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The Spell of Summer by Dianna Hardy

Summary from Goodreads

Words can change everything, but can they change your destiny?

Meredith is leading a straight-laced life in London with her straight-laced fiancé, determined to forget her reckless, wild-child past. They're about to get married.

Jamie is an old, poetic soul with a broken heart returning home to Cornwall to get his life back in order.

What binds them?

One chance meeting thirteen summers ago; one innocent spell spoken after one perfect night...

And now history is unravelling; the past and present, merging...

Words can change everything, but can they change your destiny?

And in the messy world of magic, what part does love play?

It's summer all over again, but the spell has only just begun.

Full length, contemporary romantic fiction, written in British English.

Paperback, 332 pages
Published June 17th 2014 by Satin Smoke Press
 
My Review
 
The Spell of Summer is quite a bit different from Dianna Hardy's usual works. I went into it thinking it was going to be a light and fun summer read and while it was those things on occasion, it had a whole lot of emotion and some darker issues that were handled with a lot of care.
 
Main character Merri, is acting out the straight and narrow life with her fiancee. Her wild child days firmly behind her, she is looking to the future and her upcoming wedding. Something forces her back to the town she grew up in, with her best-friend Candy. She stumbles upon, Jaime, her first...and most memorable...
 
It seems fate is pushing the pair together - but where are they truly destined to be?
 
I really loved Merri and Jamie's journey. They are both broken in their own way and need an escape, which they seem to find in each other. Merri has a lot of dark parts in her past that still haunts her present, but being with Jamie seems to ease her suffering. The little magical kick to the story was really natural and believable - which I really appreciated.
 
The secondary characters are also very strong and I found myself immersed in their back stories. Candy has had it tough and finding out about her was a bit of a shock but it pushed home the positive point that there is love out there for everyone - if you only choose to open your eyes to it.
 
I really enjoyed the ending. The epilogue was a favourite though and I think there could be another story to be found there...
 
The Spell of Summer was a tough read for me in places as it's so raw and utterly true to real to real life, where things rarely run smoothly and things are so complex. The characters are so down-to-earth and I really liked each for their differences. Dianna always manages to touch me with her writing and this one was no different, I felt a LOT! This beautiful book proves that Dianna really can turn her hand to anything!
 
4 / 5 Stars
 
*Special thanks to Dianna for the review copy*
 

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