Review: Malibu Summer

Malibu Summer by Libby Gill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has its roots in death. It is a very intense novel, but it is a book that pulls you in and holds you there until you find out how it ends!

As you can see from the synopsis, Ivy Bauer and Conrad Reed have recently lost their respective spouses and are grieving—each in their own way. To add complications, Ivy is almost ready to test her invention, and Conrad has his very young stepson to take care of and to create a new TV series.

This time together, as Ivy restores an important garden for Conrad and Conrad learns what it is like to take care of Hudson AND write his show, pulls Ivy and Conrad together, begging the question -when is it appropriate for the remaining partner to begin a new relationship?

The author throws several monkey wrenches and then tosses some surprises into this book, keeping you on your toes.

I highly recommend this book to anyone,

*ARC was supplied by the publisher Penguin Books, the author, and NetGalley. My thanks.



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SYNOPSIS: "Lose yourself in this opposites-attract romance set on a sunny Malibu hillside

Ivy Bauer is a young, bright environmental scientist, PhD candidate, and inventor of a game-changing organic irrigation system. She’s on top of the world when, suddenly, her husband is killed in a biking accident. Needing space to grieve, she takes a summer job as a gardener in Malibu.

Conrad Reed is a wealthy Hollywood has-been who, after the death of his young wife, feels overwhelmed by the care of his rambunctious stepson Hudson, massive beach estate, and deteriorating career. Enter Ivy with her gig as gardener-for-the-summer, who—he hopes—will help take at least one thing off his plate. But the bossy, opinionated Ivy isn’t making things any easier for him. When she starts cutting back his late wife’s prized rose bushes to plant indigenous grasses, sparks fly between these two uber-driven people—and not the good kind of sparks.

It’s when Ivy finds the key to Hudson’s heart that Conrad’s own heart begins to melt as well. . . and then the sparks that fly are the ones that kindle the best kind of love affair. . .