Samantha and Will's youngest child wasn't coming home for the summer. Freedom at last! To understand the premise of the story we have to know their history. They married at age eighteen because Sam was pregnant. They went on to have two more children, financial security and a solid family. So thought Sam until the night they went out for dinner and Will announced he wanted an open marriage. Not a divorce, just an open marriage. This reeks of having your cake and eating it, too. Sam knows she can never agree to this, but Will agrees to her suggestion that they separate for the summer. They'll see where they are when summer ends. Sam is certain that her husband will come to his senses and they will resume their idyllic marriage. Suddenly, Will's best friend, Logan Martin, offers her a job of sorts. He has to deliver some cars and has asked her to travel the country with him. It doesn't hurt that he is good-looking, but their relationship has always been a bit rocky. Even so, Sam accepts his offer. Why not? This can be arguable.
CRUEL SUMMER, by Maisey Yates, provides an in-depth look into a relationship that perhaps neither party understood. Not really. Over one summer, both Sam and Logan came to terms with what they thought was true. Deep thoughts and new freedoms are explored. Sam reevaluates who she is and why. Will had told her he had been unhappy for three years and was wondering if there was more to life than what they had. How did she not know this? And what about her? Has she been so caught up in her secure life that she has forgotten how to be her?
The narrative is packed with emotion, passion and introspection. The author has a deep understanding of her characters as they are vividly portrayed. The road trips take readers across the country and we see both magnificent and sometimes overlooked sites through the characters' eyes. As to what happens at the conclusion of the summer? There are surprises.
Skillfully told and memorable, CRUEL SUMMER is a thought-provoking story. Highly recommended.
“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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