The Summerhouse

In my previous blogs, I have mentioned I judge a book by the cover. There is one word that can appear in the title to make me look closer, summer. One day when I run out of things to write about, I will count how many books I own with the name summer included in the title. I love this book, The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux. It was published in 2002, that must be the year I bought it. The copy I have now is my third copy. Not because I gave it away, I let people borrow it and did not get it back. One person admitted to losing it. I hear many of my friends having an, "I get it" moment. Right, this is why I am not eager to lend my books. Not everyone understands my love for books. Normally, if I let someone borrow a book, I start with a book I do not love. If you return it in a timely fashion, that raises your credit score for the next borrow. I might as well get it all out in the open. Yes, I track the books I lend in my book journal. There is nothing odd about that. So Flag Girl when I say you can borrow a book, that means I trust you like almost family. That is a huge compliment.
On with the review. When I first read this book I did not keep a book journal or rate the books. I can easily give this book a 5. I hear the gasps out there. Right, it is just a paperback. Not even quality paper. The lowest of the low, mass printed paperback. That said, I love this story. It is so interesting. It starts with three women getting their drivers licenses renewed on their 21st birthdays. While they wait their turn in a busy New York DMV, they get to know each other. On their 40th birthday one of the women locate the other two and bring them together in a Maine Summerhouse to celebrate together. At this point it all sounds lame. This is where the book takes an unexpected turn. The women go to see a fortune teller. She offers them the opportunity to go back in their lives and relive any 3 weeks they choose. To make it more interesting they relive that time armed with the knowledge since gained. Think about that! Return to your life changing moments. Now you have the opportunity to go back to one of those moments, armed with your life experiences and have a do over!!! When the experience is over they have three choices: return to their current life, continue with the life created after the do over with memory in tact, or continue with the life after the do over with no memory of the change.
Now you know how this book received my elusive rating of 5. I like to think about the concept of a do over. Seems so easy. You go back in time, fix a mistake, done, fixed. Here is where it gets interesting. You accept your new life, your right hand disappears. For whatever reason, the change put you in the time and place for a freak accident. One change in the events that went together to create your life story and the outcome is up in the air.
Buy the book, save it for a nice warm Saturday. Get out the lounge chair. Sit back and enjoy a light read. Go wild, pour yourself a glass of wine. You will not need major concentration to read this one.
When you finish the book, think about a time in your life you want to return to. How would you change it if you were given the chance? If you change it, what will you gain? More importantly, what will you lose? This book will stick with you. There will be a time you cry, "DO OVER." Then you will remember this book and maybe find some blessings to count.