The Summer of Me

Our Review

THE SUMMER OF ME was a quick paced inspirational faith based read. Destiny is the single mother of six year old twins.  Their father is married and financially more secure than she is and he and his wife can provide things for them that she can’t.  They take the kids to Los Angeles for the summer where their stepmother will be working which leaves Destiny bereft and hurting for money with her child support checks cut unbenownst to her. I couldn’t warm to their father, Kenneth, since he was not only hard to read but seemed to have his own agenda and secrets.  Without the twins, Destiny decides to make the most of her summer of me.  

Working as a manager in a store’s cosmetic department is fulfilling but Destiny still struggles to make ends meet.  Her friend, Bertice, is always involved in various schemes to make money and this time she brings Destiny in on one of them at a temp agency which is almost her downfall.  As Destiny makes the most of her summer she returns to college to finish her degree, works her job in cosmetics, gets work through the temp agency, decides to get licensed to do hair at the recommendation of the career counselor at the college and takes a part time job at her church working on new financial programs with a new pastor, Daniel.  This involves setting up financial workshops and outreach to those in need.  As she misses her kids dearly she plods along with all her activities plus starts to date Daniel.  She, Bertice and another friend, Natalie, are thick as thieves and are always there for each other.  The church is another important part of her life and Natalie is married to one of the pastors, Gavin.

As Destiny’s life takes many twists and turns things start to get out of control.  Daniel is always there for her and gets her through a few hardships.  The kid’s dad, Kenneth, is a loose cannon with secrets of his own, but is not the nicest towards Destiny.  She always seems to take the high road and she and his wife try to keep things on an even keel for all. She and her mom have a rocky relationship but they love each other.  Mom is harboring several secrets which don’t go over well when Destiny learns of them.  

There are family and friends, secrets, the church, work, travel, money worries, arguments, tears, anger, hurt, laughter, happiness, dreams coming true, heartache, fear, illness and love.  There are a lot of behind the scenes actions regarding the temp agency which most are unaware of.  Destiny and Daniel’s relationship seems to be taking off as they learn about each other, their dreams, hopes for the future and how to date. But will there be a happy ending when they each learn more about the other?  There is some closure but also loose ends and an epilogue would have been nice.  I liked the cover and the depth to the characters.

Benson is a new to me author.  I will definitely be adding some of her other books to my always growing TBR pile.  Her book was reminiscent to me of those by Dorothea Benton Frank and Francis Ray.