Review: LOVE Chris and Tammy's story!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2014
That One Summer is a fantastic third installment in the Summer series, giving us more of the incredibly sweet (yet sometimes painful) romance that I've come to expect from Duggan. She is definitely one of my favorite authors!!The negatives:Slightly less light-hearted.This book was a bit less light-hearted than the first two books, mainly because the leading man is the brooding Chris instead of one of the other, more bantering Onslow boys. Tammy is also a bit more serious than Tess and Amy were. Since Tammy hangs out with the group we've come to know and love we still get the occasional quip, but there is a lot less banter in this book than in the previous two.What I loved:Believable characters.One thing that I love about Duggan is how she writes characters that feel so real to me. All of her main characters are vulnerable in some way - Tammy has spent her life feeling just a little bit invisible and not always knowing where she fits in. She loves her best friend Amy and the Onslow boys, but she can't help but feel like a bit of an outsider around them, even when they've welcomed her in. I feel like I can totally relate to this type of character and all of her self-doubts. Tammy wants to bask in their acceptance, but she can never quite get over her own hang-ups in order to do so. Then there's Chris. He's the serious, responsible one in the group. The one who always takes care of everyone else and makes sure that the crazy antics don't get too out of hand. I could see how he fell into this role and why it makes it so hard for him to truly let go with anyone - even when he wants to - like with Tammy. When Chris' sweet side comes out, you just can't help but see in him what Tammy does!Slow romance.This was one of those cases where the romance between the two main characters is relatively slow to develop - which I appreciated. Tammy isn't instantly in love with Chris - not even instantly lusting over him (though she does have some stray thoughts that lead that way). In fact, Tammy is pretty intimidated by Chris at first, and she has to get to know him pretty well before she really starts crushing on him. Yay!Road trip!Road trips are always fun, right? Even when they're miserable and crazy and full of disasters (which this one sometimes was). This book had that classic road trip feel - where the main character takes a physical journey and also takes an emotional journey as well. Tammy's trip has lots of bumps along the way, but it's all worth it when she gets to that final destination!So, once again, I highly recommend this series. Go get it. Now. I can't WAIT to read the next full-length book in the series, which will focus on Adam and Ellie - Adam was one of my favorite characters in book 1 and I'm excited to see more of him!! That One Summer earns 5/5 stars.***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***