★ Larissa ~ book crusher ~'s Reviews > The Summer Garden

ALL THE STARS.

So it´s been weeks since I finished The Summer Garden and I haven´t been been able to write this review at all. But why? You ask. What in the world is going on with you? This is your favorite romance of all time. After all, this is Shura we are talking about... Shura with the sled and the copy of Pushkin and Shura with the creme-brulee eyes and delicious tanned skin with that faint scent of nicotine in the morning after endless bouts of hot Lazarevo sex. Didn´t you love this book and rate it ALL THE STARS in the universe? What is wrong with you?

Well, this freaking trilogy is what is wrong with me. Shura wrecked me and now I can't recover. I have spent the last few weeks thinking about this book, getting my hands on as many WW2 wartime romance movies and shows as I can, scouring the internet for recommendations on what to read after this trilogy. And now I come here defeated, head down because, alas, seems like I'm screwed. I wish someone had warned me this series was going to ruin all other romance novels for me.

Like, for real people, who is going to compare to Alexander Barrington? Jamie Fraser you say. Read Outlander, you say. Well, I already read Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager years ago and while I enjoyed them very much - Outlander is one of my favorite romance novels of all time after all - let's face it. It's no TBH. Fellow Alexander lovers will understand what I'm talking about. I want Shura in the tent and the cabin in Lazarevo levels of epic romance. That's what I want. I want Tatia with the Red Cross, in the wolves den of the Sachsenhausen Prison Camp trying to hide the emotions ravaging her insides levels of epic angst. I mean, if you don't have potato shelf levels of hotness, I don't know what to tell you.

So I'm going to turn this review, which let's face it, I'm doing an awful job of actually reviewing The Summer Garden, into a desperate plea for recommendations on what to do with my life reading-wise post TBH. I can't pay you, but you'll be doing the Lord's work. I've heard whispers of other books out there, like the Tea Rose series by Jennifer Donnely and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, or Florencia Bonelli's Year of Fire trilogy. I just don't know, guys. I kind of just want to go reread The Bronze Horseman. I already read From Sand and Ash earlier this year and although a worthy contender, TBH is still better.

Just a quick note regarding The Summer Garden because I will feel guilty if I don't actually touch upon the actual story. No, it did not ruin Alexander for me. Was I close to bitch-slapping the ever loving life out of him (virtually speaking) more than once in the book? Oh hell yes. Not so much for that thing with (view spoiler)[Carmen, although that WAS cheating... not gross unforgivable cheating. It's not like any part of him went inside her unmentionable orifices, but it was nasty cheating nonetheless. Why, oh why did he have to suck her tits, amirite, and let that hoebag suck his dick? Jesus hell. I thought I already wanted to kill him when he went to that strip joint. But I feel that the thing with this trilogy, and what I personally love so much, is that it feels so realistic. It's not a rosy, safe, predictable romance with heroes that feel like robotic concoctions straight off the flowery pink mind of a romance novelist. Alexander is raw, and real and fiery. And as such, I respect the gruesome earthy view of the real challenges a couple like Tatiana and Alexander would face in the middle of the macho-centric culture dominating the 50s. (hide spoiler)]

So no, it wasn't that particular issue that threatened to ruin my love for my Shura, but (view spoiler)[The fact he hit her. Oh boy, that made me reel. And he was going to do it again had Anthony not made a timely appearance. Unforgivable yes, but considering the scope of this book and how it spans their entire lifetimes, this horrible chapter is forgiven in my book by sole virtue that it WAS a one-time thing. I had more problems with how the baby seemed to come along at just the perfect time and how it seems their marriage would have gone downhill faster than you can say potato shelf had it not been for that pregnancy. (hide spoiler)]

That ending did a number in my heart. Damn you, Paullina Simons. Oh, and there was a surprising amount of sex in this one. Guess who you'll find complaining? Yep, not me.

Also, I'm going to need a Napa-sized, brothel bed.

And just one more tidbit. It still surprises me how few people realize what The Bronze Horseman is really about. This book is really about Communism vs. the free world. Take Communist Russia out of it and you've got nothing.