Alys Murray

As I pictured myself amongst a beautiful flower farm, I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Harper Anderson and her sisters. As Harper runs the family farm and holds all the stresses of its uncertain financial future, she builds a relationship with the unlikely Luke and his sister Annie. The way their romance flourishes is written beautifully, but even more important, or at least as important is how Murray portrays the family dynamics of both families. I enjoyed the romance, and the setting. A great quick read that will keep you turning the pages.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and Alys Murray for the advanced copy of this book.… (plus d'informations)

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

2.5 stars

The truth was that May Anderson left Tom Riley. You've got to remember that, because no one else in Hillsboro did.

The youngest Anderson sister has kept to herself ever since something happened between her and her highschool sweetheart Tom, caused him to leave town without her after graduation. May's sisters, parents, and whole town assumed Tom left her behind breaking her heart because in a small-town, youthful indiscretions, like accidentally throwing a baseball through a window, aren't forgotten and Tom got the reputation as a “bad boy”. May never told the truth, she ended up being too scared to trust Tom to leave her when they went into the big wide world and broke up with him. So May ended up being pitied and protected by the townspeople and not wanting to lose that, as her family's farm business relied on the towns good favor, she didn't correct anyone. But now Tom is back in town, trying to save his family's winery and seeing how everyone is treating him is making May feel very guilty and when they have to work together for a festival, old hurts and buried emotions are coming out in the open.

Even after everything, holding her this close was like coming home.

Second in the Full Bloom Farm series, Sweet Pea Summer brings readers back to the small-town of Hillsboro, CA and the Anderson family. If you read book one, you'll remember that Tom was engaged to Annie, the sister of book one's male main character but it didn't last long and they're just friends now. A lot of this story was spent in May and Tom's heads. The crux of the issue is that May doesn't want to admit that she lied by omission and let Tom unfairly take the blame for their break-up, the whole town treats him like dirt, causing his wine business to be suffering, but May doesn't want to tell the truth because she doesn't want the town to turn on her. It's cloaked in May wanting to stay in her “safe” life space but after two-hundred plus pages, it got frustrating and, frankly, whiny. It was all too drawn out and mewling and, as there are not flashbacks to the couple's romance in highschool, you'll begin to wonder why Tom is even waiting around for May.

She'd let the small-minded gossip of people they didn't even particularly like---gossip they'd spent most of their lives laughing at and ignoring---completely alter the trajectory of their lives.

The Anderson family and sisters, Harper and Rosie, for the most part, were out of the story but they came in a little at the end to hassle Tom, find out the truth and be angry with May, and then have their make-up scene. Dad Anderson shows up to have a father-daughter talk and Tom gets some friendship scenes with Annie and a kick in the pants talk from his grandmother but other than that, it's pretty much character head space and May-Tom interactions.

Why did he want nothing more than to throw the past away and start over with the one person who'd made that very thing so impossible?

This kisses only story had May and Tom mostly made-up a little after the half-way point and into the second half, May finally starts to take direct action to help Tom's reputation (still too scared to tell the truth, though). We then get a very late third act break-up that just about had me wishing they were done for good because of how ineffectual May was still being, our female main character gives us the Grand Gesture and it finishes with a happily ever after.

She'd missed him. And having to miss him in the first place was entirely her fault.

May was too scared to trust Tom and leave with him after graduation breaking both their hearts, lived the next eight years cocooned in a safe haven protected by the lie that gave her the goodwill of their small-town and Tom traveled the world lonely only to come back home and find out he was the “bad guy” and thought it was honorable to wait for May to the tell the truth. As May kept being quiet, it was harder for me to give her character the benefit of the doubt and therefore harder for me to cheer for their romance. This did have small-town vibes, cozy and mean gossip, a touch of women's fiction, and an eventual happily ever after.… (plus d'informations)

Fake relationships never work out the way they’re supposed to, but local beauty Rose and actor Cole are determined to do it right and not fall in love.

Well, I did it again and didn’t start with the first book. Though, with a book series like this, it isn’t strictly necessary to read them in order; they’re more or less standalones, though it’s still nice to know the background on the surrounding characters. In this case, Home at Summer’s End is the last book of the Full Bloom Farm quartet. But I really wanted to read it because I found myself in Rose just from the book description. While I would have liked to have gotten to know her sisters and friend via the first three books, I can’t say I was disappointed because Rose and Cole just drew me in.

The Plot: A Beautiful Fake Relationship
Rose Anderson is the oldest Anderson girl. As Hillsboro, California’s resident nice girl, she’s a romantic at heart who has been hurt by love, but that doesn’t stop everyone in her life from believing she won’t be fully happy without a man in her life. Cole McKittrick just quit a popular TV series and his Hollywood perfect girlfriend just dumped him, so he’s glad for the escape to small town Hillsboro, where he starts filming an upcoming romantic movie in two weeks. The only problem is, he has no idea how to be a romantic lead, so a friend from Hollywood, who just happens to be Rose’s matchmaking best friend, sets him and Rose up.

The rules are simple: they’ll pretend to be in a relationship (with some strict ground rules) so Rose can get everyone out of her hair and Cole can get his ex-girlfriend back. It makes perfect sense to both of them since Rose will also be helping to mold Cole into the perfect romantic lead and teaching him all about romance. There’s no way this could go wrong. After all, the rules are rigid.

Home at Summer’s End is such a sweet romance. Not light and fluffy, not trope-y, not cute. Just sweet. Since Rose is an avid romance reader, she knows all about how fake relationships never, ever work out, so does her best to make sure hers is a success. I loved that the typical romance tropes were addressed throughout the novel and how hard Rose struggled to make sure they didn’t fall into any of the normal traps.

It follows the standard pattern in a romance novel, but never shies away from casually dropping in how this is supposed to happen at this point in a relationship and that could never happen because this wasn’t a romance novel. It somehow managed to transplant me as a reader from the pages of a book into the lives of two very real people. Written with a light, deft hand, Home at Summer’s End managed to avoid everything I hate in romance novels (the formula, the tropes) and present a very sweet, very clean story about a couple who know they’re not allowed to fall in love. The only quibble I had was that Rose’s reason for everything felt a little weak and she blew up a little too much at the end (when things typically go south), otherwise I really enjoyed most of this book.

The Characters: The Sweetest Couple, and a Loving Family
Rose is the entire reason why I wanted to read Home at Summer’s End. She’s the nice one who is the only one not bothered by her single status. She has an amazingly loving, if amazingly meddlesome, family, but loves them anyways. Though she runs the family’s flower shop, she’s a bookworm at heart who has probably read every romance novel and who loves every romantic movie ever filmed. She’s sweet and, as the oldest child, puts everyone else first, but is finally realizing she’s kind of done with that, and this last setup with Cole will be her last. I loved that she’s a romantic at heart, though past hurts have her carefully guarding it.

Cole is a man of two faces. As an actor he presents a carefully cultivated bio and face, one that may or may not be the truth. As a man, he just wants to prove himself while keeping his secrets close to home. He didn’t exactly come off as a swaggering, good looking actor, but that’s what made him charming. He was deeper than his actor persona, and the chapters from his perspective showed his depth and his ever-conflicting feelings about everything. I didn’t find him to be especially swoon-worthy, but he did make me sigh a few times.

And then there’s Rose’s family and her best friend Annie. They’re all cozily paired up and overzealously involved in Rose’s love life, or lack thereof. But they all have hearts of gold and are perfectly charming. If a bit too overly involved. I loved how close they all were, how much they cared about each other and only wanted the best for each other. Annie and Rose’s sisters Harper and May have their own significant others and their romances are hinted at throughout the book, but their stories are the first three in this series.

The Setting: A Small Town in Northern California
Home at Summer’s End takes place in a small town in Northern California. Being from a big city in Southern California, I struggled to believe there could be a small town in California, but thinking of wine country helped. I just replaced the vineyards with Rose’s family’s sprawling flower farm. It was delightful and charming. I liked that it actually didn’t feel particularly Californian, but was geographically placed close enough to Hollywood that it could be believable.

The small town charm is everywhere in this book. Everyone knows everyone else, but there’s still a very secret pie recipe. There are only so many date spots, but Rose and Cole make the most of all of them. It was cute and cozy, though it never felt stifling. I loved that it was small, but there was still breathing space. There were enough eyes looking over Rose and Cole’s shoulders, but it was possible for them to keep secrets close to their chests. Overall, a delightful location.

Overall: A Sweet, Clean Romance
Romance is far from my preferred genre, and I almost passed on this one, but I’m really glad I read it. I just saw so much of myself in Rose. It’s rare for me to find that, so I couldn’t let the opportunity to review this one pass me by. I’m so glad I did because it did its best to turn the typical romance tropes on their heads, and I honestly couldn’t stop reading. Rose and Cole were beautiful and perfect, and I desperately want to reread their story because it was that sweet. Overall, Home at Summer’s End is both probably a fitting end to the series and a really sweet, tender romance that failed to get my eyes rolling at the ridiculousness. While it does fall into the formula, the lines felt a little more blurred and I could almost believe I was reading the story of a real couple. I did like the ending, but, once that last quarter hit, it started to feel too predictable and I felt like I’d been tossed into the romance novel formula, which was a little jarring since the rest of the book had been a dream.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.… (plus d'informations)