Title:The Light in Summer
Author:Mary McNear
Series:Butternut Lake, #5
Published:June 2017, William Morrow Paperbacks
Format:ARC Paperback, 366 pages
Source:Publisher via TLC Book Tours
New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author Mary McNear brings you home to Butternut Lake and a novel filled
with irresistible characters who you will want to call your friends.It’s
summertime on Butternut Lake, where the heat of noon is soothed by the
cool breezes of the evening, where the pace grows slower, and sometimes,
just sometimes, the summer light makes everything clearer…For
the lovely Billy Harper, Butternut Lake is the place she feels most at
home, even though lately she feels the only one listening to her is
Murphy…her faithful Labrador Retriever. Her teenage son, Luke, has
gone from precious to precocious practically overnight. Her friends are
wrapped up in their own lives, and Luke’s father, Wesley, disappeared
before his son was even born. No wonder she prefers to spend time with a
good book, especially ones where everything ends in perfection.But
Billy is about to learn that anything is possible during the heady days
of summer. Coming to terms with her past—the death of her father, the
arrival of Cal Cooper, a complicated man with a definite interest in
Billy, even the return of Wesley, will force her to have a little bit of
faith in herself and others…and realize that happiness doesn’t always
mean perfection.“Butternut Lake is so beautifully rendered, you’ll wish it was real.”—Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“This triumphant story had me reading until the wee hours of the morning.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber on The Space Between Sisters
My thoughts:I just adore Mary McNear’s Butternut Lake series…it’s such an enjoyable, light series to read. I know when I pick up one of these books, not only am I going to read about a fun romance or two, but I’m going to read about characters that have real, life-like problems. It’s not all fluff and fairy-tale like, but at the same time, it’s not all weighed-down heaviness either.
This book was great – it’s sort of a mix of book-nerdiess with a touch a romance and a good dose of real-life thrown in. Billy, the female main character – which takes a bit of getting used to the fact that this is a she! – is a librarian and has a thing for her Jane Austen books. I loved this!!! I loved that she would sit with her Jane Austen collection at night to decompress. She’s a single parent raising a boy on the cusp of the teen years – who is just on the verge of going down the wrong path…and suddenly wants to know who his father is right this second!
I loved that not only do we get Billy’s perspective in this book, but we also get Luke’s, Billy’s son. Hearing his take on things really helped to see where his head was in all this. And boy were there some tender moments at times – my heart really did break for him! And we also get Cal’s perpective – who naturally is the guy who comes into Billy’s life. I loved the way Billy and Cal’s romance took it’s time developing. It wasn’t fast by any means and had quite a few obstacles to overcome, but it was one of the sweetest journeys I’ve read in a while.
One of my favorite relationships, though, in this book was that between Billy and a patron in the library – little Mara. She is a bookworm for sure – a girl after my own heart! She would come into the library and check out a ton of books each time – but my favorite was right before she was headed to go see her grandparents – she was checking out quite a few books, afraid that she wouldn’t have enough to get her through the week. Oh how I loved this and could totally see me doing this!!!
This book was such a great installment in an already good series and I hope there are more to come. What I love about this series is that you really don’t have to read these books in order – the stories really do stand on their own. So, do yourself a favor and pick one up today – you won’t regret it!!!
Books in this series:
2.5 Butternut Lake: The Night Before Christmas
3. Moonlight on Butternut Lake
5. The Light in Summer
About the Author: Mary McNear, New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author of the Butternut Lake series, writes in a local doughnut shop,
where she sips Diet Pepsi, observes the hubbub of neighborhood life, and
tries to resist the constant temptation of freshly made doughnuts. Mary
bases her novels on a lifetime of summers spent in a small town on a
lake in the northern Midwest.
Author Links: Facebook
Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Be sure to check out all the other stops on the blog tour and follow the tour on Twitter (hashtags: #TLCBookTours & #TheLightInSummer).
The series is new to me so I enjoyed the update.
I've been wanting to read the Butternut Lake series for a while now, and this latest addition reminds me that I really do need to make the time to do it. I'm clearly missing out!
Thanks for being a part of the tour.