Release Day Review: "Dragonfly Summer" by Inglath Cooper

Synopsis:
When she realizes she's to blame for her nineteen-year-old daughter's disappearance, Keegan Monroe leaves behind a successful career in L.A. for a quieter life on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. Raised in the foster care system, Keegan had been determined that her children would live a different life. And so, while she fully met their physical needs, the best schools and a luxurious lifestyle, she hadn't been a daily presence in their lives the way she now knows she should have been. She doesn't intend to waste her son's last year of high school in the same way and determines that things will be different between them in spite of his obvious resentment of the move to Virginia.

Bowie Dare, an ex-FBI agent turned thriller writer, loves the life he’s made for himself and his dog Carson on Smith Mountain Lake. Years of seeing the evil underbelly of society led him to a point where he had to choose a different existence. He'd lost his wife in the process — she liked the old Bowie — the one who had been able to compartmentalize the bad stuff he saw and go on with life per normal.

When Keegan stops at Bowie's house to ask directions the night she arrives at the lake, they're both at a point of questioning their earlier choices and whether those choices had been worth the price. But in this chance encounter, they begin to realize that the puzzle pieces of life don't always make sense until we're a little further down the road. And you just never know when the real thing might come along.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

My Review:

Dragonfly Summer is so many things. It is hope. It is love. It is second chances, and starting over, and it is coming home. I was so excited when I saw that Dragonfly Summer, book 2 in the Smith Mountain Lake series, was coming out and author Inglath Cooper doesn't disappoint. I loved the sights and sounds of Smith Mountain Lake woven into Dragonfly Summer. I wouldn't say that Dragonfly Summer is a love story - its a LIFE story with everything that makes life a wonderful, messy, complicated, wonderful experience.

I really identified with Keegan. She is at the same point in her life that I am - children growing up and maturing and she is at a turning point in her life. I envy the courage she demonstrates to uproot her family to give them a better life. She is a former Hollywood actress, and from time to time, she is recognized for that, but she is incredibly down to earth. She is introspective and uses this new start to analyze her relationships with her children and what she can to create better relationships and resultingly better futures for her kids.

Bodie is also an introspective character. He is a loner that has also left his fast-paced life for the peace and solitude of Smith Mountain Lake. His career as an FBI agent has left him with haunted memories and he is tucking those memories away in the books he is now writing.

The author includes dramatic aspects of Bodie and Keegan's lives in the book, but this makes this book a realistic look at life - life is messy, and wonderful, and scary, and wonderful and Keegan and Bodie both experience the highs and lows of life in Dragonfly Summer and come out the other end happy with each other.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Links:
Goodreads • Amazon • Barnes and Noble • Kobo • iBooks

About the Author:

When asked to tell something about myself, I never know where to start! We’re all made up of so many different interests, beliefs and motivations. I love books, dogs, kind people, spending lots of time outdoors, juicing, making huge salads and fundraising for my local Humane Society.

You might like one of my books if:

• you like a good love story that makes you laugh and makes you cry.
• you like the main characters in your reading to be someone you wouldn’t mind being and someone you wouldn’t mind marrying.
• you like animals in your stories: dogs, cats, horses, cows.
• you like books for kindle, iPad and other ereaders.
• you like books by Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, Kristin Hannah or Barbara Samuel.
• you like to keep the rating at PG-13

I fell in love with reading as a little girl, devouring most of the books in my elementary school library. At some point, I decided I wanted to pursue a writing career, creating romance fiction that might provide the hours of entertainment and escape my favorite books have provided for me. I love character-driven books that leave me feeling as if I’ve really known these people and make me wish I didn’t have to turn the last page.

Romance fiction has always appealed to me because it deals with so many of the relationships in a woman’s life. Not only the love of her life, but often her relationship with her mother, sister or best friend. Romance authors have so much room to explore many of the meaningful moments and transitions in women’s lives. And who doesn’t love a good love story?

I most often write stories about love and life that are set in small Virginia towns like the one where I grew up. I like to think the flavor of my hometown shows up in my books both in their setting and through the characters who people it.

I was fortunate to have been chosen as a RITA® Award winner for best long contemporary romance novel given out by Romance Writers of America. My books are available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, itunes.com, and Kobobooks.com.

Outside of writing, I’m actively involved in dog rescue, working with The Franklin County Humane Society to place dogs and cats in need of rehoming. Helping an abused or neglected dog go on to have a wonderful life with a family who loves them is more rewarding than I can possibly say!

I wish you many hours of happy reading! If you haven’t already done so, please join my mailing list and you’ll receive a FREE copy of my book Good Guys Love Dogs!

Website: http://www.inglathcooper.com/

"Blue Wide Sky" by Inglath Cooper

Sixteen-year old Gabby Hayden wasn’t the kind of girl who gave a hoot about boys. She had a few real loves. Water-skiing, going out on Smith Mountain Lake with her dad and her dog. Anything else ranked a distant second. Until the summer she met smart, caring, gorgeous Sam Tatum and gave him her heart. It had been the most wonderful few months of her life, lazy days hanging out at the dock, skinny-dipping at midnight, staring up at the stars from the back of Sam’s truck. 
They are planning their future together when Sam’s father is transferred to South Africa. Devastated, Gabby and Sam promise to wait for each other during the two years before he returns for college. But lonely and angry, Sam makes a mistake that will change the course of both their lives.
Twenty years pass before an unexpected diagnosis brings Sam home to his parents’ house on the lake where he believes he can find peace and acceptance. What he finds, however, is the girl he once loved, now a woman unwilling to lose him again, a woman who will make him realize that both love and life are worth fighting for. 

My review:

Blue Wide Sky is like coming home again.  Having grown up in Roanoke, Virginia and spent a fair amount of time at Smith Mountain Lake myself, the descriptions the author provided of the lake, the boats, the docks, the animals, and the mountains made me feel like home.  She wonderfully captured the feel of the lake as we are introduced to Sam and Gabby - twenty odd years after they last saw each other. Blue Wide Sky is about a first love given a second chance, although Sam and Gabby both realize that, "there aren't many things you can go back to that are pretty much the same as they are in your memories". (said by Sam)

This book is written in "diary style", with the chapters varying between which person is first person.  It is mostly Sam's and Gabby's point of view, but from time to time, a secondary character has the primary voice in a chapter.  Adjusting to the various points of view takes a little time but it doesn't take away from the story.  

Blue Wide Sky takes us through Sam's return to Virginia after living overseas for all of his adulthood, and his reconnecting with Gabby, who has spent her life at Smith Mountain Lake.  Each of them has lived a lifetime since last they saw each other, and each has families and obligations that make the chances of a reunion tenuous at best. Both Gabby and Sam struggle with the anger of the loss of a first love, and the kindling of feelings they both thought were dead and buried.  Through their reconciliation, they each realize there is a hole in their heart that was never filled. Just when they begin to forge a new relationship together, tragedy strikes and tests the bounds of their love. As they navigate the struggles in its aftermath, and the implications to their families, they come to realize that their love truly is a "forever love", (warning, bring along some tissues for the trip to Smith Mountain Lake)

While this is just the first book in a series set at Smith Mountain Lake, the author includes an epilogue to help give closure to the readers until the next story is provided.  I, for one, will be waiting anxiously for my next trip back to Smith Mountain Lake!

Disclosure: I received an free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads - Amazon