Book Review... The Summer of Living Dangerously - Julie Cohen

The Summer of Living Dangerously - Julie Cohen
Headline Review, 2012
ISBN: 9780755350650












My rating

From the back cover:

"Alice Woodstock has been running away. 
Well, not literally. She spends most of her time glued to her desk, writing about grommets and model aeroplanes. No, Alice is avoiding the real world because there’s something—someone—in her past that she’s desperate to forget. So when she’s commissioned to write about life in stately home Eversley Hall, she jumps at the chance to escape into Regency England, even if it does mean swapping her comfy T-shirt for an itchy corset. Perhaps she’ll meet her own Mr Darcy… 
But when her past resurfaces in the shape of Leo Allingham, Alice is brought down to earth with a bump. Reckless, unpredictable Leo reminds Alice of the painful price of following her heart. And the new Alice doesn’t live dangerously. 
Or does she?"


I got this book on a recommendation and after reading Julie Cohen's 'Getting Away With It' I was champing at the bit to read this one. But I have to be honest and say that reading the blurb, I thought that I wouldn't like it going on the fact that the whole historical/regency/period drama thing is not my cup of tea.

How wrong I was. I simply loved this book, it's utterly brilliant!

Julie Cohen's heroine was so engaging, and beautifully portrayed, I couldn't stop reading needing to find out just what it was that was causing her so much pain (which, by the way, is heartbreaking). And, I loved that there were two contenders for the hero, it kept me guessing all the way through.

Not only is this a fun filled and charming book, it is also sad and emotional, you will be reduced to tears moments after laughing.

Julie Cohen does a fantastic job of weaving together the real and pretend lives, I was one hundred percent involved with the heroine's journey - both in her real, modern life and her pretend, historical story. The parallels between the two 'lives' of the heroine are subtly done, but work wonderfully.

Simply brilliant, it made this history-averse girl actually interested in life in a regency home! A must read.

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