Windless Summer

by Heather Sharfeddin

Book Overview

A father's love. A shattering secret. A summer that will change lives forever. In the town of Rocket, Washington--a summer playground for windsurfers and tourists--a windless summer ignites fear as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385341873
• ISBN13: 9780385341875
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Delta
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Devastatingly good

Several have described this as a fast read. I like to take small bites and savor -- it was hard with this one because it keeps drawing you along. Everytime I set it down it called to me to pick it back up. Heather Sharfeddin has done it again. She makes it so real you feel like you actually have been to Rocket and met the residents there. In fact, I recently drove through the Columbia Gorge on vacation and caught myself looking for Rocket and wondering if I could see the Jemmet Motel -- then I had to remind myself that it is fiction. The book is devastatingly real. There are real hardships here. Hardships that aren't easily fixable, probably not fixable at all. The characters are tough and difficult to love sometimes, but impossible not to. I just wanted to give Tom a big hug and tell him it would all be ok, but I knew it wouldn't. Charlene was a pleasant surprise and a poster-child for not judging a book by it's cover. The mystery around room 6 wove a theme of introspection on morality and I found myself wondering if I had lived an honest enough life to give staying a night in room 6 a chance. I wondered what, if anything would happen if Tom put Sienna to bed in room 6 just one night? I got a chill down my spine when Sienna created a tableau with her buttons that she described, in a rare moment of communication, as a picture of smashed watermelons. It seems she was aware of more than anyone believed. I'll end by just saying that the end left me upside-down for days. I can't wait for the next book -- I almost wish I discovered this author after her 10th book so I could go back and read all the earlier works while I wait for the next one!

Outstanding

Wow, what an outstanding novel...can't wait to read her other two books. I read Windless Summer in nearly one sitting!!! If you want to experience what you are reading than this book is a must. Kudos to Heather.

Windless Summer fills my sails!

I was anxiously awaiting the release of Heather Sharfeddin's third novel, "Windless Summer," from across the pond in England. When it finally blew through the letter box, I didn't open it immediately. I wanted to choose my time carefully, leaving large chunks of uninterrupted time to let Sharfeddin's characters seep into my pores. I knew from experience reading "Blackbelly" and "Mineral Spirits," that no matter how sticky some of those small town folk can be, they eventually sneak up on you and pull you headfirst into their world. Tom Jemmett had me changing sheets in his motel on the first page and putting Sienna in my will on the last. I sold an old canning jar to Dillard, wrote a letter to the Editor of The Rocket, gossiped with Charlene at the Post Office, had a gut buster breakfast at Linda's diner, boycotted old Petra's bakery and even had a drink or two with the formidable Dr. Lauren Kent down at the Red Tail Tavern. Sharfeddin creates characters as fragile as a Jenga tower on ball bearings and sturdy as a 100 year old oak in bedrock, and her brilliant storyline weaves them all together so intricately, they become one big breathing entity which lives somewhere between Room 6 and Sienna's button jars. "Windless Summer" is full of mystery, humor, sadness, regret, stagnation, creation, love, forgiveness and hope. Keep it handy, you'll want to read it again.

I'll always be rooting for Sienna ...

If you like stories that take you away while keeping it real, Windless Summer does it. Sharfeddin's novel is both anti-smarmy and anti-epic -- one of those rare tales that's taut and real and just plain satisfying. Sharfeddin does an incredible job of getting out of the way of her writing -- and here she did it by putting me in the middle of a small town along the Columbia River Gorge and bringing to life all kinds of people who simply want to live, love and survive life's most basic worries: a secure future and the unromantic depths of love. Sure, there's despair, ego, pride, darkness, and even a few weirdos, but that's exactly what enriches and sweetens the whole story. It might sound like a cliche, but I'll always be rooting for Sienna and her dad Tom (while watching for old motels with pools out back). It's all in Windless Summer; therefore, it's real.

exciting small town suspense thriller

The townsfolk of Rocket, Washington depend on summer when the windsurfers and tourists invade to make a living. However, the WINDLESS SUMMER has kept many of the visitors away and has driven off residents and shut down business. The Jemmet Motel overlooking the Columbia has been empty and the owner widower Tom Jemmet fears he may have to close. Tom's soul is filled with ghosts that haunt him starting with his late wife and with the living especially his twelve year old autistic daughter Sienna. Others hide damaging secrets too such as Charlene the kind mail clerk who helps with Sienna and the vet Dr. Lauren who conceals her love for father and daughter. However each shares the same abysmal no hope for the future. That changes starting with the man from Idaho staying in room six. In that room strange happenings begin. Some will call it fate visiting; other the supernatural; while some proclaim divine or devilish intervention. Whatever, the truth is it starts with the weird accident in room six that makes the local news only to be picked up nationally. Soon the town and its motel are flooded with people wanting to stay in room six arousing the darkest fears and secrets of the townsfolk starting with what happened to Tom's late wife. This exciting small town suspense thriller effortlessly blends psychological and supernatural elements into a fast-paced character driven tale. The audience will appreciate the switching points of view especially that of Tom, Lauren, the reporter, and to a lesser degree that of Sienna and Charlene. The outside horde that invades the town is treated initially as welcome bags of money, but soon considered unwelcome detriments. Fans will enjoy this intriguing story wondering what happened to Tom's wife and why he behaves guiltily as if his punishment for what is mostly unknown (but guessed) is penance for life.