| Summer on the Mountain by Rosemarie Naramore Genre: Romance |
Summer loves the outdoors. The closest she has gotten to spending time indulging this passion is a camping trip when she was a child and the landscapes that she hangs at the art gallery that she works at. Gwendolyn, Summer's boss, is not a woodsy person. Not at all. Not one little iota. In honor of Gwendolyn's husband's 65th birthday, they had planned a trip to the family mountain retreat that her husband had grown up in. Gwendolyn botched it badly, not even lasting a week in the rough setting. As a peace offering to her husband, Gwendolyn sends Summer to stay at the cabin, asking her to paint a landscape to remind her husband of his beloved area. Summer jumps at the chance, even though she has suffered from painter's block for close to a year and doesn't actually know anything about surviving in the wild.
A good romance needs conflict. I realize that. All that I normally ask is that this required conflict is more than the often used "he is talking to another female so therefore he MUST be cheating" scenario. This book does deliver that new and fresh conflict. However, I found it really quite stupid. Summer had unknowingly made a mistake, taking the advice of someone she thought was more knowledgeable than herself in woodsy things. She uses this as her excuse for fleeing the mountain, without leaving any word or explanation to the hot mountain man that she had met during her vacation. She convinces herself that she just does not belong in his world and therefore, his life.
While reading this book, I thought to myself that I should start keeping track of how many times I roll my eyes at the plot of books. I could make up a whole new rating system or at the very least warn readers to hold onto their eyeballs so that they don't risk having them roll out on the floor after rolling them 3 or 4 times.
But this book is not completely without merit. The characters are enjoyable, for the most part, and there is a touch of humor in the story. Mostly bordering on slapstick comedy as the city girl adjusts to life on the mountain. If you are a romance fan and not half as critical of plots as I am, you will probably enjoy this book.
3 stars.
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