Springtime in London

by Jen Selinsky

Springtime in London is a love story set in early 1970s England. Kate Richards is an Oklahoman dairy farmer's daughter who is flying abroad for the first time. She will stay with her expatriate aunt and British uncle and cousin, Gloria. Kate's father, Isaac, sends Kate to London in hopes that she will meet a nice upper class man to marry. Kate's world is changed, however, when she meets Steve Maddington, a rock musician whose band tours the pubs of London and the surrounding areas. Their chance meeting could be defined as love at first sight.

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

I have been writing for most of my life, but I did not start taking it seriously until I was fifteen years old. Since then, I have written over 160 books. I write whenever inspiration strikes, and all the art featured on the front covers is either my own, my husband's, or both of ours combined.

My current publications can be found on the following sites: Lulu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, Pen It! Publications, and Buy Me Books Now.

While I do not like to think of myself as a genre writer, a lot of people know me for my poetry books. Other areas in which I write include: fiction, short stories, non-fiction, mixed genre, and quotes. Most often, I will write whatever comes to my mind at a moment's notice.

Reviews

[Sue Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Springtime in London is a sweet story about an Oklahoma farm girl coming over to London in the seventies, and finds love in the big city. Kate is not unused to city life, having studied in New York, but she must adjust to a new way of life in another country with family unlike her own conservative background.
The story has plenty to recommend it with interesting characters, good world-building, and a well-paced storyline. I think it could have done with being a lot shorter and more focused on Kate’s POV, and the romance between Kate and Steve. There was a lot going on that didn’t need to be there, and Kate was a strong enough character to carry the story and it was her perception of being in London that interested me. The other thing that frustrated me is the way people talked to each other. It’s so formal. I live in the area the story is set, and even in the seventies people didn’t converse like this.
In short, I liked the story and the world-building, but I think it needed to be focused on the main characters.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picture yourself in a different world. Where things are similar but totally different. Such is the case for Kate as she lands in London for the first time in her life. The pace is exhilarating and moves with just the perfect bit of humor to catch the reader off guard. As Kate finds there is love and surprise awaiting each corner she turns in this tale. Set in the early 70's when women's lib had just become a reality for America and not yet for Kate's Dad, "Springtime in London" offers many conflicts which open the mind to various points of view. Once begun, it's a gem, that's difficult (at best) to put down.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Sweet Romance

Kate is a conservative and naive farmer’s daughter. When she flies over from rural Oklahoma to visit her relatives in London, she not only undergoes a transformation from traditional farm girl to a modern -day rock chick, but also falls in love with a gorgeous local musician. The story follows her awakening and her sweet romance with Steve.
All in all, a cute story set in the nostalgic seventies that made me smile a lot. (There is a clothes shop called Strawberry Dreams and Steve’s band is called The Peppermint eyes)

[Rebecca Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet story set in the 70s about a young woman from a farm in Oklahoma who travels to London to stay with some relatives she's never met. Her parents sent her abroad to find herself, but secretly hoped she'd meet a young Englishman to keep her in line. Kate is sheltered, conservative and naive, and doesn't quite know how to handle her feisty, spirited and independent cousin. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where the cousin makes Kate over, from shy and awkward farm girl, to sexy 70s rocker chick. Even though the heroine is in her 20s, this is a coming-of-age story, along with a cute romance with a local rock star. I would have enjoyed the story more if it were written with less narrative. Some sections of the story felt like I was reading a synopsis or essay rather than a novel. That said, those sections held my interest, but did slow down the pace a bit. And, this has nothing to do with the story, but I'd love to see a more modern cover for this book. The cover image doesn't really "fit" the story.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, but kept getting pulled out of it by head-hopping (something that 10 years ago would NOT have bothered me), and other minor issues that a good editor could have cleaned up (too many exclamation points, minor sentence structure, and possibly a typo here and there). That's the ONLY reason I give this 3 stars. Otherwise, I look forward to reading more books by this author:)

[Troy Mccombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what to say about this novel. The story itself wasn't bad, but it could use, in my opinion, more conflict. Aside from that, I will say it is in dire need of a good editor. I caught lots of typos and misspellings, and got rather sick of the similarity in sentence structure. Regarding typos, for instance, there is one passage that goes something like... She put on a pear of jeans. I read the words ME instead of MY, which also made me arch my brow. With the sentence structure, I mean that a lot of the sentences are worded the same. Though Kate, Since Kate.... I read numerous times lines started this way, frustratingly. I am not trying to slam this book, I'm just stating my unbiased opinion. I do think it's a nice little tale for teens and young adults, but it definitely needs some work if it's gonna go somewhere. Additionally, the cover art needs improved, as I find it a bit on the tacky side. With a decent editor and some effort, I think this could be a good romance story for all young women.

The story is about Kate, a farmer's daughter from Oklahoma who flies over to England to visit Gloria, her cousin, and her aunt and uncle. While she's over there, she meets a man she falls head over heels for. Hesitant at first, due to past negative experiences with the opposite sex, Kate doubts whether this will work. She's not staying here forever, and besides, her parents, father especially, is very old-fashioned and conservative. She knows he will approve. Despite these feelings, though, she can't help but fall in love with Steve, an up-and coming musician with lots of talent, and a heart of gold.

[Shirley Penick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Springtime in London is a about Kate, a girl in her early twenty's visiting her family in London in 1971. Although she's gone to college in New York City her naïve small town upbringing is predominant in her character. Her London cousin Gloria, is more worldly and immediately sets out to bring her cousin up to a faster, freer lifestyle. The cousins meet some young men in a rock band and there is instant attraction. The four young adults work their way toward their happily ever after. It's a cute story but it drags some with a lot of extra people popping into the story and telling things from their point of view. It would have been a better and stronger story if it had focused more on just the four young adults, leaving the scenes with everyone else out and revealing the information in a different way. I was in junior high in 1971 so some of the references to that time and the fashions and attitudes drew me out of the story, because they didn't seem real and were too backward. Kate is extremely backward compared to my life at that time and while I didn't grow up on a dairy farm, it wasn't the big city either. And one final thought an editor would have helped. There were a number of typos, even ignoring the London slang.