Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of That Summer Place: Old Things / Private Paradise / Island Time

That Summer Place: Old Things / Private Paradise / Island Time
waucondacarol avatar reviewed on + 319 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3


I like this sappy, romantic trio of stories that take place in the same summer vacation home on an island near Seattle over several years and involve three different couples. Each couple is unique. In "Private Paradise," a widow with a teenage son accidently ends up sharing the house with a divorced father of a rebellious pre-teen. The kids decide that their parents would make a perfect couple. In "Old Things," a single mom, workaholic divorcee of two girls rents the home to spend quality time with her two daughters and meets the guy she had a heavy crush on when she stayed at the house as a teen and he lived with his uncle. Thirty years later and still a bachelor, he is spending time at his late uncle's island home and lets her believe he is the island handyman instead of a high powered Seattle executive. In "Island Time," a staid widower is staying at the house while planning a new marina for the island and a quirky, Hispanic marine biologist is hired by his assistant to do the environmental study which will allow the plans for the marina to go ahead if she approves them. The young woman is broke, out of work, has two chihuahuas, a tangerine colored Volkswagon bug that barely makes it off the ferry before it breaks down, and loves spicy salsa music, food, skimpy outfits, and she finds her boss is not too bad either.