Seven Summer Nights

De: Harper Fox

Narrado por: Chris Clog

It's 1946, and the dust of World War Two has just begun to settle. When famous archaeologist Rufus Denby returns to London, his life and reputation are as devastated as the city around him. He's used to the most glamorous of excavations, but can't turn down the offer of a job in rural Sussex. It's a refuge, and the only means left to him of scraping a living. With nothing but his satchel and a mongrel dog he's rescued from a bomb site, he sets out to investigate an ancient church in the sleepy village of Droyton Parva.

It's an ordinary task, but Droyton is in the hands of a most extraordinary vicar. The Reverend Archie Thorne has tasted action too, as a motorcycle-riding army chaplain, and is struggling to readjust to the little world around him. He's a lonely man, and Rufus's arrival soon sparks off in him a lifetime of repressed desires.

Rufus is a combat case, amnesiac and shellshocked. As he and Archie begin to unfold the archaeological mystery of Droyton, their growing friendship makes Rufus believe he might one day recapture his lost memories of the war, and find his way back from the edge of insanity to love.

It's summer on the South Downs, the air full of sunshine and enchantment. And Rufus and Archie's seven summer nights have just begun....

©2016 Harper Fox (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Sweet Love Story with Lovable Heroes

4.5 stars. Chris Clog made this wonderful story even better with all of his wonderful voices and great timing. I wish he could read many more of my favorite books. This was my first Harper Fox story and if her other books have characters this lovable and the love stories this sweet, it definitely won't be my last.

Overall, I loved the main characters, how kind and honorable they were and their beautiful love story. I am not into toxic heroes and toxic stories of emotionally & sometimes physically abusive relationships disguised as a sexy love story (I am looking at you 50 Shades of [Abuse]). Causing someone pain and humiliation is just not sexy to me just because an author or publisher tries to sell those things during sex. If a behavior is abusive and not okay, then why is it okay just because it happens during sex or because it came from a so called sexy character? Sorry for my mini soapbox, it's because of the curse of that horrible book that so many authors feel the need to add BDSM to their stories and ruin it. It's becoming harder to find truly loving and healthy love stories that are exciting and interesting like this one. The relationship of the main characters in this story is the opposite of toxic thank goodness. They bring each other hope, love, laughter, support, comfort, passion, and emotional safety. I can't wait to hear the next Harper Fox book, though I will definitely be skipping the ghost stories, I look forward to the rest.

Trigger warning for some very disturbing graphic violence that didn't seem gratuitous but as part of the story. I had to try to skip over those parts because my nervous system can't handle it so I had to use some aftermath context clues to figure out the gist of what had happened but that is a me problem and not a story problem. It didn't ruin the story for me to skip those parts, it actually made it better for me because I only cared about the main characters' relationship and their interactions.

My only true story problem was how much smoking was in this story because one of the main characters is a heavy smoker through most of the story. I just don't like smoking as a device for handling a character's stress because there are so many other ways authors can show a character is stressed out or dealing with anxiety without resorting to inadvertently promoting a cancer causing method of dealing with painful feelings. I get the author put in some blurbs about smoking being bad and at least had him stop at the end but it was a really unpleasantly distracting part of the story that I felt took away from the story and not enhanced it. Instead of helping me to feel empathy for the character's distress when he smoked, I kept thinking why are you endangering yourself and everyone around you and the stench of it. Despite that, I highly recommend this book overall. This was a very unique and imaginative love story with a very satisfying ending.

Magical story of healing

This was my first Harper Fox book and I didn't realize they often wrote magical realism stories so I wasn't expecting that. However, I think it lent a nice bonus to the story, which provides many MANY characters the opportunities to heal, not just the two MCs. You have to let go of some element of realism to accept that Archie and Rufus fell so deeply in love in a handful of days, but aside from that I really loved this story. Archie's household of lost souls reminded me a lot of The House in the Cerulean Sea, and was just as heartwarming. The narrator was PERFECT and really invested everyone with all the emotion they deserved. Will likely be listening to this again.

Wonderful story!

A wonderful story creating vivid images of times past with love and magic mixed in!

A sweet story

An unlikely ending for a period book like it is but a sweet one none the less.

My new favorite romance novel ever

This book was absolutely everything I want out of a romance, lovable protagonists, wacky but developed secondary characters, a plot outside of the relationship plot, history, slight supernatural elements... but mostly a world I enjoyed getting lost in! If you are interested in archeology, history of witchcraft, post WW-II rural England, lots of acts of love and devotion, a few instances of non-graphically described sex, give this one a try!

Epic tale - five stars

I’m astounded by this author’s ability to conjure a time in history as well so many memorable characters to go on this quest for dignity and human kindness while exploring the hidden cultural and archeological significance of an ancient church. Highly recommended! (Some explicit sex scenes.)

Harper does Jane Austen! Deeply Touching

I won't forget The Reverend and Rufus anytime soon. As the book starts I think, "I don't know if I'll like this"...well, that quickly ended as the fog cleared. Narration is smooth, excellent - great differentiation of character and flow. I dare you to be immune to this story or the charm of these two as they will make you breathless with their selflessness... their sweetness and utter rightness for each other. It is set in the 40's but makes you feel you are in earlier times... but the culture is changing quickly. There are several times when you think oh, I know how this is going to go, but there are some hairpin turns along the way. Thanks so much Harper for the beautiful Story, I have had several of yours I have enjoyed and am looking forward to the next! Chris Clog is an excellent narrator!

The archaeology, folklore etc. it was amazing

So the story started off really interestingly. As a child I was really into archaeology way before Indiana Jones :-) I liked that the characters didn’t jump right into bed like every other MM romance novel, but about halfway through the author got confused and started using modern day terms like “top, bottom, street.“ other than that the story was excellent. I don’t know if the author Danes to read these reviews but I hope she does. Miss Fox I mean this with the upmost respect and in the spirit of constructive feedback; I’ve read a few of your novels and it seems to me that you write what you know. That’s really great for beginning writer, but someone who’s been writing as long as you, and if you’re interested in improving your craft, should take some chances. From the novels I’ve read it seems you are agnostic and therefore all of your characters are too. He would be really fascinating from a readers perspective for a writer of your caliber to take a different stance. I would love to see one of your protagonists have some form of strong faith, whether it be Christian, pagan or anything else. Think of it as a writing exercise. Anyway I hope this review reaches you. Thank you for your wonderful stories

One of the best this year

This was a beautiful story set in a time and a place not often seen for this time period. The setting, Sussex, was just gorgeous and the writer and narrator did a gorgeous job of conveying it. A great cast of characters, brought to life by impeccable narration, a beautiful love story when being gay had serious consequences, and of course archeology and magic. Well worth the time to listen to this story and one of my favorites for 2020.

Nice love story

I’ll agree the supernatural aspect could stay or leave but overall a very well rounded story. The narrater has a nice voice and did a fine job. There seemed to be a natural flow to the book. I liked it a lot.