Review: 'Waiting for Summer (Part 2)' by Anna-Maria Athanasiou (2014)

In Cyprus, after the worst nine months of Sylvie Sapphiris's life, summer has arrived at last, and with it an unexpected, ecstatic change in Sylvie's circumstances. But with all the odds stacked against her new life, can it last?
Sylvie embarks on her planned trip to Athens. A city which holds bittersweet memories. Can Sylvie shake off her past and move into a new future with this incredible man?
After a showdown with her furious former suitor, Sylvie finds herself on the point of sacrificing her future happiness to keep the peace. Sylvie's world is turned upside down again. Distraught and devastated she's left wondering if she'll ever find true love and happiness again. A love she once thought was possible. But fate has one final card to play...
Yesterday I posted an interview with author Anna-Maria Athanasiou in which she told us more about her debut novel ‘Waiting for Summer’, which was released in 2013 and which I got the chance to read and review earlier this year (click here to read my review). In June 2014, publisher Austin Macauley released the sequel ‘Waiting for Summer – Book Two’ and I was once again lucky enough to receive a review copy. I really enjoyed the first book and looked forward to once again visiting the familiar group of characters and reading more about Sylvie’s life! A warning to those of you who still need to read the first book, this review might contain some spoilers!
After a really difficult time in which several unexpected things rocked her life to the core, forty-four-year-old Sylvie Sapphiris has found love again and she hopes things will finally settle down. However, the man she has chosen and fallen for comes with his own baggage and difficulties. Not only is he a lot younger than she is, but they also both know their families will find it hard to accept the two of them as a couple. After an amazing week in Athens together, it’s time for Sylvie to go back home to Cyprus and face the music. Yet, things are about to get even more complicated when Sylvie is confronted with an unexpected surprise, and she starts to wonder whether she will really be able to find the happiness and peace she has been searching for once again.
‘Waiting for Summer – Book Two’ picks up right where book one ended; Sylvie and her new man are enjoying a secret week away together in Athens, where Sylvie has to be for a business deal. I was really looking forward to seeing what would happen to Sylvie, especially after everything she had been through. I have to admit, the book started a bit slow, in my personal opinion, and it took me quite a bit of time to get into the story. At first not much seemed to happen except for just a lot of steamy sex scenes, but no real storyline. However, as soon as Sylvie returned home from her trip this changed and it started to feel like the first book of the series: entertaining and captivating, making me want to continue reading to see what would happen.
Anna-Maria Athanasiou really has her own writing style which is really easy to get into and comfortable to read. She has created a great group of well-drawn and different characters and I was happy to see certain characters playing a bigger role in this second part of the series, such as Sylvie’s sons Marcus and Alex. Next to that, the book has a wonderful scene setting, making me long for a holiday to the sunny island of Cyprus! If you decide to pick up this novel, I’d definitely like to advise you to read the first part of the series first. This provides you with more background information to enjoy this story even more. While I do personally think the sequel does not live up to the first book, ‘Waiting for Summer – Book Two’ is an enjoyable romance and erotic read which I’m sure many people will enjoy, and I am curious to read more of the author’s work in the future!

Rating:7/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Interview with author Anna-Maria Athanasiou!

Today I'm really excited to share my interview with author Anna-Maria Athanasiou with all of you! A few weeks ago I reviewed Anna-Maria's debut novel 'Waiting for Summer', a women's fiction book I really enjoyed (click here to read my review). Tomorrow I will post my review of the sequel, 'Waiting for Summer - Part 2', but for now have a look at where Anna-Maria got the inspiration for her novel, what her future plans as an author are and what some of her personal favourite books are. Enjoy! :) 

Can you tell us something about your novel, ‘Waiting for Summer’? I've always had a very active imagination. From an early age I would play out scenarios out in my head, this didn't change even as I got older. About ten years ago the idea for the first chapter came to me and before I knew it I had a whole story rattling around in my head. In September of 2011 I decided to start writing it down. I've never written before and have no literary background whatsoever. I wrote randomly, as the ideas came to me, on scraps of paper in the car and on receipts I found in my bag. Eventually I got myself more organised and carried a notebook around with me. This small idea ended up being a nine hundred page novel, which was then split into two Books. 
When I'd started it I didn't even think I'd finish it and because of that, I didn't tell anyone I was writing until I was at least half way through. I only confided in a couple of close friends and family. I didn't even tell my husband until it was practically finished. It took me roughly fourteen months to complete, writing very early in the morning and when there was no one in the house. 
Where did you get the inspiration for your novel? Is it in any way based on your own personal experiences? The idea for the story came to me when I was changing the time on my husband's phone. A number of innocent messages beeped through and I thought, what if? I wanted to write a story that was centred around an older woman, in her forties. Sylvie also has two sons, which I also have and a lot of her thoughts and tastes are definitely me! But that's where the similarities and personal experiences end. 
I wanted all the characters to be real, like someone you might know, almost ordinary. And more than anything I wanted for them to be believable. The story itself is total fiction but the themes that run throughout it, I think, all of us have either been touched by or had experience of. Infidelity, self doubt, fear of getting old and a sense of loss. The book is based in Cyprus, which is where I live now, so all the locations are real. I personally love Summer and it was really a no brainer for me to base a story that had Summer central to the plot. I used the seasons to reflect the emotions Sylvie was experiencing and as well as the mood of each part.
Can you tell us a bit more about the main character, Sylvie? I love Sylvie! She's the kind of person I aspire to be. She's fiercely loyal always putting her family first and incredibly kind. She's loving, a hopeless romantic,  witty and doesn't take herself seriously. When I spoke to friends of mine that were of a similar age who'd read the book, they all said exactly the same thing to me. They could totally relate to Sylvie and her insecurities. I wanted Sylvie to be as real as possible so the reader could see her as someone they could easily know or even recognise something of themselves in her.

There’s a great cast of supporting characters in the novel as well. Which character did you most enjoy writing? I have to pick just one?! After Sylvie the next main character that I created was Julian, Sylvie's husband's friend. I just loved this guy, he was just so flawed yet still likeable. I enjoyed writing his inner struggles and his humour, often directed at himself. He's someone you shouldn't really like because he makes mistakes in his personal life continuously, but for some reason you want him to get it right, for his sake. 
Honestly though, I really enjoyed writing all the different characters. They're all so real to me I actually feel that they are people I know, rather than created!
Did you do any particular research for parts of the book? The locations in Cyprus were well known to me so there was no added research needed. In the second book, 'Waiting for Summer Book Two', which has a few chapters in different countries, I had to do a fair amount of research to ensure the detail was accurate.  I have to say I enjoyed it immensely.    Can you perhaps tell us something about your future plans? Are you perhaps already working on a next novel? Yes I am. In fact as I was finishing 'Waiting for Summer', I already had the idea for my next novel. I'm roughly half way through it. At first I thought it would be a shorter story, but it looks like it will be another nine hundred pages! It's taking longer than I thought, purely because I seem to have less time and there's more research needed.
Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I'm not entirely sure if I'm qualified to give tips, but all I would say is; If you have an idea or a story, or even just a thought, write it down. Write everything down and don't worry if you never use it. At some point it'll feel right to put them altogether. Once you've written even a small amount, ask someone you trust to give you their brutally honest opinion, then you'll know if you're on the right track.
What is the last book you read that you’d like to recommend to others? I'm normally reading or re reading books. If I've enjoyed a book, I read it again immediately. And then I'll dip into it periodically while I'm reading something else. I've recently finished the second of a two book series called The Cold Series by Eliza Lloyd. The first book is 'Best Served Cold' and the second 'On Thin Ice'. They're a bit more rauncier than mine and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
Which book could you not live without? My first though is that I couldn't live without my receipe book! It's a tattered old note book filled with family and my own receipes and I cannot live with out it! From a literary point of view though I couldn't be without 1984 by George Orwell. I haven't read it for a very long time because it disturbs me, but it was the book that sparked my interest in books and I need to have it close by. Amongst all the horror that he writes about there are some incredibly moving, intimate and romantic parts that made an enormous impression on me. 
Thanks so much, Anna-Maria!

Review: 'Waiting for Summer' by Anna-Maria Athanasiou (2013)

Sylvie has it all - a beautiful home, two adoring sons and a successful husband - until a simple action knocks Sylvie's world off its axis. Her perfect life is turned upside down and her heart is broken. Unable to accept heartache again she decides, for once, to be bold and take control of her life.
Sylvie's road to rediscovery begins. With the help of her close friend and business partner Zach, Sylvie's professional life starts to turn around. Julian, a successful architect and admirer, helps to guide her, and Sylvie's own fledgling interior design business flourishes. Sylvie starts to move forward, still battling with her own insecurities, until an unexpected, chance meeting.
She finds herself faced with a difficult choice; does she risk an involvement which could potentially affect everyone she loves and cares for? Or should she take the moral high ground and deny herself a second chance for happiness and love?
We're already halfway into February and very slowly we're allowed to start thinking about Spring and warmer days. In the meantime, we luckily have lots of novels set either in the summer or at gorgeous locations to keep us warm. Anna-Maria Athanasiou's novel 'Waiting for Summer' promises a great read for those of us who are longing for those long summer days (which fits the title of the novel perfectly!) as the novel is set on the island of Cyprus. I straight away was intrigued by the blurb, and looked forward to giving the book a chance.
Forty-something Sylvie seems to have absolutely everything she ever wanted: a loving family consisting of her handsome husband and two wonderful sons, a beautiful home on the island of Cyprus, and a successful business. However, trouble arrives in paradise when Sylvie unexpectedly discovers some messages from another woman on her husband's phone. Suddenly, Sylvie's whole life is turned upside down and she's not sure what to do: she knows she has to confront her husband and ask him to explain himself, but at the same time she wants to protect the happy life they have built together. When another attractive man walks into Sylvie's life and makes her feel all kinds of things she's not supposed to feel, things only start to get more complicated, and Sylvie is forced to make some important decisions. 
This really is a great read to pick up when you're longing for that summer holiday feeling or looking for a light read to take with you on holiday yourself. As a reader we are invited into main character Sylvie’s Mediterranean world on the island of Cyprus, and next to a simply stunning setting the novel also has an interesting mix of characters and a good storyline. At the beginning I was really intrigued by Sylvie’s life and I honestly felt for her when she discovered the messages from her husband’s mistress on his car phone. I was really curious to find out how she would eventually deal with this (would she confront her husband and take the risk of possibly ending their marriage) and what it would mean for all the characters involved, including their sons and the people around them. I thought this part of the story was really interesting and the tension was convincing and had me in its grip, wondering what would happen next.
I do not want to give too much away about the book, but as the storyline progressed I felt the pace wasn’t as quick and the events not as gripping as the first half of the novel. I also personally noticed that there were still quite a few mistakes in the novel here and there, which is something that grabbed my attention over and over again, which was a shame. However, this is a personal thing and might not bother other readers. There is a second part of the series and I am quite curious to find out what will happen next to Sylvie, so I look forward to reading it. Overall, ‘Waiting for Summer’ is an enjoyable escapist read filled with passion and betrayal; great for romance fans who are looking for their next (holiday) read!

Rating:8/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.