Friday, August 19, 2016

That Summer

A fun book for all you art lovers out there!

Book Review
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Summary (Via Goodreads): 2009: When Julia Conley hears that she has inherited a house outside London from an unknown great-aunt, she assumes it's a joke. She hasn't been back to England since the car crash that killed her mother when she was six, an event she remembers only in her nightmares. But when she arrives at Herne Hill to sort through the house--with the help of her cousin Natasha and sexy antiques dealer Nicholas--bits of memory start coming back. And then she discovers a pre-Raphaelite painting, hidden behind the false back of an old wardrobe, and a window onto the house's shrouded history begins to open...

1849: Imogen Grantham has spent nearly a decade trapped in a loveless marriage to a much older man, Arthur. The one bright spot in her life is her step-daughter, Evie, a high-spirited sixteen year old who is the closest thing to a child Imogen hopes to have. But everything changes when three young painters come to see Arthur's collection of medieval artifacts, including Gavin Thorne, a quiet man with the unsettling ability to read Imogen better than anyone ever has. When Arthur hires Gavin to paint her portrait, none of them can guess what the hands of fate have set in motion.

From modern-day England to the early days of the Preraphaelite movement, Lauren Willig's That Summer takes readers on an un-put-downable journey through a mysterious old house, a hidden love affair, and one woman's search for the truth about her past--and herself.

Preraphaelite
The Lady of Shalott - John William Waterhouse The epitome of the prerephaelite style.

Review (4/5 stars): Once I was able to get past the narrator's voice in the audio version of this book I was finally able to really enjoy it.

The narrator managed to make everyone seem incredibly prissy, uptight, and rude with the one American character's accent suddenly and joltingly crashing into the storyline from time to time. I almost walked away from the book just because of this at first but I knew the premise was good so I persevered.

And I'm glad I did because in the end it was a wonderfully written book. The story had a little romance and adventure mixed with a little intrigue and mystery.

The lead character did seem fairly immature at times, and the characters of her cousins could have been rounded out a little better but this can be forgiven due to the fact that the characters and storyline from the 1840's is so vivid.

I would recommend reading the hard copy rather than listening to the audio version, but if you enjoy historical romance/mystery then I think you would enjoy this book.

Which Preraphaelite Painter are you?
Click here to take the quiz!

What's your favourite era of painting?  Would you like to have portrait of yourself hanging somewhere?  Leave a comment below!

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