Boardwalk Summer
By Kimberly Fisk
ISBN13: 9780425235157
Author’s website: http://www.kimberlyfisk.net/
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jerjen
Synopsis:
In the town of Tranquility Bay, summer is the season of second chances…
Single mother Hope Thompson has built a happy life for herself and her twins in beautiful Tranquility Bay, Washington. She doesn t dwell on her painful past especially not on the man who broke her heart all those years ago. But when Hope s beloved son needs help, she takes a desperate chance and reaches out to her children s father.
Nick Fortune lives life in the spotlight as a champion race car driver. He s shocked to hear from Hope and even more surprised to learn that he’s a father. He immediately heads to the Pacific Northwest to confront the past and the woman he once loved.
There, on the quiet lakeshore, Nick and Hope must work together to save their son even if it means facing their complicated past for a second chance as a family.”
Review:
Hope Thompson is a single mom, raising her teenaged twins in Tranquility Bay. She has her children, she has a best friend and she even has a potential love interest, she is happy with her life.
Until her son is diagnosed with leukemia, and then everything changes. After having exhausted all other courses of treatment, it is determined that a bone marrow transplant is needed. The best chance of a match is a family member, but when her and her daughter are not matches, Hope has to turn to the two people she never wanted to see again: her mother and the twin’s father.
She has never had a good relationship with her mother and she has not seen her in sixteen years. Her mother is unloving, uncaring and only worries about herself. Her mother never really cared about her, and when Hope got pregnant as a teenager, her mother sent her away. Now Hope has to find a way to get her mother to agree with being tested, to help out her grandson.
At one time, Nick Fortune was the most important person in Hope’s life. When they were teenagers, they were in love and had their whole life planned out, being together and raising a family. But life got in the way, and instead, Nick went on to become a famous race car driver, which was also another dream of his. And Hope was left to raise their twins on her own, with no help from Nick. She tried to get a hold of him to let him know she was pregnant but could never get in touch with him. Now Hope has to tell Nick the truth and pray that he is a match.
The characters are well rounded, well developed and three dimensional. Hope is a loving and caring person who will do anything for her children. They are her whole life. Nick is a good decent guy and he has not let fame get to his head. When they first reconnect after being apart for so long, Hope is worried and scared that Nick is going to completely destroy what is left of her family. Nick is angry that Hope has kept her pregnancy (and his children) from him. They have a lot of work to do to mend their relationship. The characters both have a lot of things to work through and growing to do but if they do it together they just might find their happily-ever-after. The secondary characters (Hope’s children and her best friend) added a lot to the story and I enjoyed getting to know them all better.
This book is such an emotionally charged story. You will laugh, you will cry, you will feel despair and you will feel hope. As a reader I could not help but be drawn into the story and wanting to find out how the whole drama was going to unfold and end. I feel like it takes a special author to get all of those feelings and emotions out of the reader in just one book. I also feel like it takes a special author to take such a heartbreaking topic and write about it in a realistic heart warming way.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted women’s contemporary. I really like the author’s writing style and I cannot wait to see what else she has written. Do yourself a favor and give this book a try, but be sure you have tissues close at hand.
