Young Adult Contemporary
Title:Last Wish of Summer
Author: Phillip Overton
Date Published: 1/18/12
Synopsis:
As the sun prepares to rise on the last day of summer, three friends find themselves totally
unprepared for the events that are about to take place around them. For Tanya it is a chance to
find peace three years after losing her parents in an auto accident. Deciding she simply can’t
continue blaming God for her loss, she places a heartfelt poem in a bottle and throws it into
the sea on the eve of her birthday, granting her birthday wish to whoever finds it.
Early the next morning, her best friend Anton and his buddy Johnno find the bottle washed
up on the shore and set about putting it to the test. When Johnno falls for the new waitress at
the café where Tanya works, it stirs up feelings of jealousy in Tanya. Surely Johnno couldn’t
be the man that God had in mind for her? Suddenly, strange wishes are beginning to come
true, but is it all a coincidence? Or is God about to change people’s lives for the better?
Welcome to Kings Beach, where the forecast for the last day of summer promises to be hot,
hot, hot, with a definite change in the air.
Excerpt:
Johnno grabbed the bottle and turned it upside down. The letter caught in its neck. Then with a bit of prying using his car key, he was able to gently pull the letter from the bottle and let it fall onto the table. It lay there wrapped only with a small hair ribbon tied in the centre. Anton reached across to untie it as Johnno stood the now empty bottle back in the centre of the table.
“Well here goes.” Anton said as he uncurled the two pages and held them up for his friend to see.
The pages were cream in color, decorated with a border of flowers entwined along the edge of each page in black ink. At the top of the first page before the letter began, was a small turquoise colored love heart someone had painted, again in what appeared to be nail polish. It left a slightly oily stain around the edges which only added to the letter’s charm. Around them, the air filled with the scent of women’s perfume that wafted up from the page. With their curiosity now firmly aroused, Anton and Johnno huddled in closely and began to read.
To whoever finds this,
If I’ve washed up on your distant shore,
From a land far over the sea.
Please tread carefully on the morning sand,
And know you’ve set me free.
Wrapped in my mother’s ribbon,
This letter is but a token.
A plead to let her see the world,
From a young heart torn and broken.
A turquoise heart that was my Aunt,
Left footprints in the sand.
Her magic just a memory,
You now hold in your hand.
So I light a candle for my Dad,
But this gift I give to you.
He always told me to make a wish,
So today may all yours come true.
It’s time to live, to find true love.
Before the winter’s scorn.
Somewhere it’s always summer,
May my true love’s arms be warm.
P.S. Please return me to the sea at sunset.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I read the prologue, I really had a sense that this might be a great book. The main character, Tanya, is a Christian, and it was nice to see her praying right off the bat. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
Once I began the story proper, I was pretty disappointed. The only character I found myself liking was Tanya. Her surfer friends did not impress me, and no one else really did in the book. If the book had concentrated more on Tanya, perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more.
To the book's credit, there are Christian themes, no profanity, and no sex scenes. Imagine having two characters who are in love that don't jump into bed--what a refreshing change! I was glad to read real prayers to God, and I think it is clear that the author has a true understanding of having a relationship with God. This causes me to recommend this book to a degree.
I did find the romance rather sappy at times, and the whole thing about making wishes seemed really far-fetched. While it was entertaining to see what happened with the wishes at times, it did become rather old, but that is just my opinion. Although this book was not one that really captured my attention, there was enough positive overtones in the book for me to decide the book was an average read. And I was able to read the book in a relatively short period of time. And the "Prade" theme was pretty funny!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.
Once I began the story proper, I was pretty disappointed. The only character I found myself liking was Tanya. Her surfer friends did not impress me, and no one else really did in the book. If the book had concentrated more on Tanya, perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more.
To the book's credit, there are Christian themes, no profanity, and no sex scenes. Imagine having two characters who are in love that don't jump into bed--what a refreshing change! I was glad to read real prayers to God, and I think it is clear that the author has a true understanding of having a relationship with God. This causes me to recommend this book to a degree.
I did find the romance rather sappy at times, and the whole thing about making wishes seemed really far-fetched. While it was entertaining to see what happened with the wishes at times, it did become rather old, but that is just my opinion. Although this book was not one that really captured my attention, there was enough positive overtones in the book for me to decide the book was an average read. And I was able to read the book in a relatively short period of time. And the "Prade" theme was pretty funny!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.
Most common mistakes in writing a love story
The last great obstacle for men to overcome in any story is nearly always guaranteed to be saving the girl. Because love, whether unrequited or forever-lasting makes a great story. Women have known this for years, and most will enjoy reading any book so long as there is some romance in it. Men, on the other hand, are probably more interested in who’s going to be the next James Bond girl.
But in order to understand this different approach to the way men and women view the subject of love, it is important to remember five simple things;
1. Men always want to be a woman’s first love. Women want to be a man’s last romance.
2. When a man falls in love, he wants to go to bed. When a woman falls in love, she wants to talk about it.
3. Men fall in love at first sight because it saves a lot of time.
4. When a woman reads, she takes in all aspects of what she is reading. When a man reads, he is appraising something for weakness.
5. When it comes to love, both sexes look at the same situation through very different eyes.
In a market of chiselled Fabio’s adorning the covers of romance books, the great debate is whether men fail to live up to the expectations of the characters inside the covers, or if women place too great an expectation on them to begin with. Women on the other hand have every right to argue why the heroine of a shoot-to-the-death action thriller novel has to fit the stereotype of a busty, scantily clad, pistol wielding bombshell in leather pants. Is that what men are looking for? Not really, but just as women the world over enjoy indulging in a book, so too do men. For both sexes, each in their own way, it is a chance to escape from reality and loose oneself in a fictional world. To read about places we’ve never been, worlds we’ve never imagined and love amidst circumstances we haven’t experienced.
Women will pick up a book and try to relate to the female character within the pages. A character that is searching for Mr Right, with the hopes and dreams of the female protagonist usually weighed down by her work or her family, her ideas unsupported by her friends and to top it all off, she is perhaps struggling with her body image and puts this down to her inability to find the perfect man. Men open a book and they will try and relate to the situation the male character finds himself in. They will picture themselves faced by the same adversity the male character faces. They dissect the circumstances stopping the lead male from being able to woo the female character, as though doing so provides a chance that they may be able to write the ending of the book themselves. Perhaps the single most common mistake that one can make when writing a love story, is to assume that men aren’t capable of falling in love too. We just express it in different ways.
Author Bio
Phillip Overton’s writing has been compared to none other than Nicholas Sparks (http://
www.readerviews.com/ReviewOvertonAWalkBeforeSunrise.html), and his latest novel Last
Wish of Summer offers readers the perfect book to spend a summer’s day reading at the
beach. In a book that reminds us to be careful what we wish for, it manages to weave the
wholesome, virginal qualities of the main character Tanya with her band of misfit friends
in their pursuit of being able to reason why a washed up message in a bottle is somehow
granting their every wish come true. Often in a manner that is both coincidental and strangely
bizarre.
Just as a movie adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel will appeal to people of all ages, so too
will this story that follows the adventures of a group of twenty-something’s on the last day
of summer. The book not only manages to cut through any pre-conceived ideas we hold on
morals, body-image and social status, but delights in helping us discover what may already be
right under our nose to begin with.
Phillip Overton’s writing has been compared to none other than Nicholas Sparks (http://
www.readerviews.com/ReviewOvertonAWalkBeforeSunrise.html), and his latest novel Last
Wish of Summer offers readers the perfect book to spend a summer’s day reading at the
beach. In a book that reminds us to be careful what we wish for, it manages to weave the
wholesome, virginal qualities of the main character Tanya with her band of misfit friends
in their pursuit of being able to reason why a washed up message in a bottle is somehow
granting their every wish come true. Often in a manner that is both coincidental and strangely
bizarre.
Just as a movie adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel will appeal to people of all ages, so too
will this story that follows the adventures of a group of twenty-something’s on the last day
of summer. The book not only manages to cut through any pre-conceived ideas we hold on
morals, body-image and social status, but delights in helping us discover what may already be
right under our nose to begin with.
Twitter: @phillipoverton
Links to Buy (currently paperback only)
There will be a giveaway for one e-book of "Last Wish of Summer" to one international reader. Please enter the rafflecopter below by September 16.
And don't forget to check out the entire tour here.
Thank you Ruth for hosting my Last Wish of Summer Book Tour on your website. I hope it gave your readers a small taste of the fun summer mis-adventure that is waiting to be discovered between the covers. Most of all, I hope it serves as a reminder for people from all walks of life to be careful what you wish for. All my best! Phillip
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