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7th out of 15 books
—
14 voters
The Summer of Living Dangerously
by
Julie Cohen (Goodreads Author)
A gorgeously warm, funny and heartbreaking story about facing up to your past and finding out what - and who - you really want...
Alice Woodstock has her life under control. She's successful and she's happy - as long as she continues to ignore the hurt from her past. But when said past walks back into her life in the shape of Leo - the man who broke her heart - Alice is des...more
Alice Woodstock has her life under control. She's successful and she's happy - as long as she continues to ignore the hurt from her past. But when said past walks back into her life in the shape of Leo - the man who broke her heart - Alice is des...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
March 1st 2012
by Headline Review
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This is my first Julie Cohen novel and I loved it so much I'm pleased to discover she has lots of others. It's not often you find a novel that has believable characters with complex lives in interesting, but still believable situations, and Julie Cohen has managed to produce one.
I consider myself a woman of the world and although I enjoy a good romance novel I find many of the heroes totally unbelievable. Escapism is one thing, but the realist in me would like to think that it would be possible...more
I consider myself a woman of the world and although I enjoy a good romance novel I find many of the heroes totally unbelievable. Escapism is one thing, but the realist in me would like to think that it would be possible...more
There was no way I was waiting long before diving into The Summer of Living Dangerously. I love, love, loved Julie's last book, GETTING AWAY WITH IT. I devoured the earlier book in two days. My family barely saw me ;).
THE SUMMER OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY is just as good.
The blurb:
An ordinary woman. An extraordinary adventure.
Alice Woodstock has been running away. Well, not literally. She spends most of her time glued to her desk, writing about grommets and model aeroplanes. No, Alice is avoiding th...more
THE SUMMER OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY is just as good.
The blurb:
An ordinary woman. An extraordinary adventure.
Alice Woodstock has been running away. Well, not literally. She spends most of her time glued to her desk, writing about grommets and model aeroplanes. No, Alice is avoiding th...more
Alice Woodstock is a Technical Journalist she closes herself away all
day from the outside world, she has things from her life she is trying
to put behind her.
Alice sends a proposal to Hot Hot Magazine to write about life in
Eversley hall in 1814, she is really interested and is commissioned to
do it, she is over the moon to be asked to stand in as a Scullery Maid
Anne Horton, she swats up for the role but can she pull it off?
Liv (Alice’s best friend) gets married and moves to New Zealand but ho...more
day from the outside world, she has things from her life she is trying
to put behind her.
Alice sends a proposal to Hot Hot Magazine to write about life in
Eversley hall in 1814, she is really interested and is commissioned to
do it, she is over the moon to be asked to stand in as a Scullery Maid
Anne Horton, she swats up for the role but can she pull it off?
Liv (Alice’s best friend) gets married and moves to New Zealand but ho...more
I finished this book a few days ago (and have read another book since) but I still feel bereft. This book was everything I love in a contemporary women’s fiction novel and has immediately joined Sarra Manning’s You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me and Rowan Coleman’s Lessons in Laughing Out Loud as one of my favourite books from the last fourteen months or so.
I’ve written in a previous review just why I love Julie’s books so much. Fabulous, strong female characters – always with an interesting care...more
I’ve written in a previous review just why I love Julie’s books so much. Fabulous, strong female characters – always with an interesting care...more
Thank you to Goodreads for my First reads giveaway and to Julie Cohen(the author) for sending out the book so quickly.
Before I review the book I have to say I really enjoyed the personal touch by Julie Cohen. She signed my book and sent me a post card with a note along with the book. So sweet! I really appreciated that! So Thank you Julie. :) I feel like your a friend already even though you are all the way across the world. ;)
Now for the review.
Once I received the book and I turned to the firs...more
Before I review the book I have to say I really enjoyed the personal touch by Julie Cohen. She signed my book and sent me a post card with a note along with the book. So sweet! I really appreciated that! So Thank you Julie. :) I feel like your a friend already even though you are all the way across the world. ;)
Now for the review.
Once I received the book and I turned to the firs...more
I loved this book. It is clever, witty, escapist and touching. I went to bed early so I could have quality time with the characters. I used the excuse of a bandaged finger to avoid housework so I could sit and read for an entire afternoon or two, and I consumed far too much chocolate whilst absorbed in the moment. The era.
Not only did I enjoy the romance, I learned historical facts without realising. The description of the regency house is brilliant and I swear I've actually been living there fo...more
Not only did I enjoy the romance, I learned historical facts without realising. The description of the regency house is brilliant and I swear I've actually been living there fo...more
I got this book on a recommendation and after reading Julie Cohen's 'Getting Away With It' I was champing at the bit to read this one. But I have to be honest and say that reading the blurb, I thought that I wouldn't like it going on the fact that the whole historical/regency/period drama thing is not my cup of tea.
How wrong I was. I simply loved this book, it's utterly brilliant!
Julie Cohen's heroine was so engaging, and beautifully portrayed, I couldn't stop reading needing to find out just wh...more
How wrong I was. I simply loved this book, it's utterly brilliant!
Julie Cohen's heroine was so engaging, and beautifully portrayed, I couldn't stop reading needing to find out just wh...more
I've not read a indulgent book for quite a while, I'm glad this was the one to get me back into them. I read it over a few days, and struggled to put it down. It's a perfect accompiniment to a sunny day, or relaxing in a comfy chair. The story is fantastic, I really wanted to know how things would go between Alice and her ex-husband Leo, and the gorgeous Mr Fitzwilliam. There are a good few surprises in there too, which always make reading more fun! This book will keep you interested until the v...more
**2.5/5 stars**
Julie Cohen’s first non-Little Black Dress novel, Getting Away With It, was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2010. It was brilliant. It was captivating, warm, funny, and it really marked Julie as an author to keep an eye on. So it goes without saying that I was hoping her next novel would follow suit. Especially as the plot sounded so, so fascinating. Historical re-enactments aren’t something that usually appeals to me but I read Past Perfect by Laila Sales and thoroughly enj...more
Julie Cohen’s first non-Little Black Dress novel, Getting Away With It, was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2010. It was brilliant. It was captivating, warm, funny, and it really marked Julie as an author to keep an eye on. So it goes without saying that I was hoping her next novel would follow suit. Especially as the plot sounded so, so fascinating. Historical re-enactments aren’t something that usually appeals to me but I read Past Perfect by Laila Sales and thoroughly enj...more
I started this last night because my kindle decided to re set itself...again and luckily, this book actually arrived yesterday too! And apart from what looks like a huge blood stain for a few pages, I really enjoyed it so much I finished it at 5am. I love the mix of 1814 and now. If there is something like that near me, then I'll definitely have a go at trying to be someone who lived hundreds of years ago. Its really inspirational. Loved it.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway and personally signed to boot!
First, let me say that my review does not reflect the above sentence in any way and I was wary about giving it too high a rating because of it.
(I'm quite jaded about the whole so-called "chick-lit" genre and any book that might have anything to do with romance).
So, let me just say this. Its 2:45 am and i've been reading it for 4 hours straight (my 2nd day of reading it). I havent read this genre for a long time and.........more
First, let me say that my review does not reflect the above sentence in any way and I was wary about giving it too high a rating because of it.
(I'm quite jaded about the whole so-called "chick-lit" genre and any book that might have anything to do with romance).
So, let me just say this. Its 2:45 am and i've been reading it for 4 hours straight (my 2nd day of reading it). I havent read this genre for a long time and.........more
This lively story of a woman journalist who spends a summer working in Regency re-enactment at a stately home fits the classification 'chick lit'. Not a genre I usually choose, but this book held my interest and I finished it within one weekend day. The story was engaging, with insights into historical manners and costume. The fact that the heroine wrote a blog gave it extra relevance for me. All in all, a ripping good yarn.
I thought this book was written in a really creative way. I was a goodreads winner and that is how I found this book. I loved that Alice (the main character) figured out things about her real life through her reenactment life. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first but as the story developed I really liked it. Towards the end I did not want to put the book down and I continued to read until I finished! I highly suggest that people read this one!
This is the first Julie Cohen book I've read and I really enjoyed it. We're lucky enough at Transworld to have acquired her future books and I'm now very much looking forward to Dear Thing which will be published next year.
The summer of living dangerously is surprisingly misinterpreted, as the cover really doesn't do it any justice and there's really nothing dangerous about the plot. However, as far as pure escapism is concerned it's bang on! You believe in the characters, the trials and excesses of past experiences and wholeheartedly want everything to work out in the end. Funny in all the right places with a touch of Bridget Jones thrown in for good measure, Julie Cohen has captured the essence of a summer here!...more
Spent the entire day reading this and loving it to bits. I laughed, cried, believed. Julie Cohen writes contemp romance the way no one else can - it has heart. Buy it! A more coherent review will come. :)
Love the way current lives are mixed with the 18th century. It's fairy tale yet real. Found a couple of such books and really love the fuzzy feeling. Of course the characters of pretty girls and handsome lads simply makes life happier.
What a wonderful read.
Can't speak highly enough of it.
A wonderfully romantic novel packed with lovable characters and heartfelt emotion.
Absolutely loved it!
Can't speak highly enough of it.
A wonderfully romantic novel packed with lovable characters and heartfelt emotion.
Absolutely loved it!
I really enjoyed this book. I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who likes Jane Austen and period romance.
Loved the ending...
A perfectly lovely read! Alice Woodstock's story kept me completely engaged throughout this entire tale. I thank the author for creating/sharing this story. :-)
Best book I've read so far this year, hands down! Absolutely lovely - read it!
Enjoyed this book, especially all the references to the regency period. Would now consider other books by this author.
I think Julie Cohen is definitely one of my new favourite authors (along with Lucy Dillon). This was a fast, fun read, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments interspersed with more serious, and often heart-wrenching, episodes. I especially loved the Regency enactment backdrop to the entire story, very cleverly done.
not normally a book I would read , felt book was okay nothing really exciting but author tried to make book all tie up nicely in the end and also plugging into the jane austen style
May 12, 2013
Ira
marked it as to-read
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