Nobody But Him (Boys of Summer, #1) in Aussie Readers

Jan 26, 2014 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: first-in-a-series, aussie-authors, romance, read-on-kindle, own-read, women-s-fiction, 2013-release

After a tumultuous few months with a gorgeous twenty-year-old by the name of Ryan Blackburn, Julia Jones decided to leave her home town of Middle Point, on the south coast not too far from South Australia’s capital city of Adelaide. She had plans for a big future; a career which would turn her into somebody – she knew if she stayed in Middle Point she would never amount to anything. So despite her longing for a future with Ryan, plus leaving her mother behind, she headed to the big smoke of Melb ...more

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Dec 21, 2018 Nicola Marsh added it

Shelves: aussie-authors, contemporary-romance, rural-romance, read-in-2018

Victoria's stories are filled with realistic characters that make you smile.
Julia is a small town girl who fled her past to build a new glam life in Melbourne.
Ry is the hotshot city boy who captured her heart one summer many years ago.
When the two reunite in the town that sparked their romance...a lovely romance unfolds.
Thoroughly enjoyed this and looking forward to reading the rest in the series. ...more

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Mar 04, 2014 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: part-of-a-series, contemporary, on-loan-from-sheree, sizzling-mild, march-2014, read-in-2014

The majority of my reading these days is on my Kindle. Its for this reason that I'm a little slow in getting to read Nobody But Him. A good friend loaned me her paperback copy a few months ago and it has been sitting on my bedside table waiting for me to pick it up. Once I picked it up I found it hard to put down.

I loved the feel of the little coastal town of Middle Point and Victoria Purman made me feel like I was there. A few recent books I've read that were set in Australia, still had a very ...more

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Aug 22, 2013 Tien rated it really liked it

Shelves: australia, kindle, australian-author, own, romance, contemporary, chick-lit, arc, womens-lit

I’m a city girl through and through. I was born and grew up metropolitan cities. There would be days though when I love the thought of a Seachange. We love the beach and would happily live by the beach. Then again, I can’t really picture that particular type of life. For me, it’s a Dream; the city is my home. I am surrounded by my friends and family.

The main appeal of this romance is the encounter with your first love once again. Don’t we all have that little bit of wonder in us, how did her tur I’m a city girl through and through. I was born and grew up metropolitan cities. There would be days though when I love the thought of a Seachange. We love the beach and would happily live by the beach. Then again, I can’t really picture that particular type of life. For me, it’s a Dream; the city is my home. I am surrounded by my friends and family.

The main appeal of this romance is the encounter with your first love once again. Don’t we all have that little bit of wonder in us, how did her turn out to be? Will there still be an attraction? Can we still hit it off? Even if, your heart was broken it was first over. The possibility of a second chance –not only for love, but for life.

Julia Jones ran away many years ago and still is running. Even the encounter with her first love wasn’t quite enough to convince her to stop until something happened which made her face what it is she’s running from and to realise what ‘home’ really means for her.

It’s confession time and I have to admit of having flicked through the ending about midway through the novel. I was determined to be good and go to bed on time and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep without knowing what’s going to happen sooooo… I took a peek :p In turn, this made me totally impatient in reading the second half of the novel even after knowing the ending! I was impatient to find out when “that” moment will hit Julia, to read “that” moment they’d finally sit down and talked like sensible people, to finally close the novel with “that” feeling of satisfaction and contentment.

I loved that it’s set at an Aussie beachside town including the good ol’ pub. It touches slightly on what life is like at a small town, the good and the bad, though of course, mostly in how it affects the main characters. I very much liked that Ry took the first mature step and I loved the way all was resolved.

This was totally a feel-good sort of story to fulfil my romantic craving. As with all romance novels I read, I also got frustrated with how the plot twists and turns but that’s what romance fiction is all about –the sparks, the tension, the epiphany, and HEA. Nobody But Him is the first instalment of Victoria Purman’s Boys of Summer series and I look forward to her next instalment with great anticipation.

My thanks to Harlequin Books Australia for the ARC copy of book ...more

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Nov 24, 2013 Paula Phillips rated it really liked it

In small towns of Australia, there are two types of people - people who come and go and those who decide to stay there for the rest of their lives and grow old happily living in the same place. For Julia Jones, she decided that she was destined for bigger and brighter things so when she turned eighteen- that was that and she high-tailed out of town leaving behind her mother and her at the time love Ryan Blackburn and never looked back. Now fifteen years later, Julia's mother has died which has ...more

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Sep 28, 2013 Sheree rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviews, romance, aussie-author, read-in-2013

I loved, loved, loved the setting, the small fictional beachside town of Middle Point on the beautiful Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia. And you don't need to have been to know, Victoria Purman's descriptions are so vivid, you can feel the sea breeze as you take in the stunning view, taste the salt, smell the coast. It's a Sea Change without leaving your loungeroom.

Julia Jones is back in Middle Point to settle her mother's estate and running into her old love Ry Blackburn, plays havoc with ...more

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Sep 26, 2013 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, series, australian, romance, aww2013

Julia left her hometown – a small town called Middle Point on the coast of South Australia – for Melbourne and university when she was just eighteen. She had big plans to become something, to lead an exciting life and none of those could come to fruition in Middle Point.

Fifteen years later and Julia is back in Middle Point. She’s been forced to take some time out of her high flying crisis management consultant job and head back to her hometown to sort through her mother’s house and her belonging Julia left her hometown – a small town called Middle Point on the coast of South Australia – for Melbourne and university when she was just eighteen. She had big plans to become something, to lead an exciting life and none of those could come to fruition in Middle Point.

Fifteen years later and Julia is back in Middle Point. She’s been forced to take some time out of her high flying crisis management consultant job and head back to her hometown to sort through her mother’s house and her belongings and finally decide what to do. Her mother died 12 months ago but Julia has been putting this off. She knows that if she sells the house, she’s cutting her ties to Middle Point forever. And now that she’s back there, now that she’s seeing it all again through fresh adult eyes, she’s not sure that she’s ready for that.

It doesn’t help that she’s run into Ryan Blackburn. Ry and Julia had a thing all those years ago, before she left the town and left him. Now Ry is the owner of the local pub and a land developer and he also happens to be living in the house next door to Julia’s. Julia should finish up what she’s doing as quickly as possible and head straight back to Melbourne, especially when Ryan seems hostile…and very unavailable. But it’s a small town and the more they see each other, the more the attraction from so long ago begins to heat up again between them.

Falling into bed with Ryan is delicious but all of the old problems are still there. Julia still doesn’t want to settle down in Middle Point – she loves her job and her busy life in Melbourne. And Ry is about to embark on a big project, something that has Julia questioning their connection and if she knows him at all. However she’s about to discover that walking away from Ry and Middle Point isn’t going to be as easy second time around.

Nobody But Him is Victoria Purman’s first novel and the first in her trilogy to be set in Middle Point, a town on the coast of South Australia based loosely around those on the Fleurieu Peninsula. In this one, Julia has returned to her hometown in order to pack up her childhood home after the death of her mother some 12 months ago. Most of the houses along the beachfront have been sold, torn down and rebuilt as monstrosities but Julia’s mother hung onto theirs. It’s decorated in 70s style kitsch and Julia has to decide if she sells it and lets go of her life here finally or chooses just to rent it out. Despite the fact that this choice should’ve been easy for her, given how swiftly she left all those years ago, she finds herself torn as to what to do about the house.

Julia also finds that her summer teenage fling Ryan Blackburn is a permanent fixture in Middle Point, having purchased the local pub. Although he also runs a development business and has offices in the city, Ry spends a lot of time in Middle Point which means the two of them are forced into seeing each other and discover that the old attraction is still simmering away. Years ago Ry begged Julia not to leave but to his view, she got in her car and drove off without looking back. It’s fair to say that at first, he still harbours quite a lot of resentment towards Julia for leaving him, especially as after she did so, he made a few mistakes. Their first few encounters are a bit awkward but when Ry offers to help Julia with fixing up the house, a truce of sorts appears…and then more.

I really like the whole ‘returning home’ story line, especially in a romance novel and especially where there’s a teenage love involved. However I really wish that in this book, we’d been treated to more of Julia and Ryan from 15 years ago. Purnman does a great job exploring the chemistry that still lingers in the present day, building it up again but I’d have loved a better snapshot from their time long ago, to really see the connection they established. I’d have liked a bit more about Julia leaving too – some of those scenes could’ve really added a more emotional punch to the novel and given the reader a bit of a better understanding about how, 15 years down the track, they were both still so affected by each other.

I really enjoyed the setting in this novel – I haven’t been to South Australia, nor have I read too many books set there, especially out of Adelaide so it was a good opportunity to get to know another part of the country. Middle Point was going through a bit of a change, where a lot of the older houses were being bought up and redeveloped by wealthy people from the city but it still maintained its small town feel and close knit community. That is evidenced by how much people care about the new development and want to make sure it will respect the community and not overdevelop it. It made me want to visit this stretch of the coastline!

The secondary characters in this novel were very enjoyable as well and I found myself really liking Julia’s best friend Lizzie, who also manages the pub for Ry. She’s the heroine in the next novel so I’m definitely looking forward to reading her story.

Nobody But Him is a very enjoyable read and a great way to kick off a trilogy because it has me excited to return to the area and get to know a couple of characters a lot better. Thankfully the wait for book #2 isn’t too long! ...more

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Aug 19, 2013 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: provided-by-publisher, arc-are, aussie-author

As a beach bunny from way back the idea of coastal romance (as opposed to rural romance) has a lot of appeal and if Victoria Purman's debut novel, Nobody But Him, is an example of what we can expect from the genre, I am sure more will be added to my burgeoning reading list in short order.

This is the first book in Purman's The Boys of Summer trilogy, a sweet and sexy romance set in a small fictional town on the coastline of South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.
Julia Jones left Middle Point at eig
As a beach bunny from way back the idea of coastal romance (as opposed to rural romance) has a lot of appeal and if Victoria Purman's debut novel, Nobody But Him, is an example of what we can expect from the genre, I am sure more will be added to my burgeoning reading list in short order.

This is the first book in Purman's The Boys of Summer trilogy, a sweet and sexy romance set in a small fictional town on the coastline of South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.
Julia Jones left Middle Point at eighteen and never looked back. Now thirty three, a successful career minded woman, she is forced to put her life in Melbourne on hold and return to deal with her mother's estate. The last person she expects to run into is Ryan Blackburn, the boy she loved and left behind.
Ry Blackburn is stunned to find Julia waitressing in his pub, it's been fifteen years since she broke his heart and though the hurt and anger at her desertion still lingers, so does his desire.

There is plenty of heat between this couple from the first moment they reconnect and though in the way of all romances there are misunderstandings and miscommunications, Julia and Ry's unresolved history gives the overwhelming attraction credibility. The romance is sweet, flavoured by the nostalgia of their teenage infatuation, but the intimate scenes sizzle.

The development of Julia's character rests on her reexamining the reasons she left Middle Point and recognising the flaws in her perception and I think Purman does this well. Julia is likeable and sympathetic, even with the giant chip on her shoulder. Ry is perhaps a more static character, needing only to admit that Julia is who he wants and be willing to fight for her.

The setting for Purman's series is wonderful, I grew up in a beachside suburb in Western Australia and now live in a small town just minutes away from the coast in New South Wales. I liked the way in which Purman brought attention to some of the issues coastal communities face, like the influx of tourists each summer, necessary for the economy but disruptive for the permanent residents, and the way in the character of the town changes as city dwellers replace humble homes with million dollar beach houses.

I really enjoyed Nobody But Him, it is an easy and engaging romance ideal for a summer's day reading. I'm looking forward to the next story from Victoria Purman - I'm guessing it will be Lizzie and Dan who will find love next.
...more

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