Books › One summer
One summer
First published 1993 · 422 pages
A sweltering, scandal-soaked Southern romance where forbidden attraction collides with a deadly small-town mystery.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into the sticky, suffocating heat of a Southern summer, where every glance is loaded and the whole town is watching. It delivers that classic nineties romantic suspense experience, blending the delicious, slow-burn tension of a forbidden, scandalous attraction with the sharp edge of a murder mystery. The atmosphere is thick with small-town hypocrisy and simmering prejudice, making the central romance feel both dangerous and deeply earned. The narrative moves at a brisk, breathless pace, pulling you through layers of gossip and suspicion toward a high-stakes climax. It is a perfect escape for readers who love a deeply misunderstood, brooding hero and a fiercely loyal heroine fighting against the world, wrapped in a steamy, atmospheric thriller.
- Mood
- sweltering
- tense
- scandalous
- claustrophobic
- Tone
- passionate
- earnest
- suspenseful
- melodramatic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- forbidden desire · small-town hypocrisy · second chances · the weight of the past · overcoming prejudice
- The writing
- Sensory and emotionally charged, leaning heavily into the sticky heat of the Southern setting and the palpable tension between the leads.
- The arc
- Moves from simmering, forbidden attraction and social defiance into explosive passion and high-stakes terror.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave classic nineties romantic suspense featuring a deeply misunderstood bad boy, small-town gossip, and a steamy, high-stakes love story.
Content notes
- murder
- false imprisonment
- violence
- prejudice
About the book
HE WAS PURE UNADULTERATED TROUBLE. Johnny Harris is home again, his too-tight jeans and damn-your-eyes belligerence honed to perfection by a ten-year stretch in federal prison for murder. Now he's out on parole and ready for the job Rachel Grant has promised to help him begin a new life. Unlike the rest of the town, Rachel has always believed in her former student's innocence. But one thing has changed...
The sullenly handsome boy she remembered is still sullen, still handsome...but no longer a boy. And now the small Kentucky town is alive with gossip and whispers of scandal, as friendship turns to passion and Rachel abandons a lifetime of propriety in the ex-con's arms. Then the killer strikes again. All evidence points to Johnny Harris, but Rachel knows he is innocent. And she knows she is next...as a shattering truth is uncovered and dark passions explode in the relentless summer heat.
Description from Open Library.
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