REVIEW: The Summer Garden by Sherryl Woods @HarlequinBooks @MIRAEditors

 Description

Falling for "Maddening Moira" O'Malley was the unexpected highlight of Luke O'Brien's Dublin holiday. So when she pays a surprise visit to Chesapeake Shores, Luke is thrilled…at first. A fling with this wild Irish rose is one thing, but forever? Maybe someday, but not when he's totally focused on establishing a business that will prove his mettle to his overachieving family.

Given Luke's reaction, Moira has some soul-searching of her own to do. Scarred by her father's abandonment, she wonders if Luke, with his playboy past, is truly the family man she longs for. Adding to her dilemma, she's offered an amazing chance at a dream career of her own.

Deep down, though, Moira knows home is the real prize, and that love can be every bit as enchanted as a summer garden.

About the Author

With her roots firmly planted in the South, Sherryl Woods has written many of her more than 100 books in that distinctive setting, whether her home state of Virginia, her adopted state, Florida, or her much-adored South Carolina. She's also especially partial to small towns, wherever they may be. A member of Novelists Inc., Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America, Sherryl divides her time between her childhood summer home overlooking the Potomac River in Colonial Beach, Virginia, and her oceanfront home, with its lighthouse view, in Key Biscayne, Florida.

 Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira (January 31, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778313093
• ISBN-13: 978-0778313090

SOURCE: PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS

LOVED IT

I have read Woods' books off and on over the years and it is always nice to pop back in and see what is happening.  If you have read any of the Chesapeake Shores series, then this will be a nice revisit and if this is your first book, you won't want to leave.  The story continues a bit of Dillon and Nell relationship, but the true stars are Moira and Luke.  Moira, Moira, Moira, what can I say?  This girl has a lot of gumption, but she seems to lack when it comes to trusting her own feelings.  When Nell invites her for a visit from her native Ireland, I was cheering, thinking, you go girl!  Go get Luke since you two really belong together but both of them dance around that fact.  

Sad to say, that this is the last book in the series, but the O'Brien family will still exist in print so you can revisit them as I am going to.  I really enjoyed the give and take between the characters and even the bit of meddling which occurs in any family.  I just hope that Moira can trust herself enough to get through her abandonment issues (her father left when she was young), and that Luke helps her with a little bit of a self esteem boost.  Luke does grow up and overcome his playboy past. Since they are both fairly young, I could imagine this as a first true relationship and I just hope that the author might continue this couple somehow.