On the one hand, it offers a bleak realism of people who long for more and dream bigger dreams, but find themselves failing under the weight of unforgiving societal ills and the expectations of others.
On the other hand, it doesn’t leave the reader in despair. Glimmers of light shine in the darkness, even if they’re not always easy to see. There is tragedy and there is hope.
The book is hard to put down. The two main characters are relatable and sympathetic. You can’t help but root for them even when the world seems against them.
4.5/5 stars, an example of indie publishing at its best.
So what, if he was laying on the floor, staring over his brow at the TV, with a string of drool dangling from his mouth, while he wore pajamas with just one sock? Sounds normal… for a ten-year-old boy.
Life for Meredith Hillis finally seemed to be going the way she had long hoped. She had a good job and a stable relationship. She was mom to one teenage boy and foster mom to another. She was happy with all she had.
But when she receives a phone call asking if she has room for another boy, everything will change. Suddenly, the boy’s father, a man she once loved, is thrust back into her life, along with the memories of her broken past.
Meredith is a survivor. As a child, she and her brothers faced abuse that no child ever should. It almost cost her everything. But after her son was born, she found the help and strength she needed to face the trauma of her past and set course to her brighter future.
It is a story of love, hope, and finding light against the darkness of trauma. Foster care is a central theme to the book. I wrote it, in part, because foster care is important to me and there isn’t a wide selection of novels on that topic. There’s kids’ fiction and non-fiction, but it’s harder to find general fiction. The book is a love story. It’s also an ode to foster care. It’s also a book about trauma, which means some of the subject matters in it are hard. I don’t go into explicit details about things, but there are certain events that could be a trigger for traumatic memories, so purchase accordingly.
I would love for you to check it out.
If you read it and like it, I’d love for you to leave a rating or review at Amazon and tell someone else to check it out.
Here’s the blurb from the back cover:
They were in love but that seemed a long time ago, a different life. Abused and neglected, Meredith and her brothers spent much of their childhood in foster care. Now she’s a single mom of a teenage boy and foster mom to another, trying to juggle work, children, and dating. Abandoned by his mother, Daniel was raised by an uncle who struggled to show him love. Now he’s an addict warring against himself as he fights not to fail a son of his own. When Daniel’s son is placed as a foster child in Meredith’s home, the two are reunited but what will that mean for them and their families? Until Summer is a story of love and a longing for hope as two people battle the traumas of their pasts in search for a brighter future.
Michael (Mike) Bergman 