When Summer Comes by Brenda Novak Series: Whiskey Creek #3
Published by Harlequin on 22 January 2013
Pages: 400
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Amazon 
Summary from Goodreads:
One day, Callie Vanetta receives devastating news. She needs a liver transplant. But her doctors warn that, in her case, the chances of finding a compatible donor aren't good.
Determined to spend whatever time she has left on her own terms, she keeps the diagnosis to herself and moves out to her late grandparents' farm. She's always wanted to live there. But the farm hasn't been worked in years and she begins to fear it's too much, she'll have to return to town.
One night, a stranger comes knocking at her door... He's an attractive and mysterious drifter by the name of Levi McCloud who offers to trade work for a few nights' shelter.
*I received a free ARC of When Summer Comes from Harlequin MIRA via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
When Summer Comes is the third book in the Whiskey Creek series, and it is just as sweet, romantic and filled with friendship and ‘real’ people as the prior books in the series.
Cally is a character who stayed pretty much in the background in the other Whiskey Creek books (When We Touch, When Lightning Strikes and When Snow Falls), but she really deserved her own book and her own romance! Her situation is extremely complicated, though, because she doesn’t want anyone to know that she is sick. When she takes time off from her photo studio, everybody thinks it’s because she wants to get her grand-parents’ farmhouse ready for sale. They realize she isn’t around as often as she used to, of course, but they all make up their own reasons as to why that is.
Levi is a really hot drifter who shows up at her doorstep after having been attacked by dogs. Cally is afraid to open the door, and Levi doesn’t want police or doctors involved. Cally still calls the police, though, and Levi disappears, only to wake her later when he has fainted in her bedroom trying to stitch himself back together. From that point, an unlikely friendship, spiked with some healthy attraction starts between the two of them, to the great misery of several people in Whiskey Creek.
Cally continues to keep her health-problems from everybody she knows and loves, she doesn’t want anyone to pity her! She doesn’t realize how much she needs to be able to lean on someone, though. Levi is secretive, but only because he feels like he needs a new start in his life after he was in the war, watched the woman he loved die, and then some problems with the police before he ended up in Whiskey Creek. The attraction between Cally and Levi is tangible, and they both really need someone to love, even if neither of them shares themselves fully.
Once Cally tells her parents and all her friends about her illness, Levi leaves to sort out his relationship with his father. Things go downhill quickly, and when Levi comes back, he is afraid he won’t ever be able to tell Cally that he loves her, and that he would like to spend the rest of his life with her.
When Summer Comes is, like the other Whiskey Creek books, about friendship and finding love. It was a lot more bittersweet, though, because, as the title hints at, Cally might not make it through the summer. This makes for more intense feelings as well, especially on Cally’s part.
As always, I loved the friendship, I loved how broken Levi and Cally both were, even if they thought of helping to mend each other more than they wanted to mend themselves. For me this series is the perfect contemporary romance series, with strong characters, healthy friendships and a heavy dose of hotness.
I am hoping there will be at least one more book in this series, about a certain guy who’s had a crush for several years…
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
I haven’t heard of this series but this book sounds wonderful. I’ll have to check out the series. 🙂
I love this series! It is well written, and both the friendships and the romance is really well done 🙂
Hey Lexxie,
I nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award. You can find the details on my blog. If you don’t want to accept, that’s totally cool. I just happen to love your blog! 🙂
This sounds like a beautiful series. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm. I am adding the first to my list now, before I forget.
Please let me know when you read it, I’d love to see what you think of it 🙂
Awesome series….this book When Summer Comes is the most beautiful book and I did not want it to end. It was just so touching. You have to read the Whiskey Creek Series. You will fall in love with all the people in the town of Whiskey Creek. The people are real you connect with each of them. In this book the main people we are connected with are Callie and Levi…the love we see in these two is Priceless..