Book Review: California Summer by Anita Hughes
California Summer by Anita Hughes
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: June 19, 2018
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Anita Hughes’s California Summer is a charming and beautiful love story about a former Hollywood producer who trades her cast list in for cookbooks in the hopes of following her dreams and finding new love.
Ben and Rosie are Hollywood’s newest director/producer dream team. After hitting it big at Sundance, it seems that their ten years of love and hard work are finally paying off. Rosie is happy making independent films, but Ben wants the A-List celebrity package: a house in Beverly Hills, fancy cars in the driveway, and his name on the biggest blockbusters. He’s willing to do anything, even sleep with the most famous producer in town, to get them.
Rosie is devastated by Ben’s affair, and she decides to take a break from show business. She accepts her best friend’s invitation to spend the summer at her parents’ estate in Montecito. It’s far away from L.A., the perfect place to start over.
In Montecito, Rosie meets a colorful cast of characters including Rachel, who owns a chocolate shop, and Josh, a handsome local who splits his time between surfing and classic cars. Suddenly Rosie has new friends and a new purpose. She starts a business in the village, and her luck seems to be turning around. But Rosie knows all too well that success comes with a price, and the price might be losing love…again.
California Summer is a touching and romantic story about following your dreams but not letting them get in the way of love.
Ben and Rosie have been together for ten years. They live together and work together in the film industry. They are so close they can finish each other’s sentences. Their life together is basically perfect. Until it isn’t. Ben has always had more ambition than Rosie. Amazed at the success they’ve had so far, Rosie is content producing the film they are currently working on. Ben, however, wants more. He is determined to be the biggest director in Hollywood and will do anything to get there – including betraying Rosie.
After learning of Ben’s betrayal, Rosie decides to spend the summer in Montecito at her friend’s parents’ guest house, to mourn and to decide what to do now. Once there, she forms a circle of friends who offer her support and advice.
Rosie was such a doormat! I wanted to shake her and tell her to have some respect for herself. She lets people, especially men, walk all over her. This book is a pretty basic romance with simple writing and the typical tropes and characters. There’s the gay best friend, the guy who’s been burned and sworn off relationships, etc. Even so, I enjoyed reading California Summer. It’s definitely a light beach read and I think romance fans will like it.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
