Summer's Lease: Escape to paradise with this swoony summer romance (The Shakespeare Sisters Book 1)

As always you get dragged into the lives of her characters. It’s so easy to imagine yourself in Italy or in rainy London. A must read. Can’t wait to start book 2.

For 6 years Cesca has drifted from job to job with no real prospects.When she was 18 she won a Novice Play of the Year Competition and she thought she had her future mapped out but the leading man disappeared and the play folded. Her uncle arranges a job in Italy as a house sitter for her to try and get over her writers block which sounds ideal until Sam Carlton shows up. Sam was Cesca’s disappearing leading man and the sparks begin to fly between them and it’s a hate/love kind of a situation. Cesca starts writing a new play and Sam reads it unknown to her and decides to help her to make up for the past.The Shakespeare sisters sound like an interesting family and I look forward to reading more.

This book was okay but I tend to prefer 'dark' stories and this is definitely not a dark story, more of a light summer read, but it does have it's share of angst which I enjoyed. I have previously read the Love in London series by this author and loved Coming Down and Broken Chords but not so keen on the 3rd one Canada Square as found it a bit cheesy and predictable (hate cheesy books!) So I suppose for me this book fits in between those 3 and isn't as good as the first 2 books in the Love in London series but definitely better than Canada Square. Cesca is the lead character in this book (not sure how to actually pronounce that name) and her life has not been going too well for the past 6 years since she wrote a play and the leading man Sam walked out and disappeared and an understudy had to be brought in which basically made the play flop. But her life is about to change when she gets the chance to house sit in Italy and the leading man Sam turns up unexpectedly to the house where she is house sitting. Sparks fly between Cesca and Sam and not always good ones as Cesca finds it hard to forgive Sam for what he did. Whilst staying at the house Cesca also meets the next door neighbour, a rather charismatic Italian man called Cristiano and I was hoping there would be a little bit more angst and jealousy over him with Sam but that never really materialised which was disappointing although the author did touch on it a little bit it just wasn't enough for me. Cesca has 3 other sisters which the author mentions in the book (Shakespeare sisters) and I can see the story of Kitty is coming in November and I'm certainly going to read that as I do enjoy the way this author writes but I'm just hoping the next one will be a bit more dramatic. I think it would have made for more interesting reading if Cesca had got more involved with Cristiano and kept Sam at bay for a while whilst he fought for Cesca. I like to see my book men jealous as it makes for an exciting story. There were a few funny events in the story too which I enjoyed.

Slow start but once into it I couldn’t stop reading. Helped to make me feel I was in another country enjoying everything in front of me.

As usual another engaging story, was drawn in from the start.Loved the character's and could picture the beautifully lake setting.

Cesca Shakespear is down on her luck. With a series of failed jobs behind her, and a disaster of a play that should have propelled her to her dream height, she settles in Italy caretaking a mansion owned by the parents of the man she believes was her downfall. When her nemesis, Sam, enters, sparks fly. I really enjoyed the banter and the tension between Cesca and Sam, Ms Elks wrote their relationship exceptionally well. We got glimpses of sexual tension, and I was hoping for the outcome I got. Recommended.

I've followed Carrie's writing for a long time, before publication, while reading a certain type of fanfic and loved her style then. She has a great way with words, drawing the reader in. I absolutely loved this story, of Cesca and Sam, who have both dealt with events in their lives that shaped them as the people they became. Their story is one that keeps the reader entertained all the way through. Can't wait to read the next tale of Kitty Shakespeare.

First book I've read by this author and it was a sweet story. Not too much angst, likeable characters and a good storyline. Ideal for a quick beach read.