. If we add to that that he is incredibly handsome, thoughtful and an incredible flirt…. it means he is the perfect book boyfriend.
It took me a long time to write this review. Not that I was at a loss for words. But I just couldn’t put all the words into sentences and express everything that was going through my mind after reading this book.
Summerhaven is a sweet romance with a dose of freshness and originality.
If you’ve never read a Regency romance, you should start with this charming story with a lovable heroine and an amazing hero. You will enjoy the funny bantering between the hero and heroine, and get an overall feel-good sort of closure when you finish the novel. And all those who love this genre, I believe you have read it by now.