I remember the first time I heard the expression - swingers. Candidly I imagine folks who like going out, drinking, and dancing. Yep. Naive that was me. Then I found out I actually know some who are “swingers.” My next thought was yuck. Never could look at them again the same way.
Well in CRUEL SUMMER Sam gets an earful from her husband Will of twenty-two years and sons later. He is looking for something more. He needs to feel free to try new things. After all, he is saying he feels stunted by the fact that the two of them got married really young after Sam wound up pregnant. Then had three boys, a home and a business. Pretty much a successful shall we say normal life. And now all of a sudden Sam is ferreting out the truth. Will wants more. He still loves her and his family. Nope, not asking or thinking of divorce. Just wants room to play on the side. Again the image of a swinger?
You know the old expression, having your cake and eating it too. Is this what that really meant?
Maisie Yates writes about relationships. Always incorporating current issues that sometimes have an effect on people’s lives that stay hidden, until they don’t. In CRUEL SUMMER, the floodgates are officially in the open position. As in open marriage. I know I have your attention.
It turns out that Sam and Will have a more complicated relationship and marriage. Both take off in different directions during their decided separate summer vacations. There are definitely more than just miles between these two married folk. As Sam says at the start of her vacation, which involves miles and weeks on the road, he’s in Oregon and I’m on my road trip. Learn not to make waves, the lesson firmly taught by her mother. Sam was going to have to learn how to make waves in her search for her new life.
CRUEL SUMMER is a tough look at what would you do if. The blowback is caustic, but Maisie Yates deals out an alternative hand to folding. Poker is a game of risks. Sam’s life for now has all her cards on the table. Being on the road with Logan gives her a chance to take a deep breath before playing her next card. Maisie Yates alternates going down memory lane with travel on the open road with Logan. Perhaps making new memories or just taking a break before facing her new future.
Once again this talented author bats one out of the park. Always expect the unexpected with Maisie Yates and perhaps that is why she is at the top of my must-read authors. Try CRUEL SUMMER and she will definitely be on your list.
“I think we should see other people…” That one sentence unravels Samantha Parker’s perfect life. She has a loving husband, three wonderful kids and a comfortable suburban lifestyle. But on the brink of their long-awaited empty-nest chapter, Will asks Samantha for something she never dreamed of: an open marriage.
Desperate to keep her husband happy, Samantha proposes a summerlong separation with no contact. She knows she has to use the opportunity to find herself, but she also has no interest in being with anyone but Will. She’s confident when the season is over, they’ll get back together like this time never happened.
Then Sam gets an offer of adventure from an unlikely source: Logan Martin, a classic-car restorer who happens to be Will’s best friend, asks Sam to help him drive across the country to make deliveries. Logan and Sam have never had an easy relationship. He’s prickly, aloof and a little too handsome. And as they traverse the winding roads and breathtaking backdrops of North America, her changing connection with Logan challenges everything she believed she wanted in life, love and passion. When her summer with Logan is up, will she go home to the familiar stability of her past…or choose the thrilling uncertainty of her future?
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