The Summer Hideaway (The Lakeshore Chronicles)

ALTHOUGH SUSAN'S BOOK CAN STAND ALONE, READING THE SERIES IN CORRECT SEQUENCE IS A TREAT. SHE FULLY PULLS YOU IN AND YOU FEEL LIKE YOU KNOW THE CHARACTERS. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS SERIES TO ANYONE WANTING A TRULY SATISFYING READ.
PATRICIA MOODY

I am really enjoying this book. The whole series has been a ride. Susan Wiggs paints such detailed stories you think you could really book a stay in Avalon at Camp Kioga! the characters are so rich and the story is so engrossing, very hard to put down.

I am really enjoying this book. The whole series has been a ride. Susan Wiggs paints such detailed stories you think you could really book a stay in Avalon at Camp Kioga! the characters are so rich and the story is so engrossing, very hard to put down.

I had originally purchased this book in print, but in true fashion my Great Dane ate it. So I figured I'd try online. It was fast and easy and I didn't have to leave my couch. I loved the book. Great story!

This opens with Ross Bellamy, a young helicopter pilot in the army just rounding up his tour of duty in Afghanistan. He comes home to learn that his beloved grandfather George Bellamy, a retired journalist and the closest thing to a father he has ever known, is terminally ill with brain cancer.
George has opted to stop all treatment, live his last few months doing whatever he wants and dying in his place of choice, Willow Lake's Camp Kioga, a place with much meaning in his life. He also wants to see his grandson Ross settle down with the right woman and he thinks his hired nurse would fit the bill nicely. So he has an agenda for Ross's future and a bucket list of his own, things to settle up before his time comes.

The nurse accompanying him to Willow Lake is Claire Turner, a professional in assisting those at the end of their lives get through what is to come. Claire has secrets of her own. She is a young woman in hiding from a murderer, a police officer whom she saw slay two young boys when she was a foster child in his home. As a teen she took a new identity and for years she has moved around and lived all her life ready to run. Now she finds herself yearning for normalcy and a chance at family life. The Bellamy men capture her heart as she learns more about the ties that bind in familial love.

Predictable, yes, as some have mentioned, but presented in a captivating tale of the past and the present, which is a favorite format for me as a reader. Ms. Wiggs has done an excellent job of providing us just the right pace to keep us wanting to learn more, and her descriptive prose makes us want to be there at Willow Lake. It sounds so peaceful and beautiful, just like the cover. We laugh, we cry, we feel. What more can you ask for?

Wiggs brings love, loss, and rejuvenation to the forefront in this enchanting tale. To say that this novel was unique is an understatement. Wiggs return to Camp Kioga melds emotion with beautiful scenery in a story that I won’t soon forget.

Wiggs’ characters come to life in the most unique, yet absolutely human, of ways. The look back at George’s life was both inspiring and heartbreaking. The way in which Wiggs melded the past with the present was absolutely unforgettable. The contrast between what was and what is was breathtaking. The stories of the main characters also really drew me in. Claire’s past is so unimaginable yet Wiggs develops it in such a manner that I could easily picture living through it. I got a kick of watching Ross try and unravel the different threads of what was going on. At the same time, I loved how the story was about so much more than simply two people falling in love. Life, as a whole, was a major component in this tale.

Once again Wiggs has created a novel full of life, love, and everything that goes with it. The one of a kind plot captured my attention, while the characters kept me coming back time and time again.