When August ends by Penelope Ward

My rating: 5/5 stars 

Penelope Ward tops my 3 favorite authors and I love her writing so much. I don’t think she wrote a book I haven’t read and the fact that her stories continue to surprise and entertain me is a sign of how good and talented she is. There isn’t a book that matches another, all being original and well drafted.

“When August ends” is by far the best read of 2019 in terms of Romance. How can I prove it? I read the book in 1 days, because from the first 2 chapters I was hooked. The story was so good, addictive and with an element I just love. To hint on it, I love student-professor love stories. This is not the case here, but the age difference is something that triggers my interest up to a maximum level, and not taking into consideration who is older in the couple.

Heather is a 20 years old girl with a lot of responsibilities. She has to take care of her mother who suffers from depression and besides that, her father remarried, leaving her practically alone to deal with all the problems that might come. What she wants is not important, but she is fine with it, because the purpose of taking care of her mother is greater than everything she needs. When she rents the boathouse on their property at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire she doesn’t know that her life will change irrevocably. Her new tenant is a very grouchy and sour man who doesn’t want to interact with her much. He is only here for the Summer and after that he is long gone. But their plans will soon change.

Noah appears to run from something and even if he sees Heather as a child, soon this will change because they will become very good friends. He knows August will soon end and he doesn’t have to get attached or involved much with Heather, but this pull is stronger than his will. Surpassing the physical attraction, their connection is extremely strong because they can easily talk about anything like they knew each other for years. It was very relaxing seeing them like this and apart from that, their mocking and push and pull was fun. Heather clearly had a crush on Noah, but he had to stay away for their own good. Things will become complicated and a lot of things will be revealed….

I liked Heather a lot due to her maturity and sincerity towards Noah. She was clear from the start about the way she feels and even though no hopes were given she still let crumbles behind for a tiny chance. Their relationship developed so naturally and I was soooo eager to see them together. Noah put up a good fight, with pertinent arguments, but Heather took his heart by storm and obliterated everything he believed in. Even with the age gap they still fit perfectly and I was very delighted to read about this type of characters that beg to be brought together by love and life. As a reader you are very aware they are not doing anything wrong, but they think the other way around.

The story was addictive, I read it in a day because I couldn’t put the book down. I wanted to see when Noah will crack, how Heather will manage her feelings and what will be the outcome. I loved the funny dialogues, the tension and chemistry between the characters, the steamy scenes but also the drama and the mystery, because the plot will reveal many things, believe me. I like slow burn romances and I like to see the “after” part. In this book, this part was amazing and it developed naturally, as their relantionship in the first place.

It was such an interesting read, a relaxing love story fitted for a lazy Sunday, with great character development and romantic tension. When everything exploded, it was extremely satisfying and I love how Penelope delivers so much to her readers, never letting them down. Every story is unique, with something new but in the same time featured elements that match her style.

One of the best stories so far which I totally recommend 😊