The Summer My Life Began, by Shannon Greenland

A fabulous romance with a very unexpected guy . . .

       The opportunity to explore her love of cooking . .                The freedom to be whoever she wants . . .

This is what seventeen-year-old Em gets when she goes to spend a month at her aunt's island resort. It's a dream come true—and exactly the break Em needed from her strict family and their high expectations of her.


But when Em uncovers a long-buried secret about her family, everything changes. And suddenly, Em finds herself making some big choices about her future—choices she never dreamed she'd have the chance to make . . .

Oh an Em should have these things! Every girl should! She's free for the first time in her life and lives up every minute of it. I found myself wishing I'd had an Aunt Tilly and could have spent a month in a quiet beach town playing in the kitchen and loving life!

It's a great little YA romance. It's not too heavy, but just intriguing enough to keep a reader hooked. It's a "girl book," but that's ok...us girls need those sometimes. *grin* Em's interesting, the guy is obviously hot, and the descriptions of the food made me dig out a cookbook.


Escape for a little bit..

Since part of the story is about living out your own dreams, I asked Shannon what her "someday" dreams are.

Top 10 Someday Dreams

(In no particular order)

11.    Hit the New York Times Bestsellers List

22.    Tour the Mediterranean

33.    See any of my books made into a movie

44.    Learn to play the piano

55.    Visit Australia

66.    Zip line the Amazon

77.    Dive an underwater cave

88.    Sky dive

99.    Hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon

110. Dog sled through Alaska

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book as an ARC from JKSCommunications in connection with their hosted blog tour. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”