Enjoyable read with well written characters and a lot of drama. I read this during a book hangover, after a complex fantasy series, and it was just what I needed.
Recommend! ( )

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. ( )

Reviewed by Robin
ebook provided by Wild Rose Press

Before you read this book you may want to have a box of tissues handy as they may be needed.

Art teacher Summer Quinn has gone through an awful lot in her life. Raised by her father, her mother left them while she was young; she now has to deal with her past.

Summer having just lost her father to cancer is now on her own. All her life she has relied on her friends to get her through any situation that arises. And as good friends they coddle her and help her to survive.

Summer was teased as a young child because she had no mother. Her two best friends Rick and Ian were always there for her. Later on in High School when a new girl moves to town she decides not to like her at first because Summer felt she was going to take Ian and Rick away from her. But, Dee stands up for her on Prom night and the four become the best of friends.

Now, Rick and Dee are married and Summer couldn’t be happier for them.

On the anniversary of her father’s death, Sharon, Summer’s mother shows up and lets her know that the house she thought was hers is really Sharon’s.

Summer runs to her boyfriend Matt who declares his love for her. Confused yet? There is more.

Ian has always been in love with Summer and just has never gotten around to declaring his love. Is it too late? Summer has strong feelings for Ian but doesn’t know what they are.

Planning to make love to Matt one night she sees a picture of her father, mother and herself from a summer long ago. Running scared she runs home and into the arms of Ian. Making love is wonderful but confuses her even more.

She tells Matt who gives her the ring that he was going to propose with giving her two weeks to make a decision. And a very long two weeks this turns into.

There is so much that goes on and happens that you won’t want to put this done until you get to the last page.

Ms. Moran shows us that even though friends have good intentions sometimes they shield us from things too much. Throughout this story we are with Summer going through every issue that faces us every day. We have to deal with an estranged relationship with a mother, the loss of a father, the love of a best friend that goes from friendship to love, and the realization that you have been selfish your whole life. Letting others deal with everything and never really listening to them as friends. Somehow you find yourself and learn to deal with things on your own.

This is a story that has heart. An emotional journey that is very funny, engaging and full of charm. A story that makes you laugh, love and cry. In the course of the story you just might realize some things about yourself. ( )

This should be more like 3.5 instead of 3 stars. This should be a 3.5 rating. It seemed too ambitious to me. There were several main characters with their own thoughts and feelings but there were also flashbacks to the earlier years of the main character, Summer. The part that I liked the most was the story of young Summer and experience of being without a mother while she grew up. There were some tender moments between Summer and her father in this book. I would have preferred for Kelly Moran to take that story and develop it more. My father grew up without his father. His father left when he was a little boy and he had always wanted to know what having a father would be like. For me, that is a big story.
Another suggestion that I have is to read the story out loud and see how the language flows. I am not a writer but a reader and sometimes when I read something very beautiful, I have the need to stop and read it out loud to treasure the words more. I think by doing that more grace and beauty would come naturally with the story.
To sum it up, I think for an initial book, the story would gain by being simpler and the technique of reading it out loud would help improve the flow of the book.
My recommendation is for the author to keep on writing and try those two tips. ( )