NEW RELEASE
Seven Days One Summer - Kate Morris (2011)
When Jen gets a phone call from her good friend and one-time lover Sam, inviting her and her family to a villa in Italy for a week, Jen is intrigued by the offer. With a husband, Marcus, who is always working and her seven-year-old son Alfie who sleeps in their bed with them, the offer of a week away is very appealing. Sam has filled the villa with his closest friends who all come with their own baggage. With tensions running high in the Italian heat, what will seven days in the sun lead to...? Written from Jen's perspective, in a quite matter-of-fact style, you don't instantly warm to her. Yet the story is intriguing as you want to know more about the other characters and how they're going to cope together in the villa. Set amongst the beautiful backdrop of an Italian villa, with the writing transporting you there, it is an easy holiday or lazy day read. But all in all a little underwhelming. (AB)
Seven Days One Summer, by UK journalist Kate Morris, is about eight old friends who reunite for a week in the sun. The summary says: "When her old flame Sam rings up one day and invites her on a villa holiday in Italy, Jen is completely thrown off balance. Sam, as she cannot help but recall, was the best kiss of her life. With her husband Marcus constantly travelling the world for work, and seven-year-old Alfie still in the marital bed, the joys of marriage and motherhood are thin on the ground for Jen these days. What could be more appealing than being with old friends and recapturing a little bit of their youth? Two months later, Jen and Marcus arrive at the stunning Villa La Silerchie. There to greet them are Jen's best friend Tara and her new husband Dave, a struggling writer; there's also vain, neurotic Miranda and her fiance Toby; Jack, a handsome and successful actor, recently separated; and Sam - funny, laid-back, sexy Sam. Everything's set for the holiday of a lifetime; but as the week progresses, and tensions rise in the August heat, relationships unravel, old rivalries re-emerge, and uncomfortable truths have to be faced." Seven Days One Summer is out in July.