Hold On To Me in Aussie Readers

Dec 30, 2015 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley-reviews, arc-are, aussie-author

Hold On To Me is another sweet and sexy contemporary romance in Victoria Purman's 'Boys of Summer' series.

Set on the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia, this novel features Luca Morelli, the younger brother of Anna from Our Kind of Love, and local boutique owner Stella Ryan. The pair meet when 'Style by Stella' is destroyed by fire and Anna insists her brother, a contractor, helps her rebuild.

The chemistry between the characters is obvious from their first meeting, despite the age difference ...more

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Jan 06, 2016 Bree T rated it liked it

Shelves: kindle-version, romance, netgalley, arc, series, rural-lit, aww2016

Hold On To Me is another novel in Victoria Purman’s Boys of Summer series. I’ve read the previous novels and really enjoyed them. Stella was introduced briefly before and Luca is Anna Morelli’s brother so I was pleased to get the opportunity to head back to this world and catch up with what is happening.

This one is a little slow to get moving – the cafe next to Stella’s shop catches fire and although her shop doesn’t burn it does take quite a bit of water damage from the fire brigade putting out Hold On To Me is another novel in Victoria Purman’s Boys of Summer series. I’ve read the previous novels and really enjoyed them. Stella was introduced briefly before and Luca is Anna Morelli’s brother so I was pleased to get the opportunity to head back to this world and catch up with what is happening.

This one is a little slow to get moving – the cafe next to Stella’s shop catches fire and although her shop doesn’t burn it does take quite a bit of water damage from the fire brigade putting out the fire. She hires Anna Morelli’s brother Luca to repair the shop as well as make some improvements – Luca has ‘ideas’ and together the two of them begin to plan a much better space whilst a simmering attraction starts between them.

Luca is 29 to Stella’s 35 and this is something that does preoccupy her. I’m almost the same age as Stella and I have to admit, I didn’t find it to be such a big deal? Perhaps because my husband is older than me, I don’t tend to view age gaps the same as many others might. But 6 years when both characters are around 30ish didn’t seem much at all. If Stella had been 45 and Luca 25, it might’ve been something I felt more easy for her to panic over. After all, when you stretch that far, people can be in very different life places….especially if the older character is female. By the time the guy gets to 30 and might think about wanting children, the woman is most likely going to find that difficult. When the situation is reversed, men can keep fathering children well into their senior years. I think in some ways it was trying to portray that being younger, Luca was often the one more settled, more ready for what was happening but this was occasionally spoiled by him storming off in a huff, getting angry over being jealous or becoming moody in a way that was just vaguely explained as being because he’s Italian. Also Anna refers to her brother as bella several times throughout this book which made me giggle. I’m assuming it’s supposed to be bello.

What I did really love about this book is the strong friendship between all of the women (well couples) that have each been previously featured in a book. They catch up frequently and share their lives and have girls nights (and guys nights, I’m assuming!) and in some cases, match make the not-yet-paired-up members. I also really liked the little side plot of Stella’s friend Summer and her finding of romance. Actually I think I would’ve liked to have read more about that! The women are all so closely-knit and their friendship is written in such a natural and genuine way. It makes this seem like a really lovely place to live, the sort of place you’d love to move to, even if just to be included in that sort of friendship group.

Stella had a pretty rough childhood and it’s definitely affected her into her adulthood, as well as the failed relationship that sent her fleeing back to Middle Point. She’s had to overcome quite a few knocks and she’s very determined and strong, but at the same time she does tend to have a streak of the vulnerable in her and she finds it very hard to trust. I felt as though Stella had quite a bit of justification to be as emotionally stunted as she was, even though it did make her at times, a little frustrating! She was stubborn, clinging onto this stuff from her childhood and allowing it to continue affecting her every day life but thankfully she did manage to take some steps towards letting it all go, as well as what happened with the relationship in her past, once she got over the idea that she might somehow be publicly humiliated in some way and that it would change people’s perceptions of her.

Despite a few niggles with this one (mostly personal – not seeing what the big deal was with the age and Stella needing to constantly tell herself to leave the young man alone etc) I did enjoy this story and I loved being back in this part of the world, catching up with the other couples and seeing what was going on in their lives. Victoria Purman has created a really nice community here and populated it with lovely people, the sort that you just enjoy being connected to. ...more

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Jan 03, 2016 Kira rated it liked it

Shelves: romance, aussie-author

I didn't really read the blurb before I bought this. I love the authors previous books so when I saw this was out I added it to my TBR. I was surprised and delighted to find that I was already familiar with some of the characters and he setting of Middle Point, having read all the others in the Boys of Summer series. Luca felt like a great, typical, hard working Aussie/Italian bloke. However, there was something about Stella that really annoyed me, or I've read too many romances where the protag ...more

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