Teasing A Summer of Secrets & A Winter's Wish by Alice Ross

So, Friday I had finished Alice Ross' An Autumn Affair and the next day I dove right into A Summer of Secrets. THAT I finished on the bus on my way in to work and dove right into A Winter's Wish! Before getting to the typical Tuesday tease for that, though, I need to oooh and aaah over A Summer of Secrets.

While I loved An Autumn Affair, I wasn't sure if I could handle another book with so much angst right away. There was absolutely no need for worrying, though, as A Summer of Secrets is just as glorious and oh-so-much lighter. Not that there aren't uncomfortable situations because there definitely are. I think this time, though, the characters felt more like neighbors than merely book characters -- in much the same way that I've always felt when watching Gilmore Girls. It's like Buttersley is just a British Stars Hollow. I care about the good, the bad and the ugly with its residents in the same way I care about everyone from the Gilmores themselves, to Sookie and Jackson, to Kirk and Michel (both of whom I always wanted more of a story for).

This week's Teaser Tuesday blurb is coming from a flashback scene in A Summer of Secrets when one of this installment's main couplings first encountered Buttersley:

"Teaser Tuesday" from Books and a Beat asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read. I know that technically I went for more than a line or two, but it's a great little blurb!
Rich, of course, was wrong about Buttersley. Well, mostly. Enough so that it would be a place I would gladly lay claim to myself, and enough so that it makes me break my typical rule about not reading a series back-to-back!

I've only just started A Winter's Wish and I'm already loving it. In fact, the first page made me spurt coffee so far that I have to share the whole dang thing for my Tuesday Intro. "First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is the first paragraph (or two) of a book being read now or in the future and is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea. I'm claiming this bending of the rules as totally okay because the 'paragraphs' are so short. And, besides, it's perfect.

Now, I don't really know much about Amelia yet but I do know the O'Donnell's since they've been at least in the peripheral of each book. I'm super-stoked that it looks like we're going to get to see more of them in this one (though I'm not super-stoked that the description indicates some stress ahead for them).

Of course, I have every intention of flying through this one just like I did the first two. And, of course, then I'll be awfully sad over a lack of Buttersley visits. I'm almost afraid to ask Ross if there will be more for fear that she'll say no. After all, we've only had Autumn, Summer and Winter. We at LEAST need Spring. Granted, once upon a time they said that Gilmore Girls was finished and now we've got A Year In The Life coming in just 17 days! Not that I'm counting or anything...


(I've also rambled at Goodreads!)

Rambling About.. An Autumn Affair by Alice Ross

I picked up this book because I had requested another of Ross' books on NetGalley without realizing that it was the third in a series. Of course, being me, I couldn't possibly read the third one first so I hopped onto Amazon and bought the first two. Let me tell you, I'm awfully glad that I did.

This is not one of those light-hearted chick lits full of laughs and obvious endings. At times it is, in fact, humorous (there's a bit almost towards the end about a frying pan that may very well keep me chortling for eons), but it's also messy and uncomfortable. Above all, it's gloriously real.

Title: An Autumn Affair
Author: Alice Ross
Publication: April 21st 2015 -- Carina UK
Amazon Description:

Autumn is coming. Anything could happen…
Julia is contemplating an affair with ex-boyfriend Max after a chance meeting in the cereal aisle of the supermarket…and finding that he’s just as gorgeous as ever.
Miranda has got it all: expensive clothes, a huge house and her enormously wealthy husband, Doug. So why does she feel as if something is missing?
Faye is fed up of being treated like a child – she’s a teenager, and knows what she wants! She’s determined to escape her sleepy life at Primrose Cottage…
Three women, each with two options, needing to make one choice. When it comes to affairs of the heart, nothing is ever simple!

A perfect, feel-good read about love, life and family.

First Lines:

In her car, outside Primrose Cottage, Julia Blakelaw sucked in a deep breath and willed her heart to slow. Its worrying pace had continued the four miles home from the supermarket. Hopefully, though, she didn't look as guilty as she felt.

Faves on 4s:
14% - She doubted they would miss her much if she was no longer there. In fact, she doubted if anyone would care, or indeed notice, if she was no longer there.

34% - Miranda balked. Oh my God. Is that how her daughter now saw her? As some kind of bling queen? Someone with too much money and crass taste? But then again, maybe that's exactly what she'd become.

54% - He closed the door and rested his head against it. He was being ridiculous. What on earth would a girl like Natalia see in him? And why did he want her to see anything in him?

64% - The leather shorts and skimpy top certainly made her stand out and, rather worryingly, appear much nearer to twenty-five than seventeen. But Miranda wasn't going to waste time worrying about Faye Blakelaw. The girl seemed more than capable of looking after herself.

84% - Because this time she meant business. Serious business. This latest fiasco with Faye had galvanised her determination to do something different; something exciting; something completely reckless and utterly outrageous.