When The Summer Was Ours

Historical Fiction is one of my favourite genres and ever since I read and enjoyed Roxanne Veletzos' debut The Girl They Left Behind in 2018, I've been eager for her to write another book. 

Her latest book, When The Summer Was Ours publishes this coming week and follows young star-crossed lovers who live near Budapest, Hungary in the mid 1940's. Eva is a well-to-do young woman who is engaged to a doctor and Aleandro is a Romani artist who becomes Eva's unexpected love interest. Veletzos shows the couple's struggles, how the Romani were treated at the time and the atmosphere in Hungary during WWII and afterwards when the country was under Soviet occupation.  

As with her previous book, my favourite part of the book was Veletzos' focus on the aftereffects of the war and that despite the end of a war, people continue to struggle for years. The main characters each have their own flaws, but Aleandro easily outshone Eva who was a hard character to connect with. The story itself is sweet (if a bit predictable), slowly paced and unfortunately falls victim to 'too much telling and not enough showing'. This is a story filled with tragedy and ill-fated lovers, but the emotional elements felt skimmed over leaving me with a story that didn't have the impact I was anticipating. 

When The Summer Was Ours is a Historical Fiction read with themes of romance and resiliency that stays on the lighter side of the genre. While it fell a bit short for me in its emotion and grit, it gives readers an interesting perspective and I feel this lighter historical fiction read will appeal to fans of Kristin Harmel, Kelly Rimmer and Natasha Lester. 

My sincere thanks to Atria Books for my advanced copy of this book given in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3 stars

Author: Roxanne Veletzos

Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Atria Books

First Published: August 24, 2021

Opening Lines: Sopron, Hungary Summer 1943: As the Budapest 

streets with their clatter of trams and hurried pedestrians 

began to thin out, Eva Cesar reclined against the cool leather 

of her father's town car and let out a long breath.

Book Description from GoodReads: Hungary, 1943: As war encroaches on the country’s borders, willful young Eva César arrives in the idyllic town of Sopron to spend her last summer as a single woman on her aristocratic family’s estate. Longing for freedom from her domineering father, she counts the days to her upcoming nuptials to a kind and dedicated Red Cross doctor whom she greatly admires.

But Eva’s life changes when she meets Aleandro, a charming and passionate Romani fiddler and artist. With time and profound class differences against them, Eva and Aleandro still fall deeply in love—only to be separated by a brutal act of hatred.

As each are swept into the tides of war, they try to forget their romance. Yet, the haunting memory of that summer will reshape their destinies and lead to decisions which are felt through generations.

From the horrors of the Second World War to the tensions of the 1956 Hungarian uprising and beyond, When the Summer Was Ours is a sweeping story about the toll of secrets, the blurred lines between sacrifice and obsession, and the endurance of the human spirit.