I received a copy of When Summer Comes by Brenda Novak in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
One day, Callie Vanetta receives devastating news…
She needs a liver transplant. But her doctors warn that, in her case, the chances of finding a compatible donor aren’t good.
Determined to spend whatever time she has left on her own terms, she keeps the diagnosis to herself and moves out to her late grandparents’ farm. She’s always wanted to live there. But the farm hasn’t been worked in years and she begins to fear she can’t manage it, that she’ll have to return to town.
One night, a stranger comes knocking at her door…
He’s an attractive and mysterious drifter by the name of Levi McCloud, and he offers to trade work for a few nights’ shelter. Callie figures she doesn’t have anything to lose. He needs a place to stay until he can fix his motorcycle; she needs an extra pair of hands. The arrangement seems ideal until what was supposed to be temporary starts to look more and more permanent. Then she realizes she does have something to lose—her heart. And, although he doesn’t yet know it, Levi stands to lose even more.
Review:
I’ll start my review by saying that I also seem to have trouble jumping into a series when it’s already started. I actually didn’t realize that before I started reading this, but it was pretty clear just a little ways into the reading that there were probably multiple books before this one. I always felt a few steps behind and like I didn’t quite have the full story, and I’m sure that affected my ability to get immersed in the plot. While I thought the storyline was interesting, I sometimes just didn’t understand Callie. She is dying of liver cancer but doesn’t tell anyone about it, and I really couldn’t help but feel turned off by that. Her family and friends should get the chance to come to grips with her illness and feel prepared to say good-bye. I know it’s Callie’s life and choice, but that really bothered me. Most of the story was pretty predictable, so that mixed in with the series thing and not being able to relate with the main character made it difficult to read. Could have been different if I read the previous books, and I would say to start with book 1 if you want to check these out.
