Book Review: Summer Shadows

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Summer Shadows     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Gayle Roper
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Romance
Multnomah, May 2002, $11.99, 400 pp.

Following the accident that took the lives of her husband and child, Abby Patterson underwent endless physical therapy just to become mobile again. Though the pain of every step back was undeniably hellish, worse is the mental of anguish of losing her beloved spouse and their two-year-old child when another driver ran a stop sign while using a cell phone.

Not yet thirty, but needing to start over, Abby relocates to Seaside, New Jersey, renting an upstairs apartment from gruff seminarian Professor Marshall Winslow. The first time they meet, he is short and angry towards her. She wonders how her hip will survive going up the stairs, her cat with the monster sized puppy her landlord owns, and her with this male ogre.

Abby witnesses a hit and run accident resulting in an injured little girl. However, the shock leaves her unable to describe the driver. As Abby and Marsh begin to fall in love, he becomes her guardian angel as someone, perhaps the driver of the hit and run goes after the only eyewitness.

SUMMER SHADOWS is an exciting inspirational romantic suspense tale that hooks the audience through the incredible courage of the lead female protagonist. Just physically and emotionally walking is a tremendous accomplishment, but Abby does more than that as she struggles to understand the bigger picture of why God allows bad things to happen to innocents. Though the turn around in Marsh from nasty landlord to caring protector and Abby’s response to him seem too fast, readers will turn the other cheek because the lead characters make it worth reading Gayle Roper’s heartening motivational tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner