Strawberry Summer

By: Melissa Brayden

Narrated by: Paige McKinney

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

Just because you're through with your past, doesn't mean it's through with you.

Margaret Beringer didn't have an easy adolescence. She hated her name, was less than popular in school, and was always cast aside as a "farm kid." However, with the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret's youth sparked into color. Courtney was smart, beautiful, and put together - everything Margaret wasn't. Who would have imagined that they'd fit together so perfectly?

But first loves can scar.

Margaret hasn't seen Courtney in years and that's for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she's tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn't help matters.

A small town romance.

©2017 Melissa Brayden (P)2017 Bold Strokes Books Inc

Loved the book, narrator choices not so much

First off, loved the book (5 Stars). Brayden is one of the best and her books are among my favorites.
What I didn't like about the audiobook was the Narrator's voice for Maggie. The book is written in first person from Maggie's point of view. I liked her voice for Maggie's thoughts but Maggie's speaking voice is high and juvenile. Which was OK, when she was a teen. I was hoping when Maggie became an adult, McKinney would switch to a lower adult voice, but she didn't adjust. At times adult Maggie sounded like a whiny teenager. I kept thinking why would sultry voiced Courtney find this attractive? Otherwise, McKinney's other character's voices were well done. Performance: 2 stars for Maggie's speaking voice added a star for the rest of the book.

4 people found this helpful

Melissa Brayden is worthy of a better narrator

Good story .I read and loves all of her books. I do have other favourites but I would never pass on any of them. Shame the narration is bad. Sing a song kind of reading. All characters sound flat. Missing are the emotions that the words try to deliver.

2 people found this helpful

Heart Warming

I loved the story line and the characters. The only thing I didn't like was when Maggie became an adult she still had her young teenage voice. The Narrator should have changed the voice a bit. Other then that I loved the story!

1 person found this helpful

Authors best work ever

I laughed I cried and even got angry at times. Melissa wrote a wonderful story about life's ups and downs. This book was just awesome

1 person found this helpful

Another case of a decent story plagued by crappy narrating

The narrators monotone voice and awkward choices for character just kept taking me out the book threw enough curveballs to keep my attention but the performance was like a rock in my shoe

3 people found this helpful

Love can come in different ways...

Loved the story with interesting characters and well written, I didn't like that Courtney sounded like a sexy 40 YO woman while Maggie sounded like a 12 YO child...
as the story is told in first person by Maggie, Ms McKinney should have used the same voice for her character.

1 person found this helpful

Great story

Strawberries. Yum. Young love that grows with age. Characters have great dialogue! Love the interaction not only with the main characters but with all the characters. The narrator really brought the story to life!

1 person found this helpful

wasn't in love with this book

I really didn't like how the reader read the main character. I wasn't feeling any chemistry between the two.

1 person found this helpful

loved it!

This book was very Melissa! I will continue to be a fan of hers. It was a very cute story with bits of humor from Maggie laced through.

1 person found this helpful

WOW

I was never a fan of first person book, but this one is past amazing. It had me laughing and tearing up. The dynamic of 2 youthful teenagers summer love, their broken hearts, and their rejoining of passion was stunning. I loved how the narrator gave the characters life and really enjoyed the whole book.

Shallow and predictable

I found this book shallow and predictable. The characters were poorly conceived and the plot even more so. What made this worse was the annoying valley girl voice the narrator chose for Maggie, overall it lacked any real emotional quality or substance for my taste. Save yourself 10 hours and go read Pages For You by Sylvia Brownrigg if lesbian teenage angst is your thing.

2 people found this helpful