One Summer's Night by Kiley Dunbar

Kelsey Anderson is stuck in a rut so big, she’ll need a four-wheel drive to get out. She’s just been made redundant from her dead-end job, and boyfriend Fran is so busy climbing up the career ladder that he’s forgotten how to have fun. She needs to change her life - and fast.

She stumbles across an advert for tour guides in Stratford-upon-Avon, and it seems like the perfect way to bring the sunshine back. In an impulsive move, she moves from her small Scottish village to Shakespeare’s birthplace, armed only with a suitcase and her battered copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Kelsey quickly falls in love with the place, her job as a tourist guide allowing her to explore every inch of the picture-perfect town, from cosy cafes to the picturesque banks of the river.

But it’s not just the town that captures her heart, as she finds herself torn between the actors Will and Jonathan, who both vie for her affections.

But will beautiful Peony, the lead actress at the Oklahoma theatre company where Jonathan is playing Oberon in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, play a role in keeping Kelsey and Jonathan apart?  

Or will flirtatious, charming Will, the fellow tour guide who has set his sights on Kelsey, keep the star-crossed lovers from finding their happy ending?

 

Publisher: Audible | Narrator: Eilidh Beaton  | Length: 9 hrs 54 min | Genre: Contemporary Romance | Source: Publisher | Rating: 2.5 Cups

Challenges Read For:  Literary Pickers  - Home security/alarm  - 2019 Try Something New New-to-me Author

 

This one has me a bit confused, if I’m being honest. One on hand, I really enjoyed it yet, on the other hand, I couldn’t get invested in Kelsey. Truth be told. I struggled to like her.

 

I liked that this one was a bit different. Rather than being centered on Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters, this one focused on Shakespeare’s birthplace and his works. I found that to be rather refreshing. And the Stratford-upon-Avon setting really came to life; I truly felt as though I was walking in Kelsey’s shoes as she traveled this lovely land.

 

Kelsey, for me, was a bit hard to like. She’s going through a lot of changes in her life but I don’t feel as though she’s growing or learning from these changes. She seems very childish to me, very dependent upon others. And I don’t feel like she wanted to grow/learn from her experiences. She basically spent the entire book complaining about this and that without doing anything to change/improve the situation.

 

And the romance…or rather the moping about, as it should be called as I didn’t see any actual romance happening. When Kelsey arrives in Stratford-upon-Avon, she’s drawn to Will—the handsome yet playboyish actor who was her tour guide mentor—but then she bumps into Jonathan—an American actor touring England with the Oklahoma theatre company. Rather than attempting a relationship with either one, she steals a few kisses from Will while pining over Jonathan, whom she believes is dating an another actress in the theatre company.

 

The whole of the conflict in this one could have been summed up with one question that was never asked. It just didn’t work.

 

It seemed like the author was attempting her hand at writing a comedy of errors but, for me, it just fell flat. The ‘errors’ were just too easy to figure out had the characters actually talked to one another.

 

This was my first time listening to Eilidh Beaton and I found I rather enjoyed her narration. Her male narration was a bit iffy at times but still enjoyable.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the setting of this one but the characters and plot just didn’t amuse me. It felt that this was a coming of age novel where the character never found her stride. Others may like it but, for me, I needed more. More growth, more plot, more communication.