Carly Phillips, Summer Lovin’

Summer Lovin'Carly Phillips

HQN, Aug 2005, $16.95, 304 pp.

ISBN: 0373770197

Boston Brahmin attorney Ryan Baldwin is pleased his search for his sister is over after years of trying to find Faith, a teen runaway. However he is sad that he is too late as she died in a drug shootout. He plans to bring home his fourteen years old niece Samantha who he assumes is unhappy after years in the foster care system.

To his astonishment he arrives at her Atlantic City home only to find Sam adjusted and very happy living with the Costas family. The parents and sisters shower Sam with love and proper discipline though they are a zany bunch with Zack the monkey as a friend and a pet pig as a birthday gift for his niece. The worst jolt is his attraction to big sister Zoe; she to her astonishment feels the same way. Both knows a relationship between the free spirit and the stuffed shirt cannot survive very long, but they share a common goal keeping Sam safe from someone who wants the teen permanently missing.

The return of the crazy kooky Costas crew provides the audience with an amusing class warfare tale of manners. The storyline focuses on Ryan's reactions to the wild bunch as he starts off so tight a nickel could not slide out of his butt, but time with Zoe and Sam grease his brain so that he turns somewhat zany. Though a late suspense adds tension, that subplot feels out of place in this comedic look at upper class Boston meets hustler Atlantic City UNDER THE BOARDWALK.

Harriet Klausner