Summer Romance

Annabel Monaghan has done it again. I was enamored with her first two novels Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer, and I am just--if not more--obsessed with her latest book, Summer Romance.

Summer Romance centers on a recent divorcee and her... summer romance! Protagonist Ali decides to have a fling with a handsome guy she meets at the dog park. She's been grieving the loss of her mother who passed away two years ago, and trying to move on from her marriage which dissolved soon thereafter. Summer Romance tackles big topics like grief and parenting in a digestible, light-hearted way. The novel is deliciously romantic as well as comedic. I literally laughed out loud several times while reading. And Monaghan snuck in some sage child-rearing and general life advice, as well. I don't often dog-ear fiction books, but I always do with Monaghan's novels.

I didn't want Summer Romance to end. I even devoured the Author's Note and the "conversation with Annabel Monaghan" in the back pages, which were illuminating and wise.

Now, I wait with bated breath for Monaghan's next novel, due next summer...

Superfan, AES