Review Blitz: When August Ends: Penelope Ward
WHEN AUGUST ENDS Penelope Ward
A Standalone Contemporary Romance Novel
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Release date: February 25, 2019
What do you do when a sexy, older man moves into your family’s summer rental?
Well, apparently, you make a fool of yourself—over and over. Things didn’t exactly get off on the right foot with Noah Cavallari. Our first encounter was embarrassing, to say the least.
But despite that, I found myself waking up every day with a newfound energy. Nothing exciting ever happened on the lake—not until Noah moved into the small boathouse on our property. He’d booked it for the entire summer…and I was still trying to figure out why.
When my mother became ill, I inherited the responsibility of making sure our guests were well taken care of. I should have been in college. Instead, I was living my best life…as a maid.
Dark, handsome, and mysterious, everything about Noah screamed forbidden.
I knew he was just passing through town for the summer.
I knew he was probably too old for me.
Yet, I was drawn to him.
Not to mention, he tried to save my life when he mistakenly thought I was drowning.
I wanted him and made no secret of it.
His own attempts to warn me away soon gave way to late-night moonlight chats by the lake. We were slowly easing into a friendship that was gearing up to explode into something I might not recover from.
Because he’s leaving at the end of the summer.
Cover Information:
Cover Designer: Letitia Hasser, RBA Designs
Cover Model: Joseph Cannata
Cover Photography: Adam Zivo
Cover Photography: Adam Zivo
This book is a truly slow burn romance with good messages about living life to its fullest.
Heather Chadwick has lived at home in her family's lakehouse her whole life and due to circumstances takes care of everything as well as her mother. She is twenty, smart, mature, self sacrificing, and has a lot on her plate. But she is also a bit quirky with a good sense of humor.
Heather Chadwick has lived at home in her family's lakehouse her whole life and due to circumstances takes care of everything as well as her mother. She is twenty, smart, mature, self sacrificing, and has a lot on her plate. But she is also a bit quirky with a good sense of humor.
Noah Cavallari is spending the summer in their boathouse to get away. He is attractive, intense, and older than she is. But she is drawn to him from the beginning and not afraid to show it. However Noah is good at resisting temptation and protecting his reasons for being there.
He was afraid to spend too much time with her, but they spend the summer getting closer. They both find themselves smiling more and feeling alive. They are unexpected catalysts for change. But he has secrets and reasons to avoid getting too close, and he is only on vacation. And he knows her life is about to undergo plenty of changes. So there is this gray cloud over their head about what will happen once summer is over.
Can they find a way through their complications to build a future or are they destined to be a summer memory?
This is definitely a slow burn romance, but it really worked with the plot line. I liked that they developed a fun rapport and friendship more first. The book has more sexual tension than overt sex scenes. But there is plenty of push and pull, need, jealousy, guilt, and heartache to cause angst. It is emotional, humorous, heartfelt, and at times frustrating. Like many of Penelope's books there is a gradual unraveling of some of the secrets, and it has some twists and surprises.
They both have some issues to face and deal with both regarding the past and for the future. They are really in different places in their lives. So no matter how good something feels, they also have to face reality as well. I really liked them together despite their differences. The age difference did not bother me at all because she was over twenty and was mature, and he was not really that much older.
Despite it being a slow burn, I felt the connection building between them throughout, so the pacing of the book was fine. I liked getting both of their points of view especially Noah's since he first appeared so stoic and closed off. I was invested in them and trying to figure out how it would all play out in the end.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Heather Chadwick is tied to her family’s lake house in ways she never thought she would. Her mother’s illness changed her plans and now she can’t seem to remember when anything other than the house was her dream.
Noah Cavallari arrives for the summer and shifts Heather’s world. He is handsome in a way she hasn’t seen before and he’s older than she is. That’s not a problem for her, but he rebuffs her advances again and again. Despite that though, she finds a friendship and support in Noah that she hasn’t had in some time.
Noah is one of those mysterious characters that you know is hiding something but you can’t help but fall in love with anyway. He is older than Heather, has seen the world and is at the lake to reset himself mentally. We don’t know why, but early on it was clear that whatever reasons Noah had for being at the lake all summer were heavy and he held guilt over something.
Heather was a little on the flighty side for as much responsibility as she had for the house and the rental home. There were times I felt like she was more immature than someone in her situation would be. But she was also warm and caring and didn’t let her situation change her attitude.
While I found the chemistry between the characters hard to believe, I did enjoy the overall story and the last quarter of the book had me unable to stop reading. This was a smooth read with a May-December thread. The age difference was never an issue for me - both are fully adults. But I did get tired of their age difference being continually addressed and used as an excuse.
This is a slow burn. Each has a lot going on in their life and despite attraction, they know they need to sort their own baggage before they begin a relationship. Their slow build fit for them though, and kept me turning pages to learn more about them and their journey.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism. With over 1.5 million books sold, she is a twenty-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over twenty novels.
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