Summer's Lease

MEET THE SHAKESPEARE FAMILY: FOUR SISTERS, FOUR STORIES . . . FOUR WAYS TO FIND TRUE LOVE

Summer’s Lease

Carrie Elks

Published 13^th July

Paperback Original | £8.99

If music be the food of love, books are certainly the appetizers . . .

Cesca Shakespeare has hit rock bottom. Six years after the play she wrote bombed at the box office, she’s unable to hold down a job, keep an apartment, and worst of all her family have no idea how far she’s fallen. So when her fairy Godfather offers her the use of his friend’s Italian villa for the summer, she grudgingly agrees to try writing a new play. That’s before she finds out the house belongs to her arch-nemesis, Sam Carlton.

When Hollywood heart-throb Sam Carlton sees his name splashed across a gossip rag, all he wants to do is hide. That’s how he finds himself traveling to Italy, deciding to spend the summer in his family’s empty villa on Lake Como. Except when he arrives it isn’t as empty as he’d hoped.

Over the course of the hot Italian summer, Cesca and Sam have to come to terms with their pasts. What begins as a tentative friendship quickly grows into an intense attraction – and then a scorching fling. But they can’t hide from reality forever . . . as their different worlds collide, Sam and Cesca face a choice: is this just a summer romance, or could their love weather even the coldest winds?

About the author

Carrie Elks lives near London, England and writes contemporary romance with a dash of intrigue. She loves to travel and meet new people, and has lived in the USA and Switzerland as well as the UK. An avid social networker, she tries to limit her Facebook and Twitter time to stolen moments between writing chapters. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found baking, drinking wine or working out how to combine the two.

For further information please contact Clara Diaz on

020 3122 6565 | clara.diaz@littlebrown.co.uk | @ClaraHDiaz

My Review

Cesca Shakespeare ( what a brilliant name) is one of four sisters. When she finds herself unable to hold down a job or pay the rent she turns to her godfather Hugh for help. Hoping that a summer caretaking an Italian villa will help her refind her gift as a playwright, he calls in a favour from an old friend.
The descriptions of Italy, not to mention the food, immediately put the reader into holiday mode. Of course things don't go smoothly for Cesca as before long the son of the owner turns up unexpectedly. When she discovers it is none other than Sam, the leading actor who walked out of her play causing it to bomb, her first instinct is to flee - except she has nowhere to go.
I enjoyed watching the relationship develop between the two as well as the interaction of the handsome Italian next door neighbour. You'll have to read it to see how the story pans out.
Sizzling with summer, I look forward to finding out more about the Shakespeare sisters.

5/5