Shasta Summer, by Teresa Geering

Summer seems to be a normal little girl by all accounts.  That is, until her parents take her to visit her Aunt May in the village of Shasta.  It quickly becomes apparent that Summer is actually the second coming of Shasta herself, the village's namesake.  She is returning to be reunited with her long lost love, Merlin, who has been placed under a spell.  In order to try to obtain eternal happiness, the lovers travel back in time to Shasta's original arrival at the village, and try to rewrite history.  But it seems the nefarious Erasmus has other plans for the two.

Once again, Geering writes a book that feels like mythology of long ago.  There is a sort of timeless beauty to the book, with no real references to modernity or pop culture, that will make it endearing for years to come.  The writing in the book is soft and dreamy, floating from past to present.  At times, the two stories, both past and present, seem so similar, the reader may get the feeling of deja vu.  This helps lift the filmy veil between the two time periods.

I really enjoyed the character of Shasta, and watching Summer become Shasta.  The inclusion of faeries and various magical elements make this seem like a fairytale for adults.  The story has a hypnotic quality that urges the reader to continue at any cost (including sleep).  The reader certainly feels transported to another time and place.

In order to fully appreciate the book, readers must have the ability to suspend disbelief.  This is a romantic fantasy, dealing with elements of time travel, reincarnation, and magic.  Readers need to be aware of this and fully comfortable with these subjects in order to fully appreciate the book.

This is the second book of a trilogy, the first being the Eye of Erasmus, but this is actually a prequel.  It makes me want to go back and re-read the first book, and makes me long for the third book, to see the full picture of this tale.  And rarely do I comment on book covers, because they often change, but the cover for this book is simply gorgeous.  That alone is enough to hook the reader, the gorgeous story is an added bonus.

I received a review copy courtesy of the author.

If you liked this review, please rate it (and others!) as helpful on my Amazon profile. My Amazon Profile