Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Time Warner
Release Date: August 2004
ISBN: 0-446-53154-5
Awards:
Format Reviewed: SoftCover Paperback
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Genre: Fiction / General (Romance of the very nicest form)
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Reviewer Notes: a very charming, non-violent, soft language, true heart romance. Older Teen to Adult. Most age groups can and should relate to and enjoy this book
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Shenandoah Summer
By John Jaffe

     This was a charming old-fashioned romance of the kind of loving relationship every girl dreams about and hopes to find: someone who will love her without reservation or consideration of consequences. A warm and fuzzy kind of book.

     Alyssa is a married, upwardly mobile ex-actress who puts forth all of her happy energies into a charming little house and some gone by the wayside retired horses. That is during the summers and weekends; during the rest of the time, she is a drama teacher in another town and somewhat unhappy housewife living a lie. She has this kitschy little farm plot of acreage that is near an artist’s colony, and she gets involved with this colony each summer. Her marriage is spiked with tragedy that brought her to depths of depression that her husband could not ever understand and didn’t really want to, thus a wedge was put between them that will never go away. He hides from her; she goes to the farm and immerses herself into the summer follies.

     In comes Tug, a fascinating, talented artist, sort of NY bred and old guard and sort of funky, but very, oh-so handsome in a rugged out west way. He has been the guy afraid to commit, the one that always leaves the gal before the going gets too sticky for him to pull away. He needs to learn to draw, to fall, and to give of himself.

     A twist, a turn and an almost heart-rending ending. A great little book that comes along just when no one thinks there is another way to write a love story. Made me reflect back to the same type of romance as Bridges of Madison County, however this story takes place in present perspective. My heart sang, my hopes were rekindled; my desires for a man of that ability and a writer of that passion who could see through the eyes of someone waiting were all given wing.

     Truly a wonderful book. A joy to read. The author has a special insight into the needs of a woman, so it could be termed a Chick-Lit book, but it is more than that. It is what the inside of a woman wants.