BOOK REVIEW: Summer's Winter by Robin Johns Grant

 Title: Summer's Winter

Author: Robin Johns Grant

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Suspense

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Copy from: Xpresso Book Tours

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 When Jeanine finally connects with film star Jamie Newkirk, the object of her obsession, will it be a dream come true? Or will she be pulled into his family's nightmare of secrets, control, and death?

At age ten, preacher's daughter Jeanine fell in love with young movie star Jamie Newkirk and the character he played--Danny Summer. Jeanine believed God Himself promised Jamie would be part of her life--that he would rescue her from boring rural Georgia. But eleven years later, she's graduating college and about to settle into the dreary nine-to-five life with no word from Jamie or God.

And then Jamie bursts into her life in an amazing way. There are plans to resurrect the Summer series of books and movies, and Jeanine is right in the middle of it all. Jamie seems to be falling for her, just as she'd dreamed. And yet...

She never expected all the dark undercurrents. Jamie is hiding out in Georgia following the suspicious death of his former girlfriend. And isn't it odd that he found his mother dead of a supposed suicide in that same house two years before, and that both women had the same strangely-shaped burn on their bodies? Jamie is obviously hiding things--about his family, about the deaths of his mother and girlfriend. The media and the public have declared him guilty. Jeanine longs to prove his innocence. Unless she can, Jamie's dark secrets may shatter her dreams, her faith--and her life.

There are very few books that acknowledge the presence of the Higher power and that is a plus for me in this book.

And I guess that very element made the journey of reading this book, for me, bearable.

Jeanine, in simple terms, is a fan of Jamie Newkirk, the boy wonder who stole millions of hearts with his acting as Danny Summer. The movie is based on the novels that Jeanine adore and seeing Jamie act it out has stolen her heart right on that theater seat the first time she watched it.

And right then she knew. She knew that she and Jamie would meet.

Can you see it?
True, a lot of us take a seat in the movies and think to ourselves "I am really going to meet (Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Josh Hutcherson) in person. I SWEAR TO EVERYONE THAT I WILL. I'LL KEEP ON TRYING AND I WON'T GIVE UP!"

That is the vibe that I got from the main character.
Sure, she may not have stalked his house but she sure did stalk his uncle.
In other words, Jeanine is a diehard fan of Jamie. She believes that destiny made Jeanine sit on Jamie's movie and watch it.

BUT!
That is not the only thing the book is about. 
There is something that is ruining Jamie's life that may result to Jeanine losing her life. 

I honestly would have loved this book if Jamie wasn't an actor. The flow of the story is already good without the additional implications being an actor entails. It presented too much of a complication that also made the entire story seem more complicated. Before the reader can see what the story actually wants to talk about, they're sidelined by the details that the author throws at them.

In the end, Summer's Winter tells us that things do happen for a reason. They may not occur at the time we wished for it, but in the end, if it's His will, it will come to us. And when this happens, it actually fulfills a part of our lives.

Robin Johns Grant has been writing for most of her life. While waiting for her writing to pay off, she did some interesting things like being a secretary for private investigators, and some ordinary things like writing for university magazines and being a financial aid counselor. She also did a lot of crazy fan stuff and developed fascinations with books and movies like Harry Potter and Star Wars, which helped her dream up Jeanine and Jamie for Summer's Winter.

Robin now has her best day job ever as a college librarian, which keeps her young by allowing her to hang out with students.  She lives in Georgia with her wonderful husband Dave and formerly feral feline, Mini Pearl. In fact, she finds herself involved in a ridiculously large number of animal rescues and was shocked to become part owner of an abandoned pit bull puppy last fall. Robin is celebrating the release of her first novel,  Summer's Winter , about preacher’s daughter Jeanine and her obsession with troubled film star, Jamie. Keep up with Robin and her writing at http://www.robinjohnsgrant.com .

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