Rating: 
Summary: good story but lacking in balance
Review: It's tough going through the first two thirds of this book, which contains 3 women's tales of woe. Just as it gets interesting in the last section---where they each have the chance to go back for 3 weeks and do it all over again---the book is done. As a copyeditor, I'd say Deveraux's editor was asleep at the wheel this time. Buy it for fun, but don't expect a whole lot.
Rating: 
Summary: A KEEPER
Review: Just think if you had a chance to change your life. Jude Deveraux has written a wonderful thought provoking story. Three women meet by chance, share a special bond and become friends forever. Even though they haven't seen each other in 19 years they are excited about spending their 40th birthday together. Thanks to Madame Zoa they have a chance to change their lives if they so choose. I do wish that the three weeks they spent at their new life would have been longer and more detailed. But it is a wonderful book. Everyone should have a Primrose in their life. This is definitely a feel good book. It makes you believe in happy ever afters!! It's on my keeper shelf. Thanks Jude.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT STORY OF FREINDSHIP
Review: I had never read Jude Deveraux before - I'm not a big fan of the traditional "Romance Novels" which Ms. Deveraux is well-known for writing. This book, however, was not your typical "Romance Novel", but more a story of friendship with some love stories on the side. The characters are easily imaginable - I'm sure veryone has a friend like Madison, Ruby or Nora. This is the ideal book to read while laying on the beach - or sunning in your own backyard while the kids run wild. My only complaint about this book has nothing to do with the story, but as you get closer to the end of the book, some of the lines and descriptions are a little repetitious. It seemed that things should have been described once and the story continued, but the author describes a person or scene on one page and then 2-3 pages later, makes the same description about the same person or scene. Other than that, I loved the book and would read another one of Ms. Deveraux's books if it were written like this one - This book was more like the works of Nicholas Sparks or Luanne Rice - not Nora Roberts or Sandra Brown - and I liked that!!
Rating:
Summary: REFRESHING
Review: This was a most charming novel. Even though it was fiction, it was nice to ponder what one would do if given a second chance in life.
Rating: 
Summary: I almost put this book down---but did finish it !
Review: This book began very slowly, and in a very depressing way. I felt a great deal of anger and bitterness in the first half...so much so, that I almost put the book down forever. I found the characters to be, initially, flat and unlikeable. I also found the level of hostility in the book to be initially so unsettling that I didn't want to waste my time with it !I have never been a fan of the "men are horrible and I hate my life" middle aged woman's battle cry in contemporary literature. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why I have loved Jude Devereux's books is that they have stayed away from this angst and hostility. The beginning of "The Summerhouse" made me wonder if the author had recently gone through a bitter divorce herself, or had dear friends that had one so---so apparent was her writing from this perspective. This level of hostility made me want to run from this book in horror ! However, as I forced myself to keep reading (from no motivation other than I'd invested in the hardcover version), I did begin to truly enjoy the last part of the book. The last 75 pages were the best part of the entire novel and I read them voraciously. I especially enjoyed how different each of the three women's 'decisions' were, and how each one's life was changed for the better. I only wish that I had been able to like, or at the very least, identify with, the characters before those last loose ends were tied up. It is not as depressing a book as I'd initially feared, but nor is it one I'd recommend in favor of books like "Legend" (my all time favorite Jude Devereux book), "Sweet Liar" or "A Knight in Shining Armor".
Rating:
Summary: A fresh approach from a favorite author
Review: This book reminds me of Patricia Gaffney's "Saving Graces" --with a fantastical little twist. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the characters, how the three women meet, how they come together again and especially the changes they make when they get that "second chance." It's a wonderful summer read and a fresh approach from one of my favorite romance authors. It also gets you thinking about what you would do if you have a second chance. Read this book the first chance you get!
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful book!
Review: We all wonder at one time or another what it would be like to rewrite our past. Jude Deveraux had written a great story doing just that. The characters seem so real, they are so easy to identify with. I loved this book! It was a true Jude Deveraux, right up there with A Knight in Shining Armor, which has always been a favorite of mine.
Rating:
Summary: good story, but too short
Review: I think this is one of the weaker books that Jude Deveraux has written in recent years. The plot itself is interesting. What would you do if you were given a chance change your life after re-living 3 weeks of it? Would you choose the new life and forget the old one, choose it but remember the old life, or stay with your old life? Unfortunately, the book was too short and sometimes too melodramatic. I wished it were longer. It's simply too short to cover 3 women's life, spanding 19+ years. Other reviewers have said this. She spent 2/3 of the book recounting (very quickly) their present life. And the last 1/3 on how they choose to change their past. Some of their stories were just too tragic and you felt she was exaggerating in order to get the contrast of before and after across. In any case, still a good book since Deveraux always writes well. But definitely could have been better.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Jude's best!
Review: First of all, let me say that I love Jude Deveraux's books. This one was a good story, but in the end I was by no means blown away as I was with say, THE BLACK LYON or SWEET LIAR. Most of the book dealt with how miserable each of the three main characters were in their lives. I really wish that less would have been written about the old lives and more about the "new" ones. I suppose what I missed the most is romance! I will have to give this book four stars - because it was definitely better than LEGEND and HIGH TIDE.
Rating:
Summary: Too short
Review: I read the book in a day -- it was a great escape book. The going-back-and-changing-your-mistakes has been done before but it was a fresh approach. I only have two gripes: #1. The actual "going back" part was extremely choppy. Ms. Devereaux could have easily added another 100 pages to round out this section at the end. #2. Why, if these three women became such fast & good friends at their first meeting, did it take 19 years for any of them to make contact again. Couldn't help but wonder if, had they truly been friends, many of their "mistakes" would not have been made in the first place. All in all I would recommend the book. I think every woman will find bits of herself in one or more of the characters. It just should have been longer.
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