Eh. One Summer Night was okay. Nothing memorable, really. Nothing that stood out, good OR bad. It just . . . was.

Maggie Sinclair is trying to save the business that her mother started with her father, but her father has not wanted to change anything since her mother has passed away. Now having mortgage everything that should could she is at her last straw with her father. Her life becomes more complicated when the only person she ever really loved has started showing up again. This should be a good thing but Owen Pierce is tied to his father’s strings. With that comes the feud between the Pierce’s and the Sinclair’s. He and his brother don’t even know what the feud is about and Maggie sure does not. Owen decides to go for it with Maggie and comes up with a plan to tell his father if he should find out. This begins to work out fine and the two of them fall back into an easy relationship like they had when they were younger. It goes so well that they are going to get married, that is until she hears the saying that he did a good job by getting her to agree to marriage they can now get the property that they the Sinclair’s own. Seeing that she is standing there now he is in full damage control and really this is where for me the book gets good and turns into a good story. Read this good book and then move on to the next book.

I was really looking forward to this book as it seems like it would be a friends to lovers type trope or even friends pining for each other from afar. And it was that. But with feuding fathers who have pretty much forbidden the MCs from being any more than passing friends. In a contemporary, non-mob book, this trope/plot-device does not work for me. I got to around the 20% mark and another mention of one of the fathers pushed me over the edge. This was a DNF for me.

One Summer Night has that enemies to lovers feel to it, especially since Owen and Maggie’s families have been in that enemies category for some time now. Yet Owen hasn’t let their fathers’ feud keep his feelings for Maggie from growing, even if he hasn’t acted on them for years. At one time, in their younger years, they’d felt the spark of a crush, might have been more if not for their fathers and their feud that has nothing to do with the next generation. Still Maggie and Owen went their separate ways, until times changed and Maggie is faced with hard choices..

Now he has a chance to bridge that feud by helping Maggie, and maybe if he’s lucky, getting her to fall for him again as well. It’s been said to ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ – well Owen intends to get very close with Maggie.

I enjoyed One Summer Night. There is a large cast of characters to make your way through. I expect that in the first story of a series knowing that many of those characters will one day have their own tales to tell. It doesn’t take long to find who goes together, or might in the future… but this is a series of close knit friends and family, so it’s expected to have people overflowing at times.

My interest is definitely engaged now, and I’m looking forward to the next story in the At The Shore series. I’d recommend this story for any Romance reader who enjoys tension, lots of characters to liven up the story and a good old-fashioned family feud love story.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

A Romeo and Juliet-esque plot set against the Jersey shore and uptown New York City sounded like just the thing especially when you throw in an author I’ve been meaning to try for some time. One Summer Night had some sparkle and sizzle even while following the path of many romances that have come before it.
Review

Owen and Maggie grew up side by side as friends and a tentative shot at first love while their father’s feuded, but then they drifted apart and haven’t crossed paths much until now when Maggie’s family’s business is in trouble and it is Owen who can come to the rescue.

From the wedding encounter and all the way through, I found myself liking and cheering on both Maggie and Owen. They come from powerful business families and enjoy following in their respective father’s footsteps though the feud isn’t something either buy into, thankfully. I had a suspicion of what it was really all about and I wasn’t wrong. Just like I wasn’t wrong of how the romance would progress or what would cause the final conflict from early on. Yep, you guessed it, One Summer Night was very predictable. I confess that this did dampen some of my enthusiasm and I skimmed a tad, but this did not quench my interest completely and I found many things to enjoy and love about this one.

I loved Maggie and Owen, her circle of friends and his brother. I can’t wait to get the next story seeing how Maggie’s lawyer friend and Owen’s brother seemed to be showing some sizzle of their own in the background.
I also loved the settings of the shore and the city, the upper class and the business settings, Maggie’s struggle to keep her mother’s dream- the store- alive, both their finding themselves and standing up to unreasonable parents, and just the sparkle of the story.

So, in summary, I liked it more than loved it, but there was plenty to keep me engaged and willing to go back for more. Contemporary romance fans are definitely a great fit.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 star

I was pulled right into this story. The story has laughs, pain, and heartbreak.

This is Maggie and Owen’s story. Maggie and Owen’s families have been neighbors and enemies for years. She has been trying everything to save her families business even mortgaging their house. But it’s still not helping. Owen wants to help but will Maggie give him a chance? With the family they have do they even have a chance at getting involved. He is out to prove that he is not trouble and willing to help. She wonders if they can get along long enough for him to help or is he just out to bring her entire family down? Owen needs to get her to allow him to help so he can finally get a chance to get her to fall for him. He fell for her already and he needs to get her to see him for himself and not just her enemy and neighbor.

I felt I could connect with the characters and the story was a great read.

I recommend this book.

Tracy was in love with being in love and that worried one of her best friend and maid of honor Maggie as tracy and her new husband were dancing. Connie and emma were Tracy’s other best friend as well as Maggie’s. Maggie, Connie,and emma were the last three single females in their circle of college friends and business acquaintances. Maggie hadn’t thought about marriage in a long time as she had too much going on in her life . For years now Maggie had been dealing with her family’s business and it’s money problems. Maggie had mortgaged the property she had inherited to funnel money into the family’s struggling retail stores. Maggie spent way too much time at work which left little time for romance. Maggie was told by connie Owen had been watching her all night but maggie said Owen had no interest in her. Owen and Maggie’s fathers had been friends until Owen’s father felt Maggie’s family had done him wrong. Now there was a feud between the two families.But owen and maggie didn’t feel that way. A while ago Owen and Maggie had shared a drunken kiss and since then fate has seemed to throw them together a lot both personally and in business. Maggie didn’t feel so alone when owen was around. But Maggie couldn’t get used to that. Owen had left maggie once when she had needed him most right after her mom's death. Owen’s in and out of Maggie’s life proved she couldn’t count on him. Owen’s younger brother Jonathan was also at the wedding and seen Owen watching Maggie and said to Owen Maggie was just trouble and their father had declared the Sinclairs were off limits a long time ago and would have a stroke if he knew Owen and Maggie were together. Owen felt in a way he had been involved with Maggie forever. Owen had become intrigued with the woman Maggie had grown into as they had know each other since they were young. Owen and Maggie started spending time together which was risky and complicated. Maggie has to make her father understand they have to update the stores even though her father greatly fears changing the store his cherished wife had built. Owen wants to help Maggie with her problems but she doesn’t know if it’s just a ploy to bring her whole family down as Maggie had learned not to trust Owen being there for her.
I enjoyed reading this book. The story was a fun light read. This was well written and I liked the plot and pace of the book. I really enjoyed the build up of Owen’s and Maggie’s relationship. I didn’t like when Maggie didn’t believe Owen and that he really cared for her but understood why she felt that way. I loved how Owen respected and supported Maggie knowing what it may cost him. I loved Maggie, Connie, Emma, and Tracy’s relationships and how they were there for each other. This was a little predictable but I still really enjoyed and liked this book. It was a modern day Romeo and Juliet along with one struggling and one person rich. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

My Review: I have a few books by Pineiro waiting to be read on my shelf and I will be meeting her at the Fall in Love with New England convention coming up this weekend, so I really wanted to read her most recent release first. While the title denotes to summer, the setting is more of a fall to winter setting, which was perfect for me. It was a little predictable with a lot of the familiar issues that arise in contemporary romance to put a road block up in the couple's path. With that said, Pineiro did turn the marriage of convenience on its head a bit and that was great to see. I did enjoy the characters, and really connected with Maggie's go get them, all business attitude, but I must say that some of the side characters really captured my attention. I really enjoyed Jonathan and the brother relationship with Owen was fantastic, I am also a little attached to Carlo already and can't wait to get to that book.

My Rating: While this was a great romance for this time of year and I enjoyed the setting and characters, I just was never really able to fully settle into the story. I kept picking it up and putting it down so it took me far longer than normal to read. I give this one a rating of Three Paws.

It's been a while since I've read Caridad Pineiro so when I saw One Summer Night come up for review I thought I'd give it a try.

I don't always care to look at the blurb of the book I'm reviewing because I like to go in cold. Sometimes I feel you can learn way to much from the blurb. So when I started this one I didn't even know who the characters were.

Unfortunately that didn't work out for me. I felt so lost, like I was just dropped into the story and placed where I didn't belong. I had no choice but to read the blurb.

That happening doesn't mean I will automatically not like the book, it just mean...I was lost.

It happens to the best of us. After reading the blurb I got the picture somewhat and figured out who the main characters were. All helpfully for me to continue. I will tell you I really liked Owen and Maggie, I could feel their attraction jump off the pages of the book. You knew these two are meant for each other, now if they could only let the past go and move on.

Don't get me wrong, they have a past. It's hard to like someone when your whole family hates their family.

The story moved quickly and you moved with it. By the end of the story I forgot the beginning and feeling lost but I did feel somewhat that the story could be more original. Doesn't mean that I didn't like it, just that it's nothing new. Sometimes stories work out that way and you have to pray that the characters help you through it.

In One Summer Night that's just what happened. I liked the characters so much I didn't care about the plot. I'm glad I read One Summer Night and met both Owen and Maggie. I really liked Maggie's friends too so I will be trying Laws of Attractions next!

Caridad Pineiro’s latest romance, One Summer Night, is a bittersweet story about family, friends, forgiveness, and love. Maggie Sinclair is struggling with her family’s retail business, fears they could lose everything, and is unable to make her father understand that it’s time for changes. Owen Pierce is a successful part of his family’s business, although he has to endure his cold, unloving father. Although their families have been in a feud for decades, Maggie and Owen grew up playing together at their Jersey shore vacation homes, shared a kiss when Maggie was eighteen, and have had some sort of romantic feelings for each other for years. After reuniting at a friend’s wedding, Maggie and Owen try to be friends despite the issues between their fathers, try to explore what they may feel for each other, and try to save Maggie’s family’s retail chain.

Maggie and Owen each had likable and unlikable qualities, but I really enjoyed their story and couldn’t help but cheer them on. Both were workaholics that grew up without their mothers, raised by stubborn fathers more interested in carrying on an old feud than anything else. Somehow, despite their father, both Owen and his brother Jonathan both turned out successful, intelligent, and adorable. Maggie was hard-working and had a very close-knit group of girlfriends, but something about her made it difficult for me to truly feel invested in her character. Both her and Owen were hot and cold initially, denying feelings one minute then professing feelings another minute. However, I loved both characters when I felt like they were being their true selves. Although I must say, I was much more into Owen and his feelings throughout the entire novel – he was just so yummy!

I loved the originality of the storyline with its own special twist on a Romeo & Juliet theme. The author crafted an entertaining read that also touched on the importance of honesty and forgiveness in friendships, romantic relationships, and the world of business. She also illustrated the devasting effects of long-term anger and how many lives are affected when people cannot let go of the past. Was the best book I’ve read in a while? No, it wasn’t. However, I did enjoy it quite a bit and would easily recommend this one to fans of contemporary romance.

One thing that still baffles me… What in the world is a pork roll for breakfast?? 🙂

*Thanks to NetGalley and Barclay Publicity for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

For the most part, I liked the book. I just didn't love it as much as I wanted to since it is a friends to lovers story.

I did like the romance between the couple. I thought it was fun and flirty. They were good together. I also loved Maggie's friends. They are set up to have their own romances in this book and I want to read them. What I didn't love about this book was that it was quite repetitive. I got tired of constantly being reminded of the feud between the two fathers. I found myself skimming over parts because I felt like that ground had already been covered multiple times. Maggie's situation with her father was a bit annoying as well. She should have stood up to him a lot sooner than she did. In the real world, I wonder how long the shareholders would have allowed his poor business sense to keep going.

As I said, for the most part, it's a fun romance. I do look forward to reading the next in the series.

One Summer Night by Caridad Pineiro
At the Shore #1

This book begins and ends with a wedding. It has ups and downs. It is a bit like a modern day Romeo and Juliet story without the death of both the main characters and the families in discord is all due to their fathers having a falling out over 30 years before the story begins.

Rachel is dealing with a family company on the brink of disaster with a father unwilling to move in a direction that might save the business. She has friends that will star in the future books of the series but are also there to support her during the telling of her story.

Owen also has a huge company that he runs with his father but where his father’s goal is to break Maggie’s father Owen’s is quite different. In fact, he wants to HELP Maggie an in doing so will also help her father.

Owen and Rachel do have a chance at a happily ever after IF they can get all their ducks in a row…well…get them BACK in a row and if both are willing to listen to their hearts.

This is a book I believe will appeal to New Adult readers and those that like a fairly predictable plot without any major dramas to contend with.
Thank you to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, and Barclay Publicity for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

One Summer Night is the first book in the new At the Shore series by Caridad Piñeiro. I received a copy in exchange for an honest review from Barclay Publishing via Netgalley. Maggie and Owen were childhood friends. They played together as children when their respective families visited the shore where they were next door neighbors for many Summers until some falling out happened between their fathers. Their fathers had been best friends when something broke the friendship. Neither Owen or Maggie is quite sure of the whole story, but, they do know that it involves several high-valued properties that the two friends planned to invest in together until Maggie's dad did something different. Whatever happened each man has passed the feud on through their children.

Skip to Maggie and Owen as adults, both working in their family's business. Owen's family's business is excelling and Maggie's family's business is in trouble. Her father will not change with the times and continues to make the same choices that are no longer viable in a .com era where people do not have to visit a storefront to purchase anything any longer. He has not grasped the change very well and is steadfast in his denial of any changes that Maggie wants to make. Maggie has decided to try and show him what the retail business they own with a flagship store on 5th avenue in New York, could be now with a blend of the traditional and the modern. She needs an infusion of cash to get it off the ground. Owen has the cash and his father still wants those properties and he doesn't care who he has to hurt to get them. Owen and Maggie's friendship could be much more if their fathers' feud was not in the way. One Summer Night is the story of two adult children trying to branch out on their own while keeping one foot firmly rooted to their respective families. The question is can they stand out on their own enough to give their relationship a chance or will they let the feud interfere. It is a great, romantic start to a new series. I look forward to seeing where the story goes next and I have a feeling I just might know. Review can also be seen at LadyTechie's Book Musings ladytechiesbookmusings.blogspot.com.

One Summer Night is a modern day Romeo and Juliet type story (minus the tragic ending)

Maggie and Owen used to be childhood friends, Until the day they were forced apart by their families feud. Now many years later Maggie and Owen happen to bump into each other at a wedding. Maggie and Owen know hanging out is going against their families wishes but the chemistry between them is to strong to deny.

One Summer Night is a modern day romeo and Juliet tale. I did like this novel, however, I found it overly predictable. I was intrigued by the ending. Even though I knew what was coming by the middle of the novel and what the cause for the two families feud had been, I was still flying through the pages. The story is well told but the shock value wasn't high for me, which is a big plus, especially when you have a novel that has a small mysterious aspect to it.

I'm a sucker or a good HEA and this one certainly deliver. Of course you get the usual angst and trials and tribulations to get there but it is so worth it. Maggie is gorgeous a beautiful soul and Owen is a real sweetheart. Didn't like Owen's dad at first but when you find out his reason for the animosity between the families it does pull at your heart strings. Such a wonderful story you won't be disappointed.

Well, what should I say....hmmm.... a sweet story but it’s something about the writing style that’s not totally sitting right with me. It could be only that sometimes it’s a little too much descriptions of surroundings.......

The storyline is good and the characters are well written so there is no much to complain about. There’s a good amount of dialogues so that could be what makes me overlook the descriptions of surroundings.

The secondary characters are interesting and I understand this is the first book in this series so I must say I got curious about the next couple, I think I can guess who it’s going to be.

The love scenes are sweet and a little emotional but not very intense, but they are beautifully described.

All in all a good 4 star read and although it’s a series I think you can read them as standalone because this was HEA.

There is a lot happening in this one. Maggie partially owns her family business with her dad (and other shareholders of course). The retail division is losing money, due in part, to her dad being rigid and not wanting to change anything. Maggie has mortgaged 2 of the family's properties to keep them afloat and she will lose her home (and vacation home at Sea Kiss) if she can't turn things around.
Owen is part owner of his family's real estate empire. His father disinherited his brother Jonathon when he wouldn't do what he wanted. His father hates the Sinclairs and wants their retail properties. Owen walks a fine line trying to have both what he wants and his father's approval.
I enjoyed this one, in part, because of the family history. Maggie grew up next door to Owen and his brother in Sea Kiss. Things happen and they run into each other periodically as they grew up, attend college, and then in the city. I liked this for the slow burn romance at first, then it became so much more quickly. Maggie does grow a spine and talks to her dad about his refusal to make changes. I assume Maggie's friends, Connie and Emma get their HEAs in future books. (I'm hoping Connie's is first; I think some of her story was happening concurrently with Maggie's).

eARC courtesy of Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley
Release date: Oct 3rd

One Summer Night is the perfect mix of urban vs. seaside and work vs. play. Pineiro perfectly sets up the romance between family friends Maggie and Owen in One Summer Night, but the book also introduces readers to their long-standing family feud. One Summer Night is quite a steamier than some of the small-town romances out there, though, which is A-OK by me, but please note that this book is best suited for romance readers who aren’t afraid of some explicit bedroom scenes!

One Summer Night was just the light read I was looking for. Told from dual points of view, Maggie and Owen's story will grab you from the first page and will leave you begging for more.

From the moment we meet Maggie and Owen, the sparks between the two of them are instant. There is history there and a connection that is just begging to be explored. The only problem....their families can't stand each other. Despite their family issues, Maggie and Owen begin to spend time with one another. It's risky. It's complicated. But, some of the best risks are worth taking. Will Maggie and Owen take a chance on each other or will their family rivalries throw everything away? There's only one way to find out....

Overall, I really enjoyed One Summer Night. I thought the story-line was a lot of fun and was excited to see where Owen and Maggie's story was going to go. I enjoyed the slow burn to Maggie and Owen's relationship. The sparks were there, but I appreciated that these two didn't immediately jump in. And to me that made the chemistry between the two of them burn hotter. You just knew they would be off the charts together, you just had to wait for them to give in and take the jump. 

One Summer Night is well written and is the perfect light read. One Summer Night has just the right balance of family drama, a touch of angst and just the right amount of sexiness. I think this series is off to a promising start and I'm excited to see where it will go next.

Having grown up going to Ocean Grove, otherwise known as Sea Kiss, in Pineiro's One Summer Night, I adored this book even more than a non-Jersey Girl would! Pineiro does a great job with developing her characters, making them well-rounded and interesting. The homes and overall ambiance of the Sea Kiss area contributes to the story in ways that make you want to read this book while soaking up the sun on a warm sandy beach! Not only a love story, but of friendship, tradition, and business and the lengths people will go to in order to protect what's important to them.