Summer of Roses

May 30, 2005
The New York Times bestselling author of Dance With Me and Beach Girls revisits characters from Summer's Child in this examination of the emotional fallout of battered woman syndrome. When Mara Jameson thinks about her wedding, she painfully and vividly recalls her betrothed, Edward Hunter, the Harvard rugby player with a "blank yet somehow charged" stare. Mara ran away after Edward began abusing her and shortly before she had her daughter, Rose. Now, nine years later, Mara's living as Lily Malone in an isolated cottage near Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, with Liam Neill, a member of the village's pre-eminent family. When Mara-cum-Lily learns Maeve Jameson, her grandmother, is comatose after suffering an undiagnosed "neurological event," she, believing Edward was involved, comes out of hiding to try to save her. Edward, ever the epitome of evil, soon hears the news of Lily's return and welcomes her back with an incendiary custody battle. Back in Cape Hawk, Lily's best friend Marisa, also a battered wife, longs to be reunited with her estranged sister in the Fallen Angels, their college fiddle and song duo. Prolific romance novelist Rice handles the complex plot with aplomb so all her likable characters win in the end and Edward, naturally, gets his comeuppance.

July 11, 2005
The New York Times bestselling author of Dance With Me and Beach Girls revisits characters from Summer's Child in this examination of the emotional fallout of battered woman syndrome. When Mara Jameson thinks about her wedding, she painfully and vividly recalls her betrothed, Edward Hunter, the Harvard rugby player with a "blank yet somehow charged" stare. Mara ran away after Edward began abusing her and shortly before she had her daughter, Rose. Now, nine years later, Mara's living as Lily Malone in an isolated cottage near Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, with Liam Neill, a member of the village's pre-eminent family. When Mara-cum-Lily learns Maeve Jameson, her grandmother, is comatose after suffering an undiagnosed "neurological event," she, believing Edward was involved, comes out of hiding to try to save her. Edward, ever the epitome of evil, soon hears the news of Lily's return and welcomes her back with an incendiary custody battle. Back in Cape Hawk, Lily's best friend Marisa, also a battered wife, longs to be reunited with her estranged sister in the Fallen Angels, their college fiddle and song duo. Prolific romance novelist Rice handles the complex plot with aplomb so all her likable characters win in the end and Edward, naturally, gets his comeuppance.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2005
Rice continues the compelling story she started in " Summer's Child" (2005). Lily and her nine-year-old daughter, Rose, have survived by hiding from her husband in Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, where she found true love with oceanographer Liam Neill. Now Rose has had her final surgery for her heart and is on the mend, but Lily must travel to Connecticut to care for Maeve, her beloved grandmother, who is in the hospital in a coma. There Lily must confront the brute who drove her away from her beloved home. She finds unexpected support from those she abandoned years ago and takes strength from her resilient daughter and loyal Liam. Rice gives her readers an in-depth look at the devastation abuse causes to both the primary victim and her loved ones while simultaneously illuminating the healing that comes from love and loving relationships.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)