A very gentle story of a summer for a family in mid-July in steaming Texas.
Lizzie is content with her daughters asleep upstairs, but knows there is danger on the horizon.
An emotional read and one that was perfect for a holiday read.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

A very serious book that deals with complicated issues surrounding crime and second chances, especially if you are not welcome back.
This ss not the sort of novel I would normally read as it touches on a lot of serious issues. However I did enjoy it as it was so well written.

This is a quite atmospheric book about how hard is the way back after a crime into the community that will simply not have you.

This summer, Jasper is coming back after 10 years in a prison for a crime. We do not know which crime, only that is was ugly and there are some very hard feelings in the community, and even his own family is torn. His sister Lizzie accepts Jasper back into the family home, yet the tension is present. This is going to be one, long, hot summer under the parching sun and the flames of unforgiveness and revenge.

The story is told by 4 narrators - Jasper, Lizzie and her daughters - teenager Katie and 11-year-old Joanne.

Mixed feelings. The atmosphere is a big plus here - the storytelling is vivid and plastic and you get all the conflicting emotions of people caught in this complicated situation. THe motive is also very human - is there a way back from great hurt? If not, is there at least a way how to live in neutrality, if not in peace? The characters are multidimensional (if some of them unlikable) and their struggles are believable.

Yet, the storytelling is not enough here in my opinion. There are also other questions to discuss (mostly after the last chapters), many whys - and truly, what kind of a community is this. The message about the value of forgiveness gets a bit hidden under all of the unnecessary ugliness which undermines not only the rightness/wrongness, but also points at the much more hidden darkness which goes unaddressed. Because in the community like this anything is possible, and this dark truth about this common evil is painfully missing.

Trigger warnings for violence and sexual violence.

This was a great book. I didn’t manage to download before archive date so listened to it on audio. I would definitely read other books by this author. The storyline was great and loved the characters which were well formed

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will enjoy.

I loved this book, great storyline and characters. I found all the characters really like able and imaginative, I will definitely reccommend this to my friends.

This would make a wonderful book club book for groups that like to take on tough and morally subjective topics.
There is not really one major character per say in The Last Days of Summer. Although certainly out leads are a brother who just got out of jail, a conflicted sister over her familial obligation and said sisters two daughters.

Of all the things that stick out in Vanessa Ronan's prose; it's certainly that the youngest daughter is the person we all wish we could be as adults. Innocent, trusting, and compassionate. I love her line:
"Everyone should have a friend"

I want to say that after reading this book I believe it's true that everyone should have a friend. That all human beings are valuable in their own way; but it's hard to really believe that.

There are so many themes to discuss here from: faith, prayer, forgiveness, innocence and home.
- Do you have the right to return home after being in prison?
- Do you deserve a friend no matter what?
- Are there ever ways to gain forgiveness for heinous acts?

Ultimately for me this book is about what we as humans deserve. Do we all deserve to be happy? Do we deserve to ever have comforts if we've done certain things? And does anyone ever deserve to be treated in a different way?

Fair warning there are awful crimes described and that play out in this book. If you are squeamish or avoid some of the nasty things in our world then this book is not for you.
But if you believe we can learn from all acts, responses and thoughts of a child then I believe you will walk away from The Last Days of Summer with lots to think about and discuss with others if you choose to.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Looking at the cover, I was expecting something a little like The Girls, which was one of my recent favourites. It was completely different, but there was one thing that was similar - the claustrophobic feeling of a scorching summer. Descriptions so evocative that you could feel the air burning your throat.

The pace felt slightly odd - the start was so slow and drawn out, a whole lot of nothing going on, and yet there was a background intensity of evil, fear and threat.

The hints of what Jasper had done, and what he MAY have done become clearer as the story progresses. The ways that the three women/girls deal with his arrival into their home are so different that it makes it difficult for the reader to decide a 'side' to be on. His sister wary but supportive, her oldest teenage girl angry and resentful and 11 year old Joanne, who never really knew her father - curious, accepting and ready to love her strange quiet uncle.

The book describes living in a small Texan prairie town with nothing really going on, although I couldn't get a feel for WHEN this was set - I'm not sure if that was intentional.

It's not for the faint-hearted though - there are some gritty descriptions of some not-very nice goings on towards the end - the menace having been hinted at throughout amongst the descriptions of the shimmering heat.

A handful of contradicting thoughts!

The story, spiced by a southern accent, revolves around Jason’s return and the emotions that it brings to the community. The community where everyone knows each other, where faith and religions can dictate their own mandate, where revenge is a high priority.

I admit that the very slow pace of which the events unraveled made it tedious to power through, but the writing was vivid and descriptive, making me feel and see everything, making it so easy to roll the clips in my head.

What kept me going in the beginning was the mystery. Through most part of the book we are left guessing what crime did Jason commit. The Author only reveals the details very late into the story. At some points, I felt like even the mystery was not enough anymore to make me continue. But I’m glad that I did!

The story picks itself up once we get some more information and the ending is very different from the slowness of the rest of the novel.

I didn't find this an easy book to read, could be my fault I did pick the book no one forced me to read it,and maybe I should have given it more thought.It was quite character driven, but if you don't like the main character it is not an easy read.I also found it very slow starting and I was wanting more action at first.It did get going and it painted a picture that felt realistic, if bleak.I wanted to enjoy it more than I did.I can only hope it is to other people's liking more than it was to mine.

I am not 100% sure what I expected when I picked up my copy of The Last Days of Summer because it’s setting isn’t one that I normally go for but the story appealed and I wanted to take a bit of a step outside of my comfort zone. What I ended up with was a beautifully written story that had me caring about the central characters, including Jasper, a man I shouldn’t have liked at all given his past.

There are a lot of inner monologues in this book, which helps you get to know and understand each person – Lizzie, the sister whose life is harder than she ever thought it might be; Katie, the teenage daughter who just wants to be loved by her hometown boyfriend; Joanne, 11 years old, innocent and trusting; and Jasper, newly released from prison for a vicious crime which he says he isn’t sorry for.

Given this lack of remorse, it is hard to understand why I liked him but I think it is because of the way he speaks of being home, of how he starts to care for Joanne, showing a human side. All Jasper wants is to be free, to live his life. The problem is that life is now being lived in the small, closed, town he grew up in. It’s where his victim lives, where her family live, and where the townspeople can’t forgive. With nowhere else to go, he hopes he can stick it out but it is pretty clear early on that something bad is going to happen, it’s just a question of what and when.

I can’t say I know much about life on the prairie or small town America but here it is described as both beautiful, with fields of gold, and also narrow minded, with a preacher who talks about forgiveness not meaning people need to forgive. I felt the heat, the lack of opportunity, the need to conform, and the pressure rising over what was basically a week or so. When the tension broke, I was surprised by the “what and when” but maybe I shouldn’t have been because there was an inevitability to it. It wasn’t pleasant to read but it did fit the story and it was a fitting ending.

My only complaint would be that it was too fast. Till then the book had been slow in pace, which fitted the heat filled landscape, with time spent getting to know each person as the story alternated between each one. Then suddenly it was over and I was left a little bereft. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. The fact that I felt this way, though, is probably a good sign that this was a good book. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Ronan. Liked it a lot.

Mixed feelings about this one.

The language has much to commend it but the narrative arc needed some editing. to tighten up the story. Sense of place is strong which is important in a crime novel. but multiple viewpoints kept distracting/ pulling me away from the narrative which was very dark in places (and that's not necessarily a bad thing) and somewhat at odds with the cover.

I found this an OK read but it failed to grip me and the writing style got in the way of essentially a good plot

A stunning exploration of family, loyalty and revenge.

A very atmospheric novel about family and revenge. This is a story which seems to reach an unavoidable conclusion. Jasper is not wanted in town and the people of the town are out for revenge. It is a thought provoking story.

My goodreads review: This is the darkest book I have read in a long time, it charts what happens when a convict is released from prison back to a community that will not accept him.

The writer attempts to get inside the minds and motivations of people filled with hatred and a lust for violence. This would be too grim and dark to be a book I could enjoy but for the fact that the writing is so nuanced. Family loyalties are explored, as is tenderness, the need to protect and a partially understood need for redemption.

The characters are fascinating, particularly the dysfunctional family of Lizzie, Katie, Joanne and Jasper; I was also fascinated by the least Christlike preacher you could imagine, who uses a sermon on forgiveness to argue that some sins are too large to be forgiven! Yet even Rev Gordon is a three-dimensional character with some kindness mixed in with his rush to judge and condemn.

Because characters are so multi-layered, I think they will live on with me for some time - the fact that not all the crime in the book is resolved adds to this. And even in chilly Scotland you can feel the heat of the book's Texan summer.

Excellent book. Great main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

This is an extraordinary debut that is both beautiful and horrifying at once. Ronan's writing is wonderfully tactile, and is matched by her compassion and vision. At the heart of the book is a stunning portrait of Jasper: a man with a monstrous crime behind him that we're never sure he regrets, an inner rage, and yet also a compromised capacity for something that might be love.

The characters are beautifully rendered and complicated, from Jasper's sister Lizzie to her two daughters, beautiful Katie and 11-year old Joanne with all the innocence of her age. Moments of family life, not least Lizzie's memories of growing up with her beloved older brother, give this book a luminous edge even while it is filled with violence, hate, and bloodshed.

The claustrophobia of a small Texas town where everyone knows everyone else is set against the wide-open prairies, and the book moves between images of confinement and freedom.

This is a book which completely absorbed me from the start, both with its gorgeous prose and its capacity to offer empathy, understanding and compassion without sentimentality. The violence which simmers through the book erupts bloodily at points but it's never gratuitous or exploitative.

A stunningly mature debut from Ronan, most definitely a writer to watch.

Posted on Amazon and Goodreads