"terrific thriller"

Nine years have passed since a then pregnant pixie nee Mara Jameson fled her Hubbard's Point Connecticut home and the abuse of her spouse Edward Hunter for the sake of her unborn child. She changes her name to Lily Malone, relocates to remote Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, opened up In Stitch, and raised her ailing (heart condition) daughter Rose by herself until Dr. Liam Neill entered their lives.

Now Mara has come home accompanied by her child and her beloved Liam because her ailing granny in Shoreline Hospital needs her though she knows Edward will find out and probably come for her with hatred in his heart. When Dr. Kirkland informs her that the unconscious granny suffers from carbon monoxide poisoning, she concludes Edward tried to kill her. She knows Edward will come for Rose using legal means, manipulating the media as the deserted hurt spouse who is whispered by many as wife killer and other deadlier methods at his disposal to achieve what he wants, the destruction of Mara.

This terrific suspense sequel to the SUMMER'S CHILD continues the tale of Lily returning to the life she fled almost a decade ago courageously knowing the risk she takes. The story line is character driven by brave people not just the heroine and Liam, but others to include a surprising courtroom twist. Though Edward is a tarnished loser, something in his gene pool allows him to select intrepid women and sire brave offspring. SUMMER OF ROSES is a terrific thriller that can be read alone, but is enhanced when perused back to back with its delightful predecessor.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 7, 2005

Summary

Few novelists today write with the power to move our hearts, quicken our souls, and enrich our lives like Luanne Rice. In New York Times bestsellers such as Dance with Me, Beach Girls, and The Secret Hour, she vividly captures the dramas that make all the difference in love and families. Now, revisiting the remarkable characters introduced in her bestselling Summer's Child, she brings full circle one of her most compelling explorations of the human heart...all the many ways it can be broken...and the magic that can make it whole again. Their lives were a tapestry woven together by love and loss, tragedy and hope. On the windswept coast of Nova Scotia, Lily and her eight-year-old daughter, Rose, are struggling to embrace a new life even as Lily tries to let go of painful memories of the past. Among the lives that will touch theirs are those of Liam Neill, a dedicated teacher living in self-imposed isolation; Maeve Jameson, mourning the loss of a granddaughter she devoted her life to protecting; and Mark Murphy, a dogged police detective obsessed with a woman who vanished years ago--who may or may not have found what he seeks in a tiny, out-of-the-way maritime village. During this eventful summer of roses, the paths--and fates--of these unforgettable characters will intersect in ways that none of them could ever expect--and shape a future none of them could possibly foresee. For each of them it will be a time of renewal and transformation that will circle inevitably to a past left behind, a mystery unsolved, and a love reclaimed. Summer of Roses is vintage Luanne Rice--a novel that celebrates the ties of family, the passion of lovers, and the deep, unbreakable bonds that hold us together through all the seasons of our lives.