SUMMER ON FIREFLY LAKE by Jen Gilroy

Publisher:   Forever
Published:  July 25, 2017
ISBN:        978-1455569601
Genre:       Women’s Fiction
Format:     Print
Obtained via:  Publisher  
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

 

FOUR HEARTS

 

Mia Gibbs had what some would consider the perfect life. A lovely home, a doting husband and two daughters.  What more could she want?

For starters, a husband who isn’t cheating on her with a woman young enough to be her daughter.  In reality she’s never had that and when the illusion of her happy ever after shattered she found herself back at Firefly Lake, a place where her family spent their summers and where she met the one man she truly could never forget. The one man whose heart she broke so many years before.  

Now she has moved back to Firefly Lake with her daughters in part to be near her sister, Charlie and her new husband, but also to regroup and rebuild her life. She’s cobbled together a couple of jobs that take her back to her original career goals.  And her daughters are making friends. She has a new purpose in her life…and an old love that might have been that could just be rekindling.  But neither Mia, nor that old love, Nick, wants a relationship.

 

Nick McGuire was the town’s bad boy. He rode a Harley and did bad boy things. Worse, his father scammed the people of the town and Nick felt the taint of his actions. Since leaving town, determined never to look or go back, Nick has done all he can to not be his father. But when his mother took ill, he came back and found his past waiting for him in ways he never expected.  He never got over Mia – but is that enough to give himself a second chance?

Wow. What a good read.  I’m usually not much for women’s fiction because it tends to be depressing and I read book 1 of Jen Gilroy’s Firefly Lake series, THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE and wasn’t very impressed.  It seemed a bit directionless with no real emotions.  Book 2, SUMMER AT FIREFLY LAKE, however, was a fantastic read. I was drawn into the story from the beginning and just didn’t want to put it down until I could see how Gilroy was going to resolve Mia and Nick’s issues.  More than Mia and Nick’s relationship, Gilroy also treats readers to the stories of the secondary characters, all who are also fully developed on their own.

 
I didn’t care much for Mia in COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE but that changed in SUMMER AT FIREFLY LAKE.  Gilroy tells Mia’s story in a nicely paced, credible and emotional story.  She takes doesn’t rush Mia’s, or Nick’s stories, but has them develop bit by bit.  Sometimes they take a step back – just like we do ourselves, and then they move forward.  They come to learn what it is they really want in their own time, while at the same time, helping and being helped by the other characters.

 
If you are looking for a super beach read … or really just a good read any time, SUMMER AT FIREFLY LAKE is definitely the one to top your list.
 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.