The Promise of Summer - Bella Osborne - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Bella Osborne

NARRATOR: Laura Brydon

GENRE: Romantic Comedy

RATING: 4.5 stars.

I don’t even remember when I last rated a “chick-lit” this high! So today is indeed a rare day. This was an absolutely fabulous book to listen to and with some hilarious writing to boot!

Story:

Ruby, a florist in her day-time job, is a huge romantic who has not found anyone special yet. She dreams of the day when someone will swoop her off her feet with his grandiose romantic gestures. During one train ride to London, she discovers that the interesting stranger she was seated next to and who was going to propose to his girlfriend that day has left the engagement ring behind. Ruby takes it up as her personal agenda to return the ring. The problem? Another passenger on the train, a surly fellow named Curtis, doesn’t trust Ruby with it. So he creates his own personal agenda: accompany Ruby on her quest to ensure she completes it successfully.

A secondary love story comes to us from Ruby’s boss, Kim, who is living life trying not to allow the memories of her long-gone husband Vince to sully her present. One of her regular customers, Adrian, is someone she loves to interact with. The problem? Adrian is very much in love with his wife.

The story alternates between Ruby’s and Kim’s perspectives written in third person.

You don’t get brownie points for guessing that Ruby will end up with Curtis, and Kim with Adrian. It’s a chick-lit! It’s supposed to go in the good old predictable fashion. But where this book stands out is in its journey towards the happy ending. There are so many things that add a wonderful appeal to the story.

❤ Curtis – Curtis is unlike any romantic hero you've seen. Think of the typical lead heroes in such books. Uber-rich, ultra-successful, charismatic, good-looking, hot, having women falling over them head over heels,…Not a single one of these attributes is applicable to Curtis. (Except maybe for the good-looking part, which isn’t dwelt up on much.) Curtis is a fellow who is more into statistics, and I mean actual mathematical statistics. He doesn’t get jokes because he takes everything literally. He loves making spreadsheets for every single decision. He doesn’t understand the common cues of dating such as ‘Do you want to come over for a cup of coffee?’ He’s a guy who prefers logic over love. And yet he tries his best to figure out what Ruby wants and to help her in achieving her goals. For me, all this makes Curtis rank much higher than typical male leads in such novels.

❤ Ruby – She’s thirty five but acts like she’s twenty five. Chirpy, sweet, loyal, and optimistic, Ruby is the quintessential girl with a heart of gold. But, unlike such characters who are usually shown to be bubbleheads, Ruby is also intelligent and a quick learner. There’s no way you won’t adore this character for her straightforwardness and helpfulness.

(Let me quickly add that the Kim and Adrian track is also very nice and both of them are quite loveable too; just that their storyline went down a little more stereotypical path)

❤ The Romance: If you want a more-or-less clean romance (just a couple of kisses mentioned), this is your book. I enjoyed the rare opportunity of reading a rom-com without any lust or sex mentioned.

❤ The Humour: I don’t think I have laughed so much while reading a book in ages. The humour is corny at times but it works well for the characters. The book has many silly, farfetched scenes that are simultaneously cringe-worthy and hilarious. While you won’t get the following two examples unless you read the book, I still want to mention that Curtis’ double-door “Ta-da” and the turkey baster scene had me going lol and ewwww at the same time.

❤ The Emotions: Sometimes, when such books try hard to be funny, they forget that there are many other emotions that appeal to their readers. (Well, women readers because most men are biased against this genre!) In aiming to tickle the funny bone, they ignore everything else. Not here though. ‘The Promise of Summer’ ticks all the right checkboxes for bringing a lump in your throat. Beneath Ruby’s funny demeanour, you will feel for her desperation at not finding “her one true love”. Underneath Curtis’ rough manners lies a little boy who is afraid to commit to anyone because of his family background.

❤ There’s an adorable dog too! And his name is “Boomerang”! Icing on the cake, if you ask me.

All in all, this is a heart-warming story of a woman with a strong heart and a man with a strong brain, and how opposites can still encourage each other towards betterment and balance.

Do I have any complaints? Well, yeah. Only two really minor ones. Firstly, Ruby is almost 35 but she seems to behave like a newly-minted adult. At one point, she seems more concerned about someone’s lost chance at romance than her own lost phone. I would have been panic-stricken had my phone disappeared, to hell with romance. The second issue is that the title (and the cover page) has nothing to do with the book. But these are trivial issues for a book that gave me so much of enjoyment. I simply adored this story and will look for more books by this author whenever I need something light-hearted and quick.

Recommended with all my heart.

Can’t let this review go by without mentioning the special lady who enhanced my experience with her spirited performance: Narrator Laura Brydon. This is, by far, one of the best audiobooks I’ve heard this year. I usually hear audiobooks at 1.25-1.75x speed. But I heard this one at 1x, just because I didn’t want it to end! 11.5 hours at 1 x, and not a single minute of boredom, Gawd! Her accents, her voice effects, her enunciation… everything was awesome! 10 stars for her narration. 😍😍😍

Note: 'The Promise of Summer' was originally published as a four-part serial. This is the complete story in one novel without editing. So there is some repetition after each new "episode" begins, as the story recapitulates what happened earlier before moving on.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.