Lia Stewart and Sean McIntyre were all set to elope one supposedly magical midsummer's evening. Lia waited for Sean to show up and he never did. Years later Lia occasionally why Sean never appeared. Her broken heart mended she eventually goes on with her life.
Meanwhile, Sean had joined the military during the Vietnam War. He survived, came home, and made a business for himself.
Tempers had flared that one hot summer over 30 years ago and once again Eliah and Sean are pitted against each other this time over land development.
Lia comes to her father's rescue, but is forced to face the man who left her waiting in the pouring rain so many years before. How can she fight her feelings for Sean, and at the same time come up with a compromise between him and her father when the two can't stand each other?
Will Lia and Sean be able to overcome their hurt feelings toward one another as they again begin to fall in love? Or, will Eliah's machinations once again destroy this fragile developing love ?
Roy develops her characters so well that the reader wants to hate Eliah for his duplicity, but can't help feeling sorry for him instead. Eliah is so bitter, but helpless. He ends up seriously hurt during one of his "stop Sean escapades" and Lia and Sean must overcome their anger to solve the land development dilemma.
But, will a trunk full of secrets bring them the resolution both of them want, yet fight against? Or, can one never truly go back to the past?
Sean is also well-developed. His boyish charms allows the reader to fall in love with him as Lia did those many years previous. The reader completely understands why Lia was so devastated when he left.
As Lia's and Sean's summer romance unfolds, and we learn the story of their love in the 1960's, the reader can't help but feel the breathless anticipation of young love. One is brought back with Lia and Sean to their first love and the memories weave their spell as Roy weaves hers.
The most poignant part of the novel is when Sean and Lia see each other for the first time again after so many years. Despite dirt, sweat, and wrinkles, each see in each other the people they once were. The people both wish to be again.
Roy's talent lies not only in the development of her main storyline, but in the realistic tales of those who come into contact with Sean and Lia. These other characters bounce off Lia and Sean to make the novel completely realistic. One can't help but walk alongside the main characters and wonder what will happen next.
Escape to Romance Reviews
