Summer’s Dad Bod by Lola West
Published: January 28, 2022
Lola West
Pages: 65
Genre: Romance Anthologies
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I purchased this book from Amazon, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Lola West is the queen of sweet, intelligent, silly, sexy romance! She has a Ph.D. in women’s studies and a flair for the dramatic. She likes cotton candy, astronomy, kitten heels, and small-town hunks. Lola is a pen name. The mind behind Lola is just like you – an everyday person living a regular life, happy to daydream about sexy men and the sassy women they love.
Andrew worked too hard. He fed on his own success, the kind of man who missed all his son’s soccer games and all of his daughter’s piano recitals. He was supposed to be driving the night his wife and son were killed, but he was on a call. He sent a text: Go without me. That was ten years ago. Now, he’s no one. A wild recluse, nearing middle age, who never shaves but always stands on the beach at dawn to watch the sunrise.
Once a year, his now grown daughter comes to visit him. It’s usually awkward and uncomfortable but this year it’s even worse because she brings a friend: Summer.
Summer is escaping from something. She’s sad, he thinks, but also warm and jovial. She’s laughing in his living room and pulling open the curtains to let in the light. She’s dancing half naked in the moonlight just outside his bedroom window. And she’s there, on the beach at dawn watching the sunrise next to him. He can’t escape her and a piece of him doesn’t want to…
“Come on and just roll with it, baby.”
Summer comes from a very strict family, which didn’t mesh with her very free and wild spirit. She danced to her own music and moved with her friend’s wind. She just lived. Meeting Bella at boarding school was a game-changer. The two became fast friends, and their relationship stayed right into adulthood. Bella invited Summer to come home for the annual visit to see her dad. The last thing anyone else Ted was romance. But when in Martha’s Vineyard…
This was a sweet story. I loved how free-spirited Summer was and that she was never afraid to do the things that made her happy. And also that she was such a beacon of light to those who knew her.
Andrew was carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders. He lived as a hermit for ten years, not feeling worthy of companionship until Summer breezed in as a surprise when Bella came home.
Bella was very sensible, sweet, intelligent, and understanding. She saw the happiness her inside her father, and knew that change was Summer. She chose to support their unconventional connection, and her support meant the world to both Andrew and Summer.
This had very sweet themes, and a deeply beautiful plot point of allowing yourself to go on, to live, really live, after loss. I love the way Lola tells a story, and that she is able to do so in so few pages. This was a whirlwind romance, with every necessary element. Swoon!