Blog Tour {Review & Giveaway}—An Endless Summer by C.J. Duggan

Stopping by The LUV'NV today is An Endless Summer  blog tour, organized by YA Bound Book Tours.
We got the pleasure of reading and reviewing this fun New Adult novel,
and you can enter to win one of five eBooks or a signed copy of the book!

Endless Summer

by C.J. Duggan

Book #2 of the Summer series

Publication: July 11th, 2013 by C.J. Duggan
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Amazon Goodreads

Sean looked out over the lake, squinting against the sunlight. He turned to me, his expression sobering as his eyes flicked over my face in silent study.
“Come on, Amy, I saved you once, I’ll save you again.”
I met his stare unflinchingly. “I don’t need saving.”
A wicked grin formed slowly on his face. “Don’t you?”

After a rebellious summer night that almost claimed her life, Amy Henderson – the Onslow publican’s only daughter – is sent away to suffer a fate far worse than any other punishment:

Boarding School.

Three years on, a now nineteen-year-old Amy returns to Onslow for the summer. What once was a cauldron of activity with live bands, hot meals and cold beers, the Onslow Hotel now lies dark, deserted and depressing. All fond childhood memories of loitering on the hotel stairs and eavesdropping on customers’ colourful conversations are in the distant past.

How had her dad let it come to this?

With the new threat of putting the Onslow up for sale, Amy reluctantly turns to a local tradesman for help: Sean Murphy, the very same Onslow boy who saved her life all those years ago. With his help and that of some old friends, the task is clear: spend the summer building the hotel back up to its former glory or lose it for good.

In an endless summer, Amy soon realises that sometimes in order to save your future, you have to face your past, even if it’s in the form of a smug, gorgeous Onslow boy.

I adored the first book of the Summer  series. C.J. Duggan knows how to capture the feel of a hometown, sunny summer of fun and growing up. An Endless Summer  was no different. Amy Henderson, known as "young Amy" to the citizens of Onslow, she's the kid sister or the publican's young daughter to many. She was always at the hotel that her father owned, roller skating on the porch or watching all the patrons older than she at the bar, listening to their conversations and never old enough to partake in the fun. But she didn't mind. She lived in her own world and was content.

When Amy takes a risk to help a friend that results in her being shipped to boarding school, she doesn't return to Onslow every summer any longer. But Onslow is home for her, and when she finally returns after graduating, she finds the Onslow Hotel not as it used to be. With her father and mother away rekindling their marriage, she takes it upon herself to bring the hotel back to its former glory and prove she's older, more responsible if not a whole lot wiser.

I really liked Amy. I could feel her struggling with not just the hotel and the bad luck she encounters once she steps foot on the hotel porch but also how she was trying to grasp what was happening between her parents, how their and her priorities shifted, and how perspectives and people changed with every experience—whether it was because of an accident that happened years earlier, the best friend who stopped being one, or the joking boy who grew up to be a successful and very caring man.

I loved how everyone from book one made an appearance and how we got to see where they were, too. An Endless Summer  takes place three years after The Boys of Summer, and at first, I wasn't sure how I felt about that fact. Three years is a long time, and I didn't want to "miss" anything or have pages of rehashed pasts. But C.J. Duggan did an amazing job with the timeline. The time gap between the stories only emphasized the theme of growing up to be an adult, about working hard and then being able to play hard—between and for everyone of Onslow.

I would have like Sean's character development to be a little deeper and well rounded. I needed to see some of his personal conflict. I really felt his personality in the first book and was expecting a bit more because I was so intrigued by him, but I still adored him in this installment. The characters who stood out to me the most in this book were Adam and Chris, both of whom are Amy's cousins introduced in The Boys of Summer. Adam ... *fans self* I need his book next. The smartass now a man in uniform? Yes please! And Chris is just so serious with a dark humor that I have to see what woman can get under his skin.

An Endless Summer  is a fabulous summer read, with the right amount of fluff, sexiness, and trials to make you laugh, tear up, and get all warm and fuzzy inside. It could be read alone, without having read The Boys of Summer, but you won't want to miss out on living in the hometown of Onslow. C.J. Duggan will bring you to the heart of her own little Australia.

eARC provided by the author via YA Bound. Thank you!

Visit An Endless Summer's tour schedule for excerpts, interviews, guest posts, and more reviews!

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The Summer series

Review of The Boys of Summer

The Boys of Summer is only 99 cents on Amazon during the tour.
Grab your copy now!

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C.J. Duggan

Her Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

C.J Duggan is an Australian author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. The Boys of Summer is Book One in her Mature Young Adult Romance series. For more on C.J and the Summer series, visit www.cjdugganbooks.com.

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One (1) signed paperback of either The Boys of Summer or An Endless Summer
Five (5) eBook copies
Open internationally

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