After reading A Spring Affair a couple of years ago, I liked it enough to want to pick up another Milly Johnson book. I found this one for sale in my local library so thought I should give it a go.A Summer Fling doesn’t simply have one protagonist, it has five who are all brought together by dynamic new boss Christie. All of the women have something going wrong in their lives and for the most part it revolves around men. Dawn is preparing herself to be married into the family from hell. Anna is struggling to get over the fact her fiance traded her in for a much younger model. Grace is trapped in a loveless marriage for the sake of the children (who have all grown up and left home). But then there are Christie and Raychel who have much different issues.With five different characters there are five different plots all going on at once, which isn’t as confusing as it may sound. Some plots are better developed than others; for me the best developed one was Anna’s, however the one that I was most interested in was Raychel’s (mainly because it was the only one that really surprised me). Although Grace’s took a more dramatic turn than what I was expecting. In my opinion predictable isn’t always a bad thing as in a lot of cases I’m happy, or at least satisfied, with the ending.There’s a variety of personality with the five characters, however I did struggle to like them. Most of the women, to me, kept making excuses for being miserable with their lives and their men who were making their lives that way. They lied to each other and themselves for a majority of the book. To an extent I can understand why some of the characters do so, but most of the time it just stressed me out. I think I would have been more forgiving if it was in first person rather than third as I wouldn’t have been an outsider as much, but that is a difficult task with the varying plots. However I did like the relationship that the five women forged and it seemed very genuine. The behaviour and mannerisms of the women were quite realistic and the speech of the Crooke family painted a (not so) great image. But after a while the phrase “chuffing hell” began to grate. The use of it wasn’t necessarily excessive, it just really irritated me.A Summer Fling was a gentle, easy read with intriguing plot lines. It’s an ideal summer/holiday read, it can hold your interest and you can’t help but get invested into the women’s lives. It just didn’t blow me away, but I don’t regret picking it up. what an amazinnnnng book. i started this one 6 months ago...yes! and i never had the drive to finish it which was quite strange seeing as i enjoyed it so much this time around. My first problem was mostly keeping up with all the characters. And believe you me when you first pick this one up the characters will overwhelm you. i had to write down who was who . Guess i love the 1 man band type of novels. NEver been a fan of a crowded cast but because of the "amazingness" of this book. I will let it slide this time cuz the men where gorgeous, the women got a make-over and there was a happy ending. what more could i ever want in a novel.P.s i wish mr vladimir darq was so reallllll...damn what a man!!!!! LOL just my typeMost of all this book is also filled with great life lessons, and i guess most women could relate to any one of this characters. It totally gave me a new perspective of how and why i was living my life. Guess we could call this one an eye-opener!
What do You think about El Club De Las Cinco (2010)?
Too painful by half!What these girls put up with is ridiculous...
—Sars
Not as good as the pudding club but a light read
—cooleolion
Really enjoying getting lost in Milly's writing
—baprovins
