When Sian Bishop moves to the country with her son Rory, she quickly finds herself settling in, making friends with Fiona Mitcham. Her business as a furniture decorator is going well and she loves the little cottage she and Rory call home. When Gus Berresford comes hurtling into Sian’s life it’s the last thing she needs.

Not only is Gus a heart-breaker, but he and Sian have met before. Gus is an entirely unsuitable man for Sian to fall in love with, especially when good friend Richard is offering her everything she could ever need, except love. But who will Sian end up giving her heart to, and what happened the first time Sian and Gus met?

It’s very well known that I love Katie Fforde. She’s a wonderful author and of all her seventeen novels I’ve only not read three of them. I love her storytelling abilities and the way her writing is a bit more old-fashioned than what I normally read. Her books are predictable, but that’s what I love about them. I know exactly what I’m getting each time I read one of her books and that’s wonderful because it means no nasty surprises! So I was absolutely thrilled to receive her new book in the post, and couldn’t resist reading it straight away and, as always, I was not disappointed.

Summer of Love follows pretty much the same format as all of Katie’s novels, as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of Katie’s books. It’s a winning formula for me and I’m pleased Katie sticks to her formula for each and every novel. The book opens well, with Sian meeting Fiona and the two quickly become friends. Their bond is sealed when Fiona confides in Sian about her going on an Internet date (more on that later) and I thought the friendship between the two was very real. Now the majority of the plot centers on Rory, Sian’s son’s, father. It’s fairly obvious who the dad is, but I won’t tell it here just to preserve you knowing until you read the book. I was majorly worried Sian wasn’t going to tell him he was the dad, and I was going to have to go all Jeremy Kyle on her (“You have no right to not tell him he’s the dad” etc. etc). Thankfully that wasn’t so, and Rory’s father finds out in good time.

There is an interesting sub-plot featuring Fiona, who decides to go Internet dating. It was a nice way to mix the plot up a bit, and involving Fiona meant we could give Sian a break every now and then. I liked Fiona’s adventures at Internet dating, and the way she handled herself on one particular date. It’s a very now plot to have featured, and Fiona was perfect for it. We also see her relationship with James, a bookseller, develop during that time and it proves, if anything, that it is possible to find love and all that at any age.

I very much enjoyed getting to know the characters. I had a bit of a wobble about Sian, regarding the dad situation (again, my inner Jeremy Kyle is to blame) but it isn’t dragged out too long as to make me dislike her in any way. I just didn’t agree with her keeping schtum. Bar that, she was another excellent Fforde heroine. We have two potential love interests in Gus and Richard and to be honest there was only one for me. Richard was a bit wet for me, surely an astute businessman like himself can tell when someone isn’t fully in love with him? Gus on the other hand was brillant, he and Sian sparked off each other well and I liked his relationship with Rory. Fiona was brilliant, as previously mentioned and I loved little Rory, he seemed like the perfect 4/5 year old!

I’ve mentioned this in previous reviews but I adore Katie Fforde’s writing style. I know, I’m getting boring aren’t I? And starting to sound like a parrot? I do apologise, but really, her writing is so enjoyable and there’s nothing like losing myself in a Katie Fforde book during an afternoon. I constantly want it all to work out for her characters and I’m always happy when it does all come together. Honestly, for as long as Katie carries on writing novels I will still read them, because there is nothing quite like being able to pick up a brand new Katie Fforde novel. Summer of Love is another worthy addition to Katie’s back list with it’s lovely plot and even better characters. It’s one Fforde fans will devour, and rightly so and I’m looking forward to Katie’s next book already.

I’d like to thank the publisher for sending me this to review.

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