Like most of Brayden’s books, this was a delight to read.Īdvanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review. The romantic scenes were steamy and appropriate, and were in keeping with the plot and characters at each point along the story.

The connection the two main characters have seems palpable in most of the scenes they are in together, and how this develops works with the characters and their stages of life. Margaret is the main character, and she shines as someone buffeted by life and working out how to make the best of it. Margaret and Courtney are revealed to the reader fairly young in their lives, but instead of being written as precocious brats, they have been written as intelligent, kind, young women trying to the world as they see it. Her control of character and plot in the romance genre is excellent, and it is always a joy to read her books. The trope of characters returning to a first love is not new, but Brayden has pushed this further and created a different sort of book to the one I was initially expecting. But how will that help when one of them wants to remain in the small town, and the other needs to explore bigger options?

Courtney and Margaret cannot help but be pulled back together by the sheer power of their connection. Several years later, Courtney comes back to town as an intern at the Carrington’s department store. When Courtney is suddenly moved interstate by her parents, Margaret’s world loses its flavor. Returning to the town of his birth to open a large department store, Courtney’s dad isn’t very popular, and the fact that Courtney and Margaret are inseparable has not gone unnoticed. Courtney is smart, beautiful and outspoken, and altogether more sophisticated than anyone Margaret has ever seen.Ĭourtney is the daughter of a local merchant who has made it big. This comfortable existence is completely shaken by the arrival of Courtney in her class at school. Her world consists of her loving parents and big brother on the farm, and the freedom to run around in safety.

Margaret Beringer is a farm kid going to school in the local town.

Strawberry Summer by Melissa Brayden