Review: Summer’s Road by Kelly Moran

Title: Summer’s Road by Kelly Moran
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 298 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Author

Summary:

After her father’s death, Summer Quinn realizes just how alone she feels in the world. With no family to fill her life now, she finds comfort among friends, but yearns for true love, contentment, and family. When her boyfriend, Matt, suggests they raise their relationship to a higher level, Summer jumps at the chance to get everything she’s always wanted. Only she doesn’t expect the heat arising between her and her best friend, Ian–a man who never seems to settle down. A man the complete opposite of what she’s looking for. But when her estranged mother reappears after twenty-eight years, Summer’s world completely flips upside down. As secrets from her family’s past and Ian’s true feelings for her emerge, Summer’s now faced with choices she’s not sure she can make. The rest of her life’s happiness hinges on her finally confronting a past she’d rather deny and legitimately opening her heart to love, even if it’s not where she expected to find it.

The Review:

Summer’s Road by Kelly Moran is a lovely friends to lovers romance. It is also an emotional journey of healing and forgiveness for Summer Quinn as she makes peace with her past. But the heart and soul of this wonderful story is the delightful friendship that Summer shares with her best pals Ian, Rick and Dee.

Summer has been unable to move on from the two defining moments of her life-her mother’s long ago abandonment and more recently, her beloved father’s death from cancer. On the four year anniversary of her dad’s death, she is shaken by her mother Sharon’s unexpected reappearance in her life. As if her life is not in enough turmoil, her longtime boyfriend Matt is suddenly asking for a commitment and her close friendship with Ian takes a surprisingly romantic turn.

Although Summer has a very close friendship with her childhood friends, she always holds a little piece of herself back from them. Instead of confiding in them, she puts on a happy face and keeps her strongest emotions to herself. This defense mechanism works perfectly well until her past and present collide and she comes very close to ruining her friendship and, quite possibly, her future with Ian. But help arrives from a surprising source and Summer has a few revelations about her parents and her friendships that help her heal the wounds from her past.

The budding romance between Ian and Summer is full of misunderstandings but lack of communication is probably their biggest issue. For two people who think they know one another inside and out, it turns out they really don’t know each other very well at all. Even worse, they are both guilty of assuming they know what the other person is thinking and this leads some frustrating conversations where they keep their true feelings hidden.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the novel is the close-knit friendship between Summer, Ian, Rick and Dee. Ian, Rick and Dee are more than Summer’s friends; they are her family. The three have been with Summer through good times and bad and their support for her is unwavering. But as they soon discover, their good intentions have undesirable consequences that have hindered Summer more than they helped. Fortunately it is not too late for Summer to make amends for her past behavior and she embraces what she has in life instead of lamenting what is missing.

Summer’s Road by Kelly Moran is a wonderful story of forgiveness, friendship and love. The cast of characters is appealing and beautifully developed. The story line is engaging with plenty of strong emotions. A heartfelt novel that fans of contemporary romances are sure to enjoy.