This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Reviewed by Victoria Sutton
Frankie, Tor and Leila have been the best of friends since university. Now in their thirties, they're at unexpected stages in their lives and keeping secrets from each other. Secrets they never would have
previously envisaged. They're off to escape their everyday lives and spend a summer
holiday together on an idyllic Greek Island with Leila’s husband Tom, her
daughter Gracie, Tor’s boyfriend Ed, Tom’s friends Matt and Patrick, and
surprise last minute guest Candy. But with all of these secrets just waiting to
be discovered, perhaps the holiday won't be quite as relaxing as they hope…
To her friends, Leila has the perfect relationship; a happy marriage to Tom and a gorgeous daughter, Gracie. But Leila is too ashamed to tell her friends the big secret that could ruin it all. Tor is struggling to comes to terms with an unexpected pregnancy – she didn’t think she could ever have children – and is keeping it to herself while she works out how to tell her younger lover Ed. Frankie appears the strongest of them all but, secretly in love with her best friend Patrick, there is a secret in her past that explains her tough exterior.
I absolutely loved the descriptions of the locations and scenery in Swimming Pool Summer. Reading about the Greek Island of Zakynthos with its turquoise blue seas and unbroken blue skies, perfectly whitewashed buildings, olive groves and citrus trees, everything bathed in glorious sunlight, transported me back to my own visits to the Greek islands and made me itch to go there again. The descriptions of handsome young Greek student Dimitri were also quite lovely!
It was the Bank holiday weekend when I settled down to read Swimming Pool Summer and I may only have had a glass of shandy and a toe in my daughter’s paddling pool but I quickly felt part of the group’s holiday. It was difficult to tear myself away from being beside the pool with them and I was especially touched –and surprised- by Frankie’s back story and shed a tear or three for her.
Swimming Pool Summer is an enjoyable summer read with enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages, enough emotion to make you care and enough eye candy for everyone!
8/10