Book Review: Summer Ever After By Mandy Baggot

Finally divorced from her husband, Faye feels that her life is becoming beautiful. She loves her daughter, and her home and job managing the Hotel Margaritári in Corfu. When basketball player, and local hero, Kostas arrives on the island, Faye’s world will be turned upside down. Can Faye keep hold of her happiness or will her visitor destroy it? 

Everything about this book screams summer, sun and bright, warm evenings. Even the cover immediately makes me smile and feel lighter. I couldn’t wait to get cracking on the latest novel by Mandy Baggot and was grateful to be invited onto the blog tour for Summer Ever After.

From page one, I felt as though I was in Corfu with Faye basking in the Greek sunshine. For a while, it allowed me to escape, and the story kept me enthralled until the end. The way the author describes the hotel, the surrounding area and the people, you can tell that she has a love for the place. It shines through and the story is all the better for it. I was completely invested in Faye and Kosta’s story, and I wanted it all to be OK in the end. 

Faye is wonderful. She’s a confident, strong woman who takes charge of who she is and what she wants. She’s certainly not going to apologise for it. She’s a great role model for women in their forties, like me, who may be lacking the courage to be everything they are.

Kostas is complicated and as the story evolved and I got to know him better… well, I am hoping you find out for yourselves what I mean. I feel he was someone who was forced to grow up fast and there is a bitterness attached to that. His world view has been shaped a certain way, and it was interesting to see this being explored. 

The other characters are a wonderful mix of fun and big personalities. I found Dimitria to be a grounding and supportive force and Katerina was brilliantly funny. I even didn’t dislike Matthew by the end. Poor Saffron. I wanted to hug her. Kyriaki is also someone I can relate to. A treehouse and no visitors sounds good. Haha.

Themes in this book include finding love, generational guilt and anger and navigating life post-divorce. It’s presented in a captivating and believable way. 

Summer Ever After is a book full of warmth, humour, forgiveness, human connection and love. It’s a great excuse to curl up in the sunshine and discover a story of romance set against the stunning Island of Corfu. What’s not to love? I hope it’s not the last we see of Faye and Kostas.

(Thank you to Boldwood Books, Netgalley and Rachel’s Random Resources for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.)