In The Summer Time by Judy Astley

It's twenty years since Miranda, then sixteen, holidayed in Cornwall and her life changed for ever. Now she's back again - with her mother, Clare, and the ashes of her stepfather, Jack, whose wish was to be scattered on the sea overlooked by their one-time holiday home. The picturesque cove seems just the same as ever, but the people are different - more smart incomers, fewer locals, more luxury yachts in the harbour. But Miranda and Clare both find some strangely familiar faces, and experience the emotions they both thought had disappeared.


In the Summertime is the first Judy Astley book I've read, although I have heard of this author before I have never picked one up but I do love to try new authors so I was looking forward to trying In The Summer Time.

Our main character is Miranda who is a single mother, returning to her roots in Cornwall on holiday but this isn’t just a family holiday, it is also the place where they will be scattering her stepfathers Ashes. During her stay in Cornwall, her past creeps up on her when she reconnects with her friends and also her ex lover Steve. Could changes lay ahead for Miranda.

I never knew until I mentioned to a client of mine that I was reading In The Summer Time that this is actually a sequel to Just for Summer, although this is a sequel I had no trouble what so ever reading this book and getting to know the characters so this can be read as a stand alone book, you don’t feel like you are missing something at any point during the book. I can only assume that we would have known more about an incident that happened to Miranda and also about the previous relationship that Miranda and Steve had.

The cover of this book gives a true summery feel and luckily the storyline is a very Summer friendly feel to. It is a very light, breezy read that you can easily pick up and put down making it an ideal holiday read. The author has a brilliant writing style especially in setting the perfect scene. She describes the setting so well that you feel as though you have visited the same places because they feel so life like. I loved how both the storyline and the characters were very realistic and I even liked the characters of Bo and Silva who are Miranda's children, which is a rarity for me as I do find younger characters are often not written very well but this wasn’t the case here.

I really enjoyed this book there was no big shocking twists or big dramas but I think that was what made this book work it was just a very gentle, warm enjoyable read and I will be sure to read another book by Judy Astley.

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