The Summer Trip by Isabelle Broom | Book Review | #TheSummerTrip

MY THOUGHTS

Now single, estranged from her family, and preparing to wave her daughter off to university, Ava’s life seems a million miles away from the one she dreamed about as a teenager – a life now being lived by her sister instead.Eighteen years before, Ava Fox fell in love with a local boy in Corfu. However circumstances forced her return to Brighton where marriage and family life followed. Now single again, Ava and her 17 year old daughter Rosie find themselves unexpectedly returning to Corfu and Ava has to confront her past and emotions all over again. To say it wasn’t the holiday she was expecting is an understatement!What if your life worked out perfectly . . . for someone else?I was completely swept away by the descriptions of the location around Kalami and found myself wanting to spend the evening at the family taverna, eating and drinking or just generally soaking up the atmosphere. I’ve been to Corfu and could easily get a sense of place. With an emotive storyline involving unresolved heartache and long held secrets and desires, there were plenty of surprises revealed along the way, together with a few home truths. The Summer Trip is a lovely uplifting read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Perfect for a summer read, or at any time really.

Isabelle Broom was born in Cambridge nine days before the 1980s began and studied Media Arts in London before a 12-year stint at heat, the UK”s top celebrity magazine. Always happiest when she’s off on an adventure, Isabelle travels all over the world seeking out settings for her escapist fiction novels. Currently based in Suffolk, where she shares a home with two dogs and approximately 467 spiders, Isabelle fits her writing around a busy freelance career and tries her best not to be crushed to oblivion under her ever-growing pile of to-be-read books.
The Summer Trip is one of those stories that combine a gorgeous location with much family drama and angst. There are a myriad of characters – some I took to my heart, others I found frustrating and there was one that I disliked with a passion. Whatever their flaws and complexities, they are all so well drawn and all have their own part to play. In the main, the story focuses around Ava and the relationships with her family and in particular her daughter Rosie. Nearly 18, Rosie is striving for independence, wants to make her own decisions, and is no longer always the smiley compliant daughter that Ava is used to, causing conflict between the two. I did like Ava, she had made Rosie her life however facing the prospect of an empty nest makes her contemplate her own life and hopes for the future. The story is told by a dual timeline of the present day in Ava’s first person voice with some chapters going back nineteen years earlier from her third person perspective where the full story of Ava’a young romance is gradually revealed. This aspect of the story was so tenderly written and kept me guessing as to the reason why Ava’s romance fell apart.
It’s been 18 years since Ava spent the summer on the Greek island of Corfu, but she has never forgotten what happened during those months – or who she left behind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My thanks to Jenny of Hodder & Stoughton for the tour invite and for providing a copy to review. If you fancy an armchair trip to sunny Corfu, then this is the ideal book.

When Ava decides to return to Corfu for the summer, she knows she must finally face the place and the people that broke her heart. But with old resentments festering, long-buried secrets lurking, and familiar feelings resurfacing, it looks set to be a holiday that will change all their lives forever. . .