Lovely book but definitely left me wanting more! It's a novella that really made me interested in the plot and the characters.

I received an e-edition of this book courtesy of Victory Editing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book left me feeling disappointed. It wasn't awful, don't get me wrong but there just wasn't much that I could hang on to when it came to things that I actually could say I loved about it.

In fact, the best thing about this entire book was probably the fact that it was in split POV between Emilia and Nick and after reading many reviews where people have enjoyed books more solely because of this factor, you'd think authors would have gotten the gist by now and would have provided us with more of these sorts of books... But no, we are still left with the same (rather low at that) number of these novels and it's a darn shame because it's good to have the guy's perspective in a romance novel as a lot of the time there's a lot more to their characters than a singular girl POV let's on and a lot of their motives and actions are explained better in their own words (which makes total sense of course.)

However, on the other hand - this romance missed the point of belonging to the romance genre. I felt no chemistry between the characters - their relationship was as bland as plain crackers (and we're talking the salt-less kind here as well) which didn't bode well with the fact that it seemed to be based on primarily physical aspects. And while I respect the fact that both of them being dancers would have provided them with quite attractive bodies... it just didn't work for me.

In saying that, the 'romance' took over the story almost entirely which was a shame because Emilia's quest to find her parents was probably the only remotely interesting thing about her character and that was taken away by her constant desire for all things Nick related... However, I did admire her resilience when it came to that particular issue - on the rare occasion that she remembered that she should be actively looking for them she did actually manage to get a few things done which was really commendable as she stuck through the hardships of it all.

The supporting characters were pretty good and I feel like they did a decent job at keeping our heroine on track when she was down (which of course would happen as a result of baggage which came along with the fact that she was adopted) which was quite nice to see despite the fact that she didn't seem to acknowledge the fact herself.

The novella read at a pleasing pace thanks to Nowodazkij's style which I think saved it, and while I think that it sets the scene quite well for the next novel. I don't think that I will be reading the sequel in the near future, solely because I think I can tell what will actually happen within it and so don't particularly see the point. Albeit I think it'd be a pleasant surprise if I turned out to be wrong so I guess we shall see.

My Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

** An ARC was given via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

This is the first book from Author Elodie Nowodazkij that I have read, and probably won’t be the last. A Summer Like No Other is a Novella, so it’s rather short, and I’m assuming is the prequel to Always Second Best that is slated for release in October 2015. This novella centres on 16-yr-old Emilia, an aspiring dancer that has recently experienced an upheaval in her life, with the recent loss of her father’s job, and the downsizing of the lifestyle her family has enjoyed thus far. With the loss of luxury, also came with a loss of many of her friends who are all off for the summer, enjoying their time in the Hamptons or other exotic locales. Amongst it all, is Nick, her brother’s best friend and son to the man who fired Emilia’s father. She’s always had a crush on Nick, but being his brother’s little sister, and the fact that Nick is not known for relationships, the crush always seemed unrequited. Nick, on the other hand does have feelings for Emilia, but has obligations with his father that makes relationships impossible. With the two spending the summer together, sparks fly between the two.

I did enjoy the novella, and will keep an eye out for the full-length novel to find out how it all pans out.

This book doesn’t have a cliffhanger per se, but questions are left unanswered. Lots of questions. I can see heartbreak on the horizon and only time (and Ms. Nowodazkij) will tell with what’s in store with Emilia and Nick.