Review: The Last Summer

I’ve been reading Karen Swan’s novels for *checks files* er, a long, long time. I’ve always enjoyed them, some more than others, as they provide a lovely escape from reality and some solid armchair travel. When I heard she was writing a new historical fiction series I was intrigued but cautious. I was determined to give it a try, though, and wouldn’t you know it. I absolutely loved it. The Last Summer is the first in the series of five and I did not want to put it down.

Here's the book’s description:

When the residents of St Kilda ask to be evacuated from their remote island home in the summer of 1930, it’s in search of a better life on the mainland rather than the scratch existence on their mountain in the sea.
For 18-year old tomboy Effie Gillies, it’s a bittersweet departure. She’s the best young climber on the island, as skilled and brave as any of the men. But it is Effie’s expansive knowledge of local bird life that leads her to taking up a position as curator of Dumfries House’s ornithological collection - and back into the arms of Lord Dumfries’ son and heir, Sholto.
During her last summer on St Kilda, Effie had been Sholto’s guide, and their attraction had seemed irresistible but, in the glamorous polite society of Ayrshire, it is clear they are worlds apart. When a body is discovered on the island, soon after the evacuation, a scandal erupts as she is implicated. Sholto knows she’s keeping secrets – but are they even her own?

I can’t remember ever hearing about the island of St. Kilda which is sometimes the best kind of historical fiction to read. I was immediately intrigued and plan on learning more about it before the next book in the series is published. It was such an interesting time period to read about for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the story takes place in the years between two wars. The characters, of course, have no idea but the reader does. Second, the residents of St. Kilda weren’t living as their contemporaries who lived on the mainland of Scotland (can you call a country that’s part of an island “mainland”?).

There was also the interesting division between the island people, like Effie, and the people who lived at Lord Dumfries’ estate. Not only the class division but even the lifestyle division between Effie and the servants of the house. I was surprised at how frustrated I ended up being on Effie’s behalf because of how little the servants understood her position. They had never experienced St. Kilda and didn’t bother to try and look at things from Effie’s perspective and how difficult it would have been to leave everything she knew behind and start somewhere new that was entirely foreign to her. She was the one who had to adapt and adjust her behaviours, not them. And that bothered me! It definitely shows how talented Swan is when it comes to creating characters you really care about.

The Last Summer is a long book, clocking in at 400 pages, and I’m not entirely sure it needed to be quite that long. There was a lot of set up so I’ll be interested to see if book two is just as long or if Swan will be able to skip some parts. I’ll be a bit annoyed if I end up reading the exact same scenes, just from someone else’s perspective, over and over and over again. I want to see how other character experienced the evacuation, of course, but I sense there will be some unnecessary repetition. There were also some gaps left in this story that I understand would be intentional because that character’s story is coming but it was frustrating to only get part of the information I feel like I should have gotten in certain scenes.

I wouldn’t necessarily say this book compares to some of the great historical fiction stories out there (I’m thinking of the ones written by Genevieve Graham and Kate Quinn), but I was completely invested in the story. I would kind of describe it like…as if Swan wrote a story that just happened to take place in another time. Of course, the evacuation of the residents of St. Kilda is what set off this entire series and that most definitely took place in years past but this is, essentially, a fish out of water story with a dash of romance and murder.

The Last Summer will be a great read to pick up, well, this summer! Karen Swan’s latest is an intriguing start to a new historical fiction series that will keep you turning the pages. And hopefully you’ll be just as shocked as I was when you get to the last of those pages!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, Publishers Group Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Book Boyfriend

Book Boyfriend was my second read from Kris Ripper and it was just as enjoyable as the first one I read. It was fun and heartwarming! And, bonus, fabulously bookish.

Here’s the book’s description:

There are three things you need to know about Preston “PK” Kingsley:
1) He’s a writer, toiling in obscurity as an editorial assistant at a New York City publishing house.
2) He is not a cliché. No, really.
3) He’s been secretly in love with his best friend, Art, since they once drunkenly kissed in college.
When Art moves in with PK following a bad breakup, PK hopes this will be the moment when Art finally sees him as more than a friend. But Art seems to laugh off the very idea of them in a relationship, so PK returns to his writing roots—in fiction, he can say all the things he can’t say out loud.
In his book, PK can be the perfect boyfriend.
Before long, it seems like the whole world has a crush on the fictionalized version of him, including Art, who has no idea that the hot new book everyone's talking about is PK’s story. But when his brilliant plan to win Art over backfires, PK might lose not just his fantasy book boyfriend, but his best friend.

This friends-to-lovers romance has a lot of miscommunication in it which, normally, would drive me up the wall. But, for some reason, PK’s inability to say what he really feels to the object of his affection was…well, I won’t call it delightful but it was understandable. Of course he and Art should have discussed their drunken kiss years ago (it would have saved so much heartbreak) but they each had their reasons for not wanting to talk about it. Namely, they were both scared that the other didn’t share their romantic feelings. Who out there can’t understand that?

The miscommunication was kind of also part of PK’s charm, shall we say. He’s awkward AF, which his friends embrace. But they don’t really seem to understand that some of their comments about his lack of emotions are hurting him. Just because he has trouble expressing his feelings doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any. I was so happy to read as he stood up for himself and explained why he acted as he did. His charm and somewhat squirrelly nature makes this first person story seem to be a bit all over the place to read as he’s very stream of consciousness (not unlike my book reviews tend to be!) but it just meant that the story was very much PK’s and really helped me understand him as a character.

I was very firmly Team PK even when he was acting like a bit of a dink and didn’t understand how his actions would or could hurt Art. That was the very last thing he wants and it was hard for him to see how misguided some of his attempts were. Art was lovely and they were a fabulous character to get to know and see on the page. But PK was the star and it meant some side stories, like the issues with Art’s brother, were a bit…out of place. Even if they did help PK understand Art and the world around him a bit better.

Book Boyfriend was an incredible joy to read. Kris Ripper’s latest novel is fun and swoony and laugh out loud ridiculous. It’s full of characters who haven’t been seen in nearly enough romance novels. And, fellow book nerds, you’re going to love all the writing and publishing bits of the story!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, for the purposes of a bookstagram tour and an egalley was provided via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*