This is the first book I've read by Ms. Seidel and after finishing it, my first thought was, "Will I ever read another of this author's books after barely finishing this one?"

I know that's not something an author wants to read in a review, but I found this story really difficult to get into. The way it bounces back and forth between the past and the present made it hard to follow, although I liked the main characters in Seth and Caitlin and everything that happens in the present. That's what kept me reading really. My need to discover how things would turn out for them when it came to whether they'd have a future together and how the court case would turn out.

Overall, I enjoyed the end of this book and am glad I did finish this story. It's also why I ended up giving this story three stars instead of the two I was going to give when I first started reading.

I love past and present books...usually - this one was hard to keep up with and my mind kept wondering so I sort of gave up at 50 percent. It may be enjoyable for others but I just have too many books that I have to read to keep going.

https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/dueling-review-the-fourth-summer-by-kathleen-gilles-seidel/

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Mary Jo – ☆☆☆
The premise of the book is a good one, but the jumping back and forth – from past to present – made the book hard to read. At one point, I started skipping the "past" portions and only reading the current storyline.

I think the romance was there between the characters and the trial with the sequestered jury gave them both time to get to know each other again, but at the same time, I think it detracted from the romance of the story.

This book was reviewed jointly with Jennie at Dear Author on July 24th.

https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/dueling-review-the-fourth-summer-by-kathleen-gilles-seidel/

Review by Amanda for Love Romance Books Blog

Rating: 5

I was asked by the author for an honest review.

This is the first book I've read by Kathleen Gilles Seidel. I would have liked to give it 4.5 stars. I thought the setting was very unique (a sequestered jury) and I liked that the story alternated between the past and present.

I didn't entirely like the characters. They definitely weren't perfect, but that did make them more realistic. Also, I rarely have opinions on book covers, but I was not a fan of this cover. That wasn't how I imagined the main character to look and if I were choosing the book based on the cover, I wouldn't have picked it up.

Despite that, I enjoyed the story overall and I had trouble putting the book down. I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next.

It's such a treat to get a new Seidel out of nowhere, after all this time. One of my absolute favorite romance novels is her Summer's End. In a lot of ways, this new book feels like deja vu - from the Olympic athlete (the hero this time), the parent in the Navy, the troublesome sibling, all the way to the "summer" in the title.

This new one doesn't quite reach the heights of Summer's End, for me. Part of it was because Seth is so young - barely out of the selfishness of one's teenaged years. He annoyed me a fair number of times throughout the story. Part of it was the context: the stakes are higher for a new blended family than for a bunch of strangers brought together for a trial. And part of it was the length. The ending felt abrupt and rushed. Why couldn't Seidel have had another 10,000 words for Seth and Caitlin to really grow into their relationship as adults?

So why the four stars? Because Seidel delivered a good helping of what I like best about her writing - the perceptiveness about group psychology and this warm glow of empathy, reminiscent to me of Jane Austen. Aside from two straight-up terrible people, Seidel took the time to let us into each character's head, to see their potential in spite of their shortcomings. You get to see characters asking questions of themselves, and reacting to the answers. It's such a cut above the flat cardboard characters that so often populate romance novels.

I do have a disclaimer for pure romance readers: this book reads more like a bildungsroman or general women's fiction, than a genre romance. If you're coming just for that, you may be disappointed. But if you loosen up your requirements, this is a great book that I devoured in a single day.

I'll read another Seidel any time. Is this the start of a new series? Can we get Ben and Colleen? Pretty please?


Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an unbiased review.

Ben, Seth, and Nate were all hanging out at the chalet they shared on the grounds of the Endless Snow Resort in Oregon. All three were snowboarders and grew up training together. Seth had won a bronze medal in the Winter Olympics. On the mountain three men were disciplined, dedicated, and determined as snowboarding was dangerous. The rest of the time they had fun. Fans expected snowboarders to be the pirates of winter sports: brash, reckless, and a little weird. That came naturally to these men. Seth was being called to jury duty in North Carolina where he was still registered to vote. The other two men had already changed their addresses but not Seth. He was still registered to vote in North Carolina thus the call for jury duty from there. Seth had already went through two postponements during the winter competition season but now he was stuck he either faced contempt of court or he went home and reported for jury duty. Seth went home. While at the courthouse and in the jury assembly room Seth sees Caitlin Mcgraw from the summers when Seth was a teen. Seth remembered her and how she said she wouldn’t play games. It had been eleven years since Seth and Caitlin had seen each other. When Seth went up to Caitlin and they were talking Seth brought up how he had kinda disappeared on her and Caitlin said he hadn’t disappeared she’d seen his face on a Wheaties box and he did send her form replies when she emailed him. Seth said he wished he hadn't done that but it was a bad time for him. Even though she brought up how he had just won an olympic medal. Then Seth asked Caitlin about herself. And Caitlin said she was a freelance graphic artist living in San Francisco. Seth was the public face of his family’s company- Street Boards. The company manufactures skateboards and snowboards. The company supported his parents, his sisters, and his brother in law. Seth had to always act like a good citizen even if it was driving him nuts. When Caitlin and Seth had been a lot younger they had been in love and eventually made love. They had three summers together he had been 14-16 and she had been 13- 15. At fourteen Seth had been professional for a few years. Seth had met Caitlin at the park. She had been waiting watching him on his bike at the skateboarding park and showing off a little. And she watched him and then wanted to learn. Seth says he will give Caitlin a ride home from the courthouse and then invited her out to dinner but it was early so they went to the lake where they decide to become friends with benefits.
This was an okay read. I guess it was just too much jumping back and forth between past and present for me. I did finish this book as I wanted to see how things would end up. I am glad I finished this but it wasn’t a favorite of mine

The Fourth Summer by Kathleen Gilles-Seidel
Standing Tall #1

Thrilled to see a new book by this author! That said, I think this book is rated on it being a NA genre rather than a contemporary romance. The story flips between the time the H/h were in their teens and their present ages of mid-twenties. So, my feeling is that it should be geared and advertised to that age reader.

Seth is a snowboarder who won the bronze medal at the Olympics in a clean sweep for America. He has been living a public life and also advertising his family’s board and other products for a decade. Caitlin is a graphic designer who works predominately on video games and book covers. The two spent summers together for a few years then suddenly were apart and have not seen each other for over a decade. When Seth and Caitlin are called home to sit on a jury they reconnect, talk, work together on issues that come up and try to decide if there is a relationship to pursue between them or not. The families of both Seth and Caitlin make appearances but the main story is the jury trial and the interaction between the jury members.

I felt both Seth and Caitlin were interesting characters with perhaps Caitlin the more mature of the two. Both did grow during the book and I can see them together as a couple.

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I like to read more by this author? Definitely
Was it my favorite book by this author? Probably not
What was my favorite book by this author? Don’t Forget to Smile

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books – Lyrical Shine for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars

The cover of this book doesn’t go with this story at all. Not that there’s anything wrong with the cover, but it’s just the wrong cover for this story in my mind. This story has way more to do with interpersonal relationships between all ages and backgrounds than a sexy guy laying on a bed.

The flashback to the relationship that Caitlyn and Seth had as young teens is amazingly sweet. The innocent friendship that is their first summer had a wonderful nostalgia for me. Especially when I learned the reason Caitlyn was initially sent to her grandmother’s that summer. Not that I could relate with exactly what she was going through, but haven’t we all had that feeling of being pushed aside for other family members at that age?

From the way this one began I thought it may end up being a coming of age story. Although there are some elements of that here and there, that’s not what this book is at its core. Seth and Caitlyn are selected for a jury for a high-profile case that goes awry. Don’t worry though, it’s also not a courtroom drama. The author does a great job of giving us enough information so the reader understands how confusing the trial is for the jurors without going so deep it takes away from the story. Because again, this is not a courtroom drama.

This is a story about human interaction. The way we are perceived by others and the way we think we are coming across. It’s about how we want to be viewed as opposed to how we are viewed. I was impressed by the cast of characters that made up the jury. When you have such a large cast of non-main characters it can sometimes be hard to remember who’s who. These jurors all had distinct enough characters that I was never confused as to who the author was referencing in any scene. From the shy and meek young lady to the brass and egotistical middle-aged jerk, I got them all down pretty quickly.

Ultimately, this is a love story between Caitlyn and Seth. I liked their connection and connected with Caitlyn, but never truly understood Seth’s motivations for the way things played out in their third summer. Was he just immature or was he as selfish as he seemed? The author never really makes that clear, and maybe that’s by design. Now, I don’t agree with Caitlyn on holding Seth’s decision against him. It was actually selfish of her to think that he should have made a different choice. But the way things played out from there was all on Seth.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I’m a bit on the fence. While I enjoyed the story and was impressed with how well she developed even her side characters, her writing is a bit stilted for me. This could just be my own preference, but it just seemed the style was more middle-grade while the content definitely wasn’t. I’m sure I’ll pick something up by her again if I get the chance since the story did engage me quite a bit. And since this is the first in the series I am interested enough in Seth’s buddies that I’d pick up another of this series if they’re about them.

This is a tolerable second chance romance where our H and h, former childhood friends, find themselves on a jury together.

That being said I think this book is a lot more about the juror experience than a romance. While we saw the main characters work together, and flirt with intimacy, it’s not actually romantic until the last chapter. Because of this, I wish there had been another chapter to deal with them admitting their feelings for one another, deciding to move forward, and really basking in the decision to stop running and grab their HEA.

The heroine seems like a much stronger character, she knows who she is and what she really wants. The hero seems like he’s been playing a part since forever and since his love of skateboarding actually created a livelihood for his family, his career decisions have a greater impact, placing him at a crossroads about his position in the company and in the sports world. I wish we’d been able to see him pick a direction and get to move towards it because I think how he approaches his career and his family will determine a lot about how successful his relationship to the heroine will be since he seems to have a problem with making her a priority.

The lack of focus on the main characters intimacy and connection with one another and his inability to think beyond himself make me think at best this is a HFN story rather than a HEA. Moreover, the author leaves us hanging as it relates to crucial resolutions such that I think it is best for me to give this author a wide berth and avoid future disappointment.

On a side note, I wish that Teddy, one of the jurors, had gotten his comeuppance. He was a weaselly little man.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review

As kids, Caitlin McGraw and Seth Street used to meet in North Carolina in the summers, where he taught her to skateboard and became her first love. Then the Olympics pulled Seth away to snowboarding glory, and Caitlin moved on as a graphic designer. Both are surprised to realize they are still legally residents in North Carolina, a fact they discover when they’re summoned for, and then required to serve on, a local jury. An unexpected jury sequestration later, and Caitlin and Seth are thrown together indefinitely - except jury rules mean they can’t actually be together at all. While the setting in this book is fantastic, I wanted more from the romance.

This is by far the best depiction of the personalities on a jury since 12 Angry Men, and frankly, since it’s more diverse, I’d say it’s better. The level of detail in this is so meticulous that if it were any author but Seidel, with her great gift for researching and developing settings, I’d assume the story was autobiographical. I don’t know if what happens in the story is legally possible, but it's absolutely fascinating. A selection process that’s half Franz Kafka and half Joseph Keller, a claustrophobic sequestration, mind-numbingly monotonous testimony, disorienting re-entry into real life - everything is credible, and both smoothly and convincingly conveyed.

In a book with this many characters, it would be easy to leave the supporting cast as flat backgrounders, but Seidel deftly rounds them out. I especially liked Sally, the deputy responsible for the jurors, and an emotionally-fragile and impoverished juror named Yvette. The writing is excellent, occasionally even laugh-out-loud funny. Boxes are delivered to the sequestered jury, and “if Caitlin had both her mother and her grandmother packing for her, she might be able to colonize Mars with what they had sent.”

So what holds this book back? Unfortunately, it’s the romance. Caitlin and Seth are at the core of the story, but I honestly wasn’t that invested in their relationship. They don’t have strong sexual chemistry, which is fine - not all books have to be hot, even ones with early sex scenes - except I didn’t think they had anything else either, like friendship or teamwork. Seth is convincingly written as the embodiment of a snowboarder stereotype, a good-time man-child generally oblivious to the needs and feelings of other people, and that’s not what I’m looking for in a hero. He grows in the course of the novel, but it wasn’t far enough or soon enough for me to find him appealing, and the fact that Caitlin helps him change gave their relationship an unsexy maternal vibe.

Kathleen Gilles Seidel is a great writer, and this is a great novel. What it isn’t, unfortunately, is a great love story. But I still recommend it for anyone looking for an engrossing read about a group of strangers doing their best to get along in close quarters and find meaning in a civic responsibility when they seem to be the only ones in the system who care.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

Kathleen Gilles Seidel has been too long from bookstore shelves. I am extremely happy she has broken her writing drought.
Don't let the cover fool you. If you love her previous books you will not be disappointed with this one. I suppose the cover is meant to appeal to a certain demographic. I fear that readers wanting a lot of sex will be disappointed. There is sex, if not explicit, but absolutely no bedroom sex. Its kind of a thing.
The jacket copy is reasonably accurate. Buy the book. Read it and then hunt down her others. I bet you will want to.
Rated four stars instead of five because if I gave it five how would I rate her Don't Forget to Smile or Summers End?

DNF 25%

Unfortunately the author lost me with the constant back and forth from past to present. I don't typically mind it, but when you go back to when they're 13/14 and concentrate there you lose me.

Full disclosure...this is my personal opinion. If it looks like a good option for you...do not let this review steer you away. Reading is subjective and just because this was not my favorite of 2018...doesn’t mean it won’t be yours.

The Fourth Summer was a light romantic read based in my home state of NC. I was drawn to this story for those two reasons alone. I needed a pallet cleanser. What I discovered in reading this one was that the chemistry between the two main characters was not there.
It was pleasant...but not earth shattering. I did not connect with the story. The writing was error free and I did finish...I wanted to know how it ended....and for that alone it gets three stars. At the end I felt like I missed something.

It’s been far too long since we’ve heard the richness of Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s writing voice, since we’ve fallen in love with the men she’s introduced us to or thought hopefully, “Yes, I could do that,” about the heroines in her books. Since we’ve become invested in every single one of a story’s secondary characters and been fascinated by things we never even thought we’d be interested in but suddenly can’t learn enough about.
The Fourth Summer is about the reunion of Seth Street and Caitlin McGraw. You learn their story not only when they are sequestered together on a high-profile jury in their home state of North Carolina, but in scenes from three summers from their adolescence. The changes are never confusing, and they make the character arcs soar seamlessly.
If I am to be honest, I will admit that this is not my favorite book of Ms. Seidel’s. Firstly, because I’ve only read it once instead of the dozen or so times I’ve read every one of her others. Secondly, because my personal preference tends away from protagonists in their twenties. That being said, The Fourth Summer is still the best book I’ve read this year (I’m writing this review on May 14) and after another half-dozen or so readings, it might well be a favorite.