
Series: Echo Lake #3
Published by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Publication Date: August 30th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
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Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely mine.
Gabriela O’Brien is devoted to the girls at Briarwood Academy—even when their bad behavior earns them an entire summer at a remote campground in Echo Lake, Vermont. When the headmaster assigns Gabi to be their chaperone, how can she refuse? A long, hot summer with neither indoor plumbing nor wireless access might be just what she needs to get her own life in order…right?
Before Briarwood took over Camp Echo, Luke Magellan spent years there helping troubled boys. When four spoiled rich girls and their seemingly uptight den mother show up for the summer, it’s hard to hide his amusement as he watches them tackle the great outdoors. But it’s even tougher to resist the passion he sees in Gabi—especially when he learns about her past, and sees how much she cares about her students. Is this destined to be just a grownup version of a summer-camp romance—or can they find enough in common to build a love for all seasons?
Review
Gabriela O’Brien has the unenviable task of managing the pampered and spoiled girls at the private boarding school she works at but she holds out hope that things can get better. Except that their acting out has given them an all-access pass to a remote camp ground for the entire summer and instead of lounging by the pool at an island paradise enjoying the sun, Gabi has to chaperone the girls in the wild.
Luke Magellan can credit Camp Echo for putting him on the straight and narrow path when he was headed down the wrong path and he has dedicated his life to doing the same for the boys that pass through it, but the recent acquisition means that the camp that saved him and so many others like him may be converted to an upscale camp for girls, which does not make him very accommodating about being foisted with four spoiled princesses and their den mother for the summer.
I have enjoyed other books by Maggie McGinnis and actually loved the previous book in this series but for some reason, I struggled with this one. Gabriela was a very boring character to me, always whining, always hovering over the girls and complaining even more than the girls about everything. Her only redeeming feature was her unrelenting dedication to those girls.
Luke was an enjoyable character on his own, but the connection between him and Gabi was missing for me or maybe her constant complaining overshadowed it, but I really wasn’t enthusiastic about their romance in any way.
I loved the location and can only imagine all the fun things to do in such a place. The upside for me was watching the girls go from pampered and bored mean girls sniping at each other to self-reliant, co-operative and friendly with each other and I think that the best parts of the book revolved around them.
I had so much excitement going into this book and while I didn’t end up loving it, I enjoyed parts of it and I’ll let readers decide for themselves what they feel about it.
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