Fab new review for ‘Let’s Misbehave’

Three and a half years after the release of my first novella, and reviews are still coming in. Best of all, the reviews only seem to be getting better! Today Google Alerts alerted me to a new review for Let’s Misbehave from Maria at Romantic Historical Reviews. Thanks Maria, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

It’s hard to pick a favourite quote from this review, but I’m going with this one: “A novella is a tightly reined format in which to fully explore a full love story but I felt this one did just that.”

You can read the full review here.

Let’s Misbehave is available from Amazon and will soon be available on the other major ebook retailers – watch this space!

 

Masterly, eloquent and superb sexual tension

Thank you to Romantic Historical Reviews for what has just become my favourite review for Prohibited Passion. Reviewer Anita calls the prose ‘beautiful’ and the portrayal of the Prohibition era ‘fascinating’. Best of all, are her comments on the sexual tension – ‘sweet but hot’.

You can read the rest of the review here: http://www.romantichistoricalreviews.com/prohibited-passions-by-rae-summers/

 

Oh what a beautiful morning!

This morning I stumbled across a new review for Let’s Misbehave which completely made my day. Actually it’s not new as it dates from March, which shows you can’t trust Google Alerts to alert you every time.

Though the review is identical to the one posted by The Romance Reviews, but what tickled me pink about this one is that they rated this: B – Great, would want to read again.

Click on the image below to read the full review.

 

A new review

This week Let’s Misbehave was reviewed at Long and Short Romance Reviews, that powerhouse of online reviews. For the full review, click on the link. But here’s my favourite bit:

Rae Summers packs a wealth of emotion into this short book. Her insight into the social change and unrest of a generation caught in the aftermath of a horrific war is enthralling.

Let’s Misbehave bubbles with life and has some sizzling love scenes that take the breath away. Good entertainment!

 

 

Sophie Kinsella’s “Twenties Girl”

I picked up this book for obvious reasons: the title and the drawing of a Flapper on the front cover. The back cover blurb also sounded interesting: “If you suddenly had a friend that only you could see or hear, what would you do?”

Lara’s life is a mess when she attends the funeral of the great aunt she never knew. At the funeral she is accosted by the ghost of her great aunt Sadie, now back in the form of her heyday self: a 1920s Flapper. Sadie insists Lara stop the funeral and do everything possible to prevent her cremation and find her missing necklace.

I’ll admit the first 5-6 chapters did not grab me. I quite happily put the book down one night and didn’t pick it up again for at least a week. Why? Because neither Lara or Sadie were particularly nice people. Lara was a wimpy loser, stalking an ex boyfriend who clearly didn’t want her. Sadie was arrogant, ungrateful and self-absorbed.

Fortunately for me, I’m too penny pinching to spend R125 (nearly $10) on a book and not at least read it half way, so I persevered. By the middle of the book, the story had grabbed me, and by the end my face was wet with tears. The love story is tragic. After all, for a ghost there’s no going back to undo the past, so the ending is bitter-sweet, but Lara gets her Happy Ever After and (best of all for me) she finds her strength and takes control of her life. She becomes the epitome of what the Flappers represent for me, even more so than Sadie.

Because for me these modern women of the 20s weren’t all about clothes, make-up and dancing. Having fun might have been pretty high on the agenda for them, but I like to believe they were all about independence and freedom of expression.

Sophie Kinsella’s book is worth a read. You might just need to persevere if, like me, you find the first few chapters a little off-putting. And if you’ve read the book, I’d love to hear your views.

 

Anything Goes

I recently read Lucy Moore’s delightful “Anything Goes”, a biography of the 1920s. Each chapter is dedicated to an aspect of life in the 20s, from Hollywood to politics to prohibition. The author has an eye for the events most guaranteed to entertain. Very few non-fiction books are as page turning as this one!

What fascinated me most were the parallels Ms Moore drew right at the very beginning of the book between the 20s and our current generation, and the similarities struck me time and time again as I read. The hedonism, the consumerism, the financial over-optimism that eventually led to an economic crash, the power of advertising, the crime, the dominance of the youth culture. We look at our cultural figure-heads and bemoan the example they set with drugs, alcohol and violence. The general populace of the 1920s may not have known about it, but their role models were no less tarnished.

I love the period of the 1920s. The Golden Age. The Jazz Age. The Roaring Twenties. And it’s not just because I feel an affinity between that time and ours. It’s because the 1920s were exciting. This was the time when women first started to come into their own. They danced, they drank, they wore short skirts and make-up, and fought for the right to work and vote. It was thanks to their foundations that we enjoy the lives we lead today.

In my next post I’ll give you a sneak peek into the setting of Let’s Misbehave, my novella that Wild Rose Press will be publishing (release date to be confirmed).