Last Summer eBook Theresa Weir
Download As PDF : Last Summer eBook Theresa Weir 
Contemporary Romance
Originally published by Penguin Putnam
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A young widow...
A self-destructive celebrity...
A small town in Texas...
This book is an unabashed romance. No mystery. No suspense. Not a lot of external motivation. It's all about two people. A lot of angst, a lot of drama, a lot of humor, some great dialogue. A courtship dance that lasts an entire book. In other words, a ROMANCE! It kind of has a sixties James Dean feel to it, where you have these tormented characters who just want to sob "You're tearing me apart!" James Dean could be the anti-hero, and Natalie Wood could be the young widow. Or maybe Elizabeth Taylor. No, it should be someone quirky. A young Shirley MacLaine. Perfect. Mix that up with a little desert town and a bunch of gossips, and a time period (of not so long ago) when sex outside a relationship was considered slutty and worthy of gasps behind white gloves.
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Description from the original printing
"Unimpressed with hometown boy Johnnie Irish's superstar status, widowed schoolteacher Maggie Mayfield nonetheless falls for the returning idol, who has only revenge on his mind."
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Yeah, well that happens. But so much more. Johnnie ruins the town of Hope's homecoming parade. He passes out on Maggie's floor. He leaves but can't forget her. He makes a movie that bombs. He almost dies and everybody thinks he tried to commit suicide. He returns to Hope to get away from Hollywood for a while. He plays piano for Maggie's play. He gets healthy. He falls in love. He's haunted by demons. He almost dies again. He and Maggie fight. He leaves. He comes back.
***
From the book
Johnnie Irish adjusted his dark, wire-rimmed sunglasses, gave a nod to the pilot, then paused in the doorway of the charter plane. Something had definitely been lost arriving by air, he decided. To get the full effect of Hope, Texas, a guy had to approach it by land. He had to cross miles and miles of desolate desert, tumbleweeds, and broken-down shanties. He had to see all the billboards boasting two-headed snakes and five-legged lambs.
As a teenager, Johnnie and some buddies had decided to take in one of the roadside attractions. They’d plunked down a buck fifty only to discover that the snake was pickled and the lamb was stuffed. From the highly visible black stitches, they’d also decided that the freak appendage had been added by some myopic seamstress. They’d quickly pointed out the flaws in loud, boisterous voices. Doubled up with laughter, tears streaming from their eyes, they’d been kicked out of the joint—which only made them laugh all the harder.
Johnnie had been kicked out of a lot of places since then. Bars. Hotels. Restaurants.
Towns.
Hope, Texas, in particular.
Three months ago, when he’d gotten the phone call asking him to be the main attraction in Hope’s homecoming parade, he’d laughed out loud, right into the receiver. But then he thought it over a while and the temptation proved too much. He’d been harboring a bitterness toward his hometown for a long time, and wouldn’t revenge be sweet? So, fifteen years after being tossed out on his ass, he’d decided to come back.
Desert wind, not yet heated by the day, felt good against his skin. He’d forgotten how clear and untainted the air here was. He took a moment to pull some of that air deep into his lungs.
He could see the promised car waiting for him—the parade convertible. Standing beside it, shading her eyes with one hand, was a dark-haired woman. For a second, panic thumped in his chest while his mind spun backward to his childhood and all its horrors. For a second, he thought the woman standing by the car was his mother, then his head cleared and he remembered she was dead. He let out his breath in relief.
Last Summer eBook Theresa Weir
My faith in the review process has been restored! Too often, I see books with a lot of 4 and 5 ratings, but also a lot of 1 and 2 star. After reading "Last Summer", I came back to the reviews, as I usually do, to see if my impressions of a book agree. I was pleased to see this book has all 4 and 5 star reviews as of this writing. Those ratings are accurate and justified.Theresa Weir has a gift for portraying her characters as people you feel you know. No one is idealistically perfect - they have flaws, doubts and insecurities, and sometimes regrets, making them very human and very real. Oh yes, I got exasperated when Maggie and Johnnie kept reading the wrong things into each others thoughts and actions, but that is something that is very true to life. Many times, relationships are more affected by what we imagine someone else is thinking or feeling, and usually direct confrontation is avoided.
The flow of the story was comfortable and cohesive. But towards the end, I was becoming sure that just one more round of misunderstandings, fixed by the growing feelings they have for each other would be the ending of the book. But the author pulled the rug out from under my feet with an event I had not anticipated or expected. Well done! No details (spoilers) from me - I want each future reader to feel the same surprise and concern I did. I will just say it amplified my esteem for this book and author.
I would recommend this as an excellent read for anyone, but there are some scenes of intimacy that are well written and tasteful, but may make some people uncomfortable.
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Last Summer eBook Theresa Weir Reviews
Johnnie Irish had a horrible childhood and has been running from it in a very destructive way. Becoming a famous comedic, handsome actor, he can hide his past and pain. Beyond his better judgement, Johnnie agrees to go back to his hometown for their Homecoming Parade. Johnnie does not want to let down his audience by showing nothing but his "true" image as bad boy. Maggie Mayfield is a young widow who has made Hope her hometown. She is a school teacher and in charge of the drama department for the community. She voted against having this man in the parade. And her vote was right. But as the story continues, Maggie can see past Johnnie and his antics and see's a funny, vulnerable man. I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, sad, heartwarming and the characters were very well defined and believable. I have always enjoyed books by this author, and this will be added to them.
Bad boy Johnnie Irish returned to Hope, Texas on a lark. His goal? To get in, get out and forget, for the last time, this miserable community where he was raised. He only cared for one person in this "nothing town in the middle of one giant litterbox." His former drama teacher, Harriet.
He met up with Maggie Mayfield who was in charge of the town parade. A young widow who missed her husband immensely, Johnnie and Maggie clashed. Little did either one know but circumstances would draw them together on more then one occasion.
At first he didn't know what to make of her. But Maggie showed Johnnie that there were people in this world with redeeming characteristics. They both concealed things but I found sweetness hidden within the pages.
Ms. Weir has a gift; the men in her stories are often anti-heroes but she makes them lovable. LAST SUMMER is dark and edgy yet heartwarming. Maggie and Johnnie both make mistakes. Neither was perfect and that was okay. It just took them longer to find out how important each of them was to each other. This story is still a keeper even though I rated it 4, more like 4.5, stars.
I loved this book. So many authors try to write bad boy heroes, but they are too afraid to actually give their characters real flaws. Johnnie Irish is a train-wreck, a gifted comedic actor with terrible demons that drive him forward on a self-destructive path due to a really awful childhood. He isn't magically or instantly redeemed. Throughout the book, he messes up over and over again and his good intentions are often not enough. But his innate sweetness and vulnerability come through so clearly and you can't help rooting for him. Maggie was a bit uptight and judgmental, but again, she was real with flaws, not a perfect Mary Sue like so many romance heroines are. She lost her husband and it was understandable that she was afraid to open herself up, especially to someone as messed up as Johnnie. This is the second book of Theresa Weir's that I've read and she is so good at writing intense love stories.
What a refreshing read!
Ms. Weir has taken the trouble to create a romance that leaves about 90% of what I've read this year in the dust. I was starting to think no one was writing books like this anymore.
Because it's a romance, you know how it will end up. This book portrays the struggle to get there in a way that is thankfully free of so many of the cliches other authors are using. Ms. Weir doesn't bore us by spending time describing how stunning Maggie is. In fact, we get the impression that she looks pretty average. She doesn't curl up into a fetal ball every time she gets her feelings hurt. She continues to move through her life in the same way most of us have to when we're struggling through a relationship.
Johnny makes some stupid mistakes as a result of his damaged childhood. We learn about his past through peripheral characters as well as through Johnny himself. We ache for what he has been through, and wish he could see himself the way Maggie sees him.
If this book were to continue into the future, I would expect this couple to still struggle at times because they seem so much like REAL people.
I will definitely be taking a look at other books by this author. Well done, Ms. Weir!
My faith in the review process has been restored! Too often, I see books with a lot of 4 and 5 ratings, but also a lot of 1 and 2 star. After reading "Last Summer", I came back to the reviews, as I usually do, to see if my impressions of a book agree. I was pleased to see this book has all 4 and 5 star reviews as of this writing. Those ratings are accurate and justified.
Theresa Weir has a gift for portraying her characters as people you feel you know. No one is idealistically perfect - they have flaws, doubts and insecurities, and sometimes regrets, making them very human and very real. Oh yes, I got exasperated when Maggie and Johnnie kept reading the wrong things into each others thoughts and actions, but that is something that is very true to life. Many times, relationships are more affected by what we imagine someone else is thinking or feeling, and usually direct confrontation is avoided.
The flow of the story was comfortable and cohesive. But towards the end, I was becoming sure that just one more round of misunderstandings, fixed by the growing feelings they have for each other would be the ending of the book. But the author pulled the rug out from under my feet with an event I had not anticipated or expected. Well done! No details (spoilers) from me - I want each future reader to feel the same surprise and concern I did. I will just say it amplified my esteem for this book and author.
I would recommend this as an excellent read for anyone, but there are some scenes of intimacy that are well written and tasteful, but may make some people uncomfortable.
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