Blog Tour & Review for That One Summer by C.J.Duggan

Thursday 27 February 2014





The Boys of Summer (Summer #1)
It seemed only natural to nickname them the ‘Onslow Boys’. Every time they swaggered in the front door of the Onslow Hotel after a hard week’s work, their laughter was loud and genuine as they settled onto their bar stools. I peeked through the restaurant partition, a flimsy divider between my world and theirs. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I saw them, saw him ... Toby Morrison.
Quiet seventeen-year-old Tess doesn’t relish the thought of a summertime job. She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins.
To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.
How did she let her friends talk her into working?
After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.
All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.
It will be a summer she will always remember.
 
An Endless Summer (Summer #2)
Sean looked out over the lake, squinting against the sunlight. He turned to me, his expression sobering as his eyes flicked over my face in a silent study.
“Come on Amy, I saved you once, I’ll save you again.”
I met his stare unflinchingly. “I don’t need saving.”
A wicked grin formed slowly. “Don’t you?”
After a rebellious summer night that almost claimed her life, Amy Henderson – the Onslow publican’s only daughter – is sent away to suffer a fate far worse than any other punishment:
Boarding School.
Three years on, a now nineteen-year-old Amy returns to Onslow for the summer. What once was a cauldron of activity with live bands, hot meals and cold beers, the Onslow Hotel now lies dark, deserted and depressing. All fond childhood memories of loitering on the hotel stairs and eavesdropping on customers’ colourful conversations are in the distant past.
How had her dad let it come to this?
With the new threat of putting the Onslow up for sale, Amy reluctantly turns to a local tradesman for help: Sean Murphy, the very same Onslow boy who saved her life all those years ago. With his help and that of some old friends, the task is clear: spend the summer building the hotel back up to its former glory or lose it for good.
In an endless summer, Amy soon realises that sometimes in order to save your future, you have to face your past, even if it’s in the form of a smug, gorgeous Onslow boy
 
That One Summer (Summer #3)
Loving Chris Henderson would be wrong. Diabolically disastrous. I mean, what is there about him to love? He’s moody, bossy, brooding, a control freak, and that’s on a good day … but there was one achingly obvious fact that haunted my every thought, every minute of every day …
He sure could kiss.
As the countdown to the new millennium begins, there is one thing everyone agrees on: no one wants to be in Onslow for New Year’s Eve.
So that can only mean one thing: road trip!
No longer the mousey, invisible, shy girl from years ago, Tammy Maskala is finally making up for all those lost summers. A new year with new friends, which astoundingly includes the bossy boy behind the bar, Chris Henderson.
She likes her new friends (at least most of them), so why does she secretly feel so out of place?
After chickening out on the trip, a last-minute change of heart sees Tammy racing to the Onslow Hotel, fearing she’s missed her chance for a ride. The last thing she expected to meet was a less-than-happy Onslow Boy leaning against his black panel van.
Now the countdown begins to reach the others at Point Shank before the party is over and the new year has begun. Alone in a car with only the infuriating Chris Henderson, Tammy can’t help but feel this is a disastrous start to what could have been a great adventure. But when the awkward road trip takes an unexpected turn, Tammy soon discovers that the way her traitorous heart feels about Chris is the biggest disaster of all.
Fogged up windows, moonlight swimming, bad karaoke and unearthed secrets; after this one summer nothing will ever be the same again.
As part of the blog tour, they were very kind and sent me not only the third book in the Summer Series which is what this blog tour is centred around but also the first two books. So, below is the review of all third in this amazing series that will make you wish it was summer all year round.
Each of the books centred around different characters and their summers, The Boys of Summer (Summer #1) is about Tess who is the main character as well as her friends Adam and Ellie. Each character has their own personality, Tess is shy and doesn't have much confidence, Adam is the joker of the three friends but he is also they one who keeps them together and then there is Ellie, who is very confident, knows who she is and isn't afraid to show it.
 
Their friendship is one that many teenagers dream about yet so really find, even with their differences they are still the best of friends and understand each other more than anyone else would. When Tess runs into Toby, a older guy who she has liked for the longest of time, at her summer job, the one that Adam and Ellie pushed her into. She can't help but make a fool of herself, with Toby and her two friends, Sean and Stan also with him, they together make up the Onslow boys. They are older, more mature yet even with those differences they get along really well.

Toby and Tess's summer romance gets off to a rocky start but some things start looking up and before you know it, they both are where they are suppose to be. The Boys of Summer is about young love, summer romance and what true friendship really is, this story shows the real side to falling in love and everything that comes with it. The awkward tension, confused feelings and the twists and turns that this book takes you on. The Boys of Summer is the perfect book to start of this wonderful series.

The second book, An Endless Summer is about Amy, who after making an appearance in the first book, is now back with a story of her own. Older and more mature, Amy is ready to spend the summer with all the people that she met during the first book. This books is just as humours and exciting as the first one, this one mainly focuses on the relationship of Amy and Sean. Amy who was fifteen during the first book, is now nineteen and is looking for another great summer.

Sean who is part of the Onslow boys, best friend of Toby, has really grown up as well and getting his life together when he meets Amy once again. After being thrown together when Amy needs help with the bar, and Sean is very handy at DIY, you start to see something brewing in the air. As they being to spend more and more time together, love slowly makes its way into their lives.

Even though they already know each other, they find out more as time goes by and also about themselves at the same time. This story shows the Onslow crew and how when they need each other the most they will be there, to show support and help where they can, as that is what friendship is all about. An Endless Summer shows the more vulnerable side to falling in love, how friendships can never be broken and how sometimes all you really need is a laugh with your friends to make everything better.

The third book, That One Summer revolves around Chris and Tammy, both who have been present in the first two book and now their story is about to get a bit more interesting. This book still has all the amazing characters that filled the pages during the last two books, though this time, this story is slightly different, it is centred around a road trip.

Even though they have spent time together before, Chris and Tammy are spending the entire trip together, you get to see a different side to both of them and how that plays out as the story progress along, it made a great change to the summer books that are out there. It shows how a single journey can change your life without you even knowing it would.

There were many great things about the adventure that happens in That One Summer, how the more time Chris and Tammy spend together the more they find out about each other, celebrating new years eve together which was also the added celebration of the year turning to 2000 and how the banter that remains just keeps on getting better and better.

Even though Chris and Tammy are both different, their connection, flirting and romantic glances show that opposites really do attract. Tammy has many insecurities and Chris's consist broodiness, shows that if you look beyond what is on the outside then maybe just maybe everything you could have ever wanted was right in front of you the entire time.

That One Summer takes you on a journey of fun, flirty and hilarious banter that will make you laugh out loud, make you wish you had friends like these and how sometimes all it takes is one journey to change your whole future.

If I had to sum up this amazing series in just three words, they would be Realistic, Inspiring and Amazing.

The rating I would give this book/series would have to be:-


Goodreads links for series

 
 
To buy the whole of this amazing series click the link below:-
 
 
To Pre-Order C.J. Duggan Two New Books
 
 
Summer Series Trailer
 
Author Links
Giveaway



1 winner will get ebooks of Book 1-3 of the Summer series (INT)
 
 
 
                                                               a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
Giveaway Rules and Conditions 
 
Contest is void where prohibited. Entrants must be 13 or else have parent or guardian’s permission to enter. Winners will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond  or another winner’s name will be selected. Winning entries will be verified for authenticity.
 
 

C.J Duggan is a Number One Best Selling Australian Author who lives with her husband in a rural border town of New South Wales, Australia. When she isn’t writing books about swoony boys and 90’s pop culture you will find her renovating her hundred-year-old Victorian homestead or annoying her local travel agent for a quote to escape the chaos. 
The Boys of Summer is Book One in her highly successful Mature Young Adult Romance Series.
 
Another day, another book, 
 
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