The Nighttide Of Summerlong

by Rin Hoshigumo

Claudia has been unceremoniously, unexpectedly dumped by Julian, the love of her life and the only man she has been with, so when his nephew, Gus, unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep and a romance burgeons between them, it seems that Claudia may have been given another, better chance at love. However, the past can overshadow the present, and Julian may not yet be out of the picture.

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 12, 2020

About the author

My journey in life has taken me progressively farther west. When things come full circle, I wonder if I’ll end up back where I started.

Reviews

[Rin Hoshigumo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously? I can add my own book? Of course I read it, about seventeen times! And you know what? I'm going to revise it because there's one formatting error that bugs me, a number of typos and syntactical errors, plus I want to reformat the paperback. You see, I published the e-book first. I didn't think people would want paperback, but after about five people asked if there was a paperback, I decided to do one.

Well, before autumn 2020, the revised edition will be out, by which time I'll have read my own damned book about twenty times or more.

I loved writing this book, though it took me an aeon to find the right place and be motivated to finish it. For this, I must give some credit to Johan (the first model for the love interest in my second and yet-to-be published novel), as a conversation with him made me realize that this novel was more ready for release than the one I'm still working on.

In writing this novel, I revisited my childhood in many ways; but lovely as it was, it was finally ENDING it that made me grin. Goodness me, I really needed that!
That said, there will be a sequel. Then I'll leave that universe, unless I'm tempted to tell a story from the life of Tatsu (a character who has his own story that I don't really wish to tell in full).

I have to say one thing: I initially didn't like the main character, Claudia. It took me a while to even want to get to see things from her perspective. Oh, and I'll also say that, even though I have a sort of respect for Gus, as a physical presence, I WARM to Julian. I know the way he moves. I can almost smell him and feel the warmth from him. In some of the scenes with him, like the one with Sim in the kitchen and the dream that Gus had of him, damn, I FELT him and my heart caught. A couple of readers hated him and thought he was full of shit. And he was. But my heart likes him.

Seriously, I can review my own book? Really? Okay, then.

[Damien Larkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nighttide of Summerlong is a fascinating and well written dark romance story that gripped me from start to finish.

When Claudia is dumped by her on/off again boyfriend Julian she finds herself alone and once again left to pick up the pieces of her life. Julian’s nephew Gus unexpectedly arrives at Claudia’s house and a whirlwind romance blossoms between them. But as their relationship grows, Gus senses something dark within their home which threatens everything he holds dear.

This was such an engrossing read. On the surface, it read as a woman coming to terms with the end of a long term relationship and the start of something new. Through flashbacks we learn of how Julian and Claudia met, his subtle manipulations and power plays and Claudia’s yearnings for a normal life with someone so destructive.

The darkness within the story permeates midway through and slowly builds to a satisfying, if unexpected ending.

I read this book in four days (quick for me) and look forward to checking more from this author in the future. Highly recommended!

[Peter Wick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rin Hoshigumo's first book (the 2nd I've read) is a breezier, quicker read than her follow-up, Servants of Need. I like both. Nighttide of Summerlong feels more like a musing recollection of a relationship, but be prepared; it is calmly, casually, moving forward toward something dark.

[John Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“She wanted him back so badly. She replayed the events of the previous night, torturing herself by invoking his image before her mind’s eye: the play of light and shadow across his face, his golden-brown eyes that could look almost black when he was enraged. She paused as the memory of his scent brought back the memory of his body, the feel of his skin, the taste of his lips, the wetness of his tongue. For a moment, she lost herself in the memory of their first kiss, so many years ago when she was just fifteen. Her first kiss. Her first man. Her only man.”
Power-play, romance, sex, misdirection, and a smattering of the supernatural: this novel has them all.
When Claudia finds herself without her lying, controlling boyfriend Julian, an unexpected romance blooms between her and Julian’s nephew Gus. The author unpacks her narrative with a sense of growing darkness, and it is punctuated with flashbacks and the central character’s philosophical musings. Suffice to say, nasty surprises – and a mega-twist – lie ahead…
“There is always something waiting.”

[Rin Hoshigumo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an unexpectedly satisfying read. It's probably the eighteenth or nineteenth time that I've read it, but it has been the most fulfilling of all the times that I've read it. i hadn't expected the revised, reformatted paperback to be so pleasing.
The first paperback wasn't a particularly attractive book, but I hadn't expected the physical features of the paperback to affect the reading experience so much.
There are still a few typos and syntactical errors, but I'm satisfied with what I have now. Nothing is ever perfect and I am happy to leave what i have without further tinkering.
I hadn't expected to be able to lose myself in my own story, or to enjoy it so much, but reading this genuinely transported me back to moments in my past. I drew heavily upon real locations, mainly in Edgbaston, Birmingham, but also Cornwall and Scotland. There's a scene which occurs near Gus' grandparents house in a B & B, which is based on an actual B & B that I stayed in with my mother when we visited the Lake District one December. I was reading James Joyce's Ulysses at the time.
I really love the universe of this story, and I shan't revisit it before 2023, when I shall begin the sequel that will tie everything up and hopefully balance the darkness that has been growing since the start of this story.