I really enjoyed this book. The characters are so well written and so well rounded. I love when a story is mostly character based, especially when the characters are so interesting and loveably.

Gwen and Hal get married, both of their spouses have died within the past few years and neither expected to fall in love so suddenly.

They each have grown children, Gwen has Jack and Holly. Hal has Phoebe, Ian and Amy.
Each year Hal takes his family to a summer place by the lake. This year, of course, he takes Gwen and they encourage her children Jack and Holly to come too.

Every person on Hal's side is very used to their place in the family and how things should be done (for them, things should be done the way they're always done). Phoebe is the oldest and feels very untethered since losing her mom and is holding tight to being the oldest sister. Meanwhile, Amy is the youngest. She's a world famous Olympic athlete but in her family she feels like an afterthought.

Gwen's kids are easy going. Jack is very loveable and he just wants his mom to be happy.

When Jack and Amy start to fall for each other, Jack knows his mom doesn't approve of them starting a relationship right now when this new family is still forming. Jack and Amy have to deal with their own feelings, while trying to figure out if everyone can be happy. ( )

I liked parts of this book but there were just as many I didn't like. The main characters of the book are for the most part very unemotional. Their internal and external dialogue is very straight forward and lacking in nearly any feeling. I also didn't enjoy the family tension parts of the story. It just reminded me of why I don't enjoy family gatherings in general. I really liked the lake setting and the idea of a family that spends it's summers at a lake. Ultimately there wasn't enough depth to the characters in order for me to connect with them. ( )

SUMMER'S END by Kathleen Gilles Seidel is a contemporary read.A family affair indeed.When Jack Wells' mom marries Amy Legend's Dad the family is invited to spend the summer at the Legend's family retreat in Northern Minnesota. What occurs is an
expected affection between Amy and Jack.They agree to wait until summer's end to deepen their growing feelings and their passion. This story weaves family drama of two conflicting families together to make one family through marriage. While one family lost a mother the other lost a father,together they gain both a new mother and a new father.
There is grief,squabling with step siblings,bonding of two families and the transformation of these two families into one family by summer's end. A great summer read full of family drama,passion and step squabling.Any contemporary fan will enjoy this quick read.This book was received for the purpose of review from the publisher and details can be found at William Morrow,an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers and My Book Addiction Reviews. ( )

http://grerp.blog-city.com/summers_end_1.htm ( )

I love this book. It is a particularly light drenched romance. It's more about families reconnecting than a couple, but the central couple is charming and interesting and you want to spend more time with them. A keeper I reread often. I give it only 4.5 stars, because the central romance could have had a bit more attention (meaning I want a longer book, not anything else cut out!) but otherwise a gem. ( )