Beyond Summer

Blue Sky Hill #3

by Lisa Wingate

When soon-to-be college student Tam Lambert learns that her family's finances are collapsing, the privileged life she's known is forever changed. Tam and her family must move to a tiny house owned by her father's company, Householders, in the Dallas neighborhood of Blue Sky Hill. Shasta Williams and her husband have just purchased their first home in Blue Sky Hill, and it's the perfect place to raise her children. Even better is having a great neighbor like Tam, who lives across the street. When news of a corrupt mortgage scheme breaks, and Blue Sky Hill neighbors realize they could soon lose their homes, new friendships and old loyalties are tested. And two young women will discover the strength and maturity to do the impossible.

Genres: Fiction, Christian Fiction, Audiobook, Christian, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Summer Reads

495 pages, Library Binding

First published July 6, 2010

About the author

Lisa Wingate is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which remained on the bestseller list for over two years. Her award-winning works have been selected for state and community One Book reads, have been published in over forty languages, and have appeared on bestseller lists worldwide. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa and six others as recipients of the National Civics Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. She lives in Texas and Colorado with her family and her deceptively cute little teddy bear of a dog, Huckleberry. Find her at www.lisawingate.com, on Facebook at LisaWingateAuthorPage, or on Instagram @author_lisa_wingate

Reviews

[Nicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reason I decided to give this book five stars is because it has a five star life lesson. This book is about discovering what matters most. It also brings to light the fact that we never know what someone has been through and what they're going through now. We should never judge. It was an easy, thought provoking read. Recommended!

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was just okay. I gave 2 stars mostly because throughout the book the author continuously used “would of” and “could of” instead of “would have” and “could have”. I can’t get behind a book that uses poor grammar.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book #3 in the Blue Sky Hill series. I enjoyed the first two installments. And with the third one, it's my least favorite of the three.

I still liked the writing. The details were vivid which shined a bright light on the emotions of the journey and the place. However, there was a disconnect here. I struggled with relating to the characters. Not a deal breaker. I still liked this one but I wanted to be yanked in like I have been with her other books. Overall I didn't like book #3 as much as the previous two in this series, so 3 stars.

[Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lisa Wingate is my favorite storyteller. I have several favorite authors (of whom I read all their books) but Lisa is a bit different. She doesn’t write books—she weaves incredible stories. If you’ve read anything of hers you will understand what I mean. If you don’t, please read one and you will know. I feel she’s sitting down with me personally and telling me a story while teaching me valuable lessons about life or history.

For some reason I had this book on my shelf, but hadn’t read it. It’s the last one of the Blue Sky Hill series. Because there was a significant time between my reading the rest of the series I was worried I’d miss something or not get as much out of it. I quickly found, it didn’t matter. Each is a great stand alone book or if you’ve read many others of Wingate’s (as I have ) you will be delighted to find some of your old favorites visiting you in this book.

Through Tam, Shasta and Sesay we learn the true value and joy of life—is it tied to riches or not? One quote reverberated even after I’d finished reading and set the book back on my shelf, “What should matter is whether or not you can live with who you are.”

Excellent book! Don’t keep it too long on your TBR list like I did!

[Marleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried very hard to empathize with these characters, but I simply couldn't relate to most of these main players in the story, even if some of them are the same as in book 2.
Also, the subject of fraudulent practices in the housing industry wasn't particularly compelling. So on both counts: story & characters, I feel I missed out somehow. I do think this is a great author and I will certainly read more by her. Maybe her standalone books are more substantial.

[Cathy Flow]

I really liked this book. After I started it I found that it is part of the Blue Sky Hills series, book 3 but I don’t think they need to be read in order. I have ordered the other books but I don’t think they are about the same people. They all take place in the Blue Sky Hills section of Dallas. This book focuses on 3 main characters.
Tamara “Tam” Lambert, a recent high school graduate, spoiled rich girl whose only care was shopping, her best friend, a summer European trip and going to college in the fall on a golf scholarship. Unfortunately her father got tangled in a corrupt real estate deal, he fled to Mexico leaving Tam, her step-mother Barbie, crazy Aunt Lute and 4 young “sibs” to fend for themselves. The large, lovely home was foreclosed and they ended up living in one of the tiny houses in Blue Sky Hill.
The neighbor across the street was Shasta Williams, her husband and 2 small sons. They knew nothing of real estate schemes when they bought their home. Shasta and Tam gradually become friends and participate in the neighborhood church, food kitchen, mentoring and even getting to know some homeless.
The 3rd main character is Sesay. She is an older homeless woman of unknown age and origin. She is foreign but no one knows where she came from. She doesn’t talk very much and tends to hide in the shadows.
The book shows that what we see on the outside is not what is important. What really counts is friendship, family and how we treat each other

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Lisa Wingate. Her books never fail to share a message. Don't make assumptions about someone. You need to know their story. And sometimes it takes a big change in your life to put you in the direction you really meant to go and find your meaning in life. Homeless people have a story that may change how you think of them.

[Janet Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I wouldn’t care for it but suddenly I couldn’t put it down. I especially enjoyed characters that had faith in God but were portrayed realistically with positive growth. (Nice switch from people with faith portrayed as lunatics or worse.)

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story by Wingate, introducing a variety of characters including a homeless woman. Sometimes you want to reach out and shake some sense into the people, and other times you hold your breath as you see glimmers of hope. Since I typically listen to audio books, I was disappointed I can't find most of this series in audio. This was one of my first Kindle reads. With my new full size iPad, I like it better than reading on my phone.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Lisa Wingate. I love her descriptive writing - she has a great talent that you don't see in many modern writers. I liked her characters and the basic story line; however, I had a really hard time getting into this book until the last 1/3 of the book.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK. Like many of her others better.

[Stephanie Mccall · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Beyond Summer, Lisa Wingate's Blue Sky Hill series is three for three. This third installment might just be my favorite, because of its multifaceted cast of characters, its earthy yet almost fantastical plot, and how Lisa took one of the most basic tropes in literature and turned it all around like a prism chock full of color.

In fact, let's start with that trope. I admit some skepticism going in, because I thought Tam would be a somewhat spoiled character fixated on how life had gone downhill because her dad lost all their family's money. Actually though, Tam is much more mature than I gave her credit for. And while I haven't experienced what she has, I could relate to her frustration with the chaos of her new home, the antics of Barbie's kids, and the clueless, truly adult-but-bratty, behavior of Barbie herself. Yet, that relatability wasn't pity. Throughout Beyond Summer, I rooted for Tam to find a physical and emotional place in Blue Sky Hill, whatever form that took.

She did, and better, that form wasn't the cheesy, Hallmark form it could've been, where everything in Blue Sky Hill became perfect. Instead, Tam has down-to-earth, everyday interactions with Shasta, her boys, and even her own family, that expertly mix the good, the bad, and the difficult or confusing. For instance, it would've been easy for Shasta to become Tam's "educator on privilege." But Shasta is a dynamic, three-dimensional woman, wife, and mom with concerns, questions, and presumptions of her own. Seeing the two women work through these at different levels of amiability was a big reason I had trouble putting the book down.

I also loved the layers Tam, Shasta, and others were able to pull back regarding Tam's family and the agenda behind the Blue Sky Hill development. First off, these two feed each other, so Beyond Summer is deeper than the typical "solve the mystery of the greedy developers' endgame" novel. More importantly, Lisa milks the theme of appearance vs. reality and all its angles for all it's worth. Tia, Barbie, even Tam's dad and Barbie's boys, burst with hidden depths. For instance, I loved Tia almost on sight, but was delighted that Lisa went way beyond making her a quirky, elderly auntie. And I was shocked in the best way at how I actually came to like and sympathize with Barbie.

I did have a few preferences or loose ends I'd have liked Lisa to tie up or tweak. For instance, I remember wondering why Shasta never just asked her boys about the mysterious lady leaving the books and figured out she was the "green pants lady." I mean, Shasta seems a lot smarter than that. I also still don't know if I'm fully on board with the resolution for Blue Sky Hill as a neighborhood, meaning the comeuppance wasn't as clear as I'd have liked. But those issues weren't big enough for me to go lower than a five-star rating. Overall, Beyond Summer goes above and beyond and again, might be my favorite of the series. Don't skip ahead, but do read it when you get there, and take time to savor it.

[Joleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Current day, Dallas, TX

Characters

Shasta Reid-Williams: Fixing up her fixer-upper
Sesay: Homeless woman who makes herself invisible
Tam Lambert: Rich young woman, lost everything
Barbie: Tam's step mother
Aunt Lute: Batty aunt that lives with Tam and Barbie
Terrence: Shasta's uncle (I think), an artist

I have always enjoyed Lisa Wingate‘s books. This whole Blue Sky series was a bit different, but still fascinating and so well done.

The story takes place in an area of Dallas called Blue Sky. Some of the neighborhood has been taken over by developers who are cheating their buyers, eventually making them lose their homes.

Shasta, an young American Indian woman from Oklahoma, and her husband, Cody, had just purchased one of the yellow houses in Blue Sky. She was so proud of of this accomplishment but needed to get this older, slightly run-down home looking acceptable for her family to visit.

Tam Lambert's ex-football star father, a part of this housing scheme, just lost everything and skipped out on his family. Tam was eighteen, planning on college, a new car and a European trip when she found out they lost it all. Her step-mother, Barbie, and the "sibs" were homeless. Fortunately they had a fall-back house offered to them, but it’s in the very neighborhood her father helped to swindle.

Sesay (I'm going to say she was Asian, but I’m not sure) was a homeless woman who made herself invisible because, if she’s found, she believed she would have to return to the horrible living situation (slave labor) she was in most of her life.

These three women were all going through their own trials and life education in this quirky and challenging neighborhood.

Very good narrator! I recommend this book in either written or audio version.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Summary/Review was copied from other sources and is used only as a reminder of what the book was about for my personal interest. Any Personal Notations are for my recollection only.
***
This is the third book in Lisa Wingate’s Blue Sky Hill series. The book builds on to the story that developed in the first two books.

The house that featured in the second book is renovated by the dodgy housing company with bad intentions and Shasta and Cody and their two young boys move in. At the same time, Tam’s father looses everything and disappears.

Tam, her stepmother Barbie, her crazy aunt and four step-siblings are forced to move into the old house across the street.

Tam and Shasta become unlikely friends despite the circumstances. Their friendship and lack of opportunities brings them closer to the activities at the small church where the Summer Kitchen is being held and they both start volunteering to help with the literacy classes.

Woven into the story is the homeless Haitian lady, Sesay who sees all and has a fondness for the small children.

When the truth about Tam’s father comes out, the community rallies together to stand up to big business and development that endangers their community.

I really enjoyed the way the friendships and trust in this book develops and transformed the community from a scary to a welcoming place.
***
Tam Lambert, 18 has lived the life of a rich teenager. For her 18th birthday, she is hoping for a new car and a big party but is surprised to find that her father has disappeared and her house is being foreclosed on. She and her step-mother, Barbie are forced to deal with her step siblings and find a place to live. Barbie is not helping, drinking, crying and disappearing. Her uncle finds a house in a very poor area, Blue Sky Hill where the family barely have enough money to eat. They meet the Native American family across the street, Cody, Shasta and their two boys. They connect at the local church where they listen to stories, eat and tutor people learning to read. Wingate writes characters that come to life and make the reader care about them.
**
At first I thought this was going to be a novel about some ditzy women, but I soon discovered that there was a depth to their characters. Tam‘s dad disappears when the house she, her stepmother, and four your siblings is being foreclosed on. A friend of the family finds them housing in a rundown neighborhood where she becomes friends with a young homeowner across the street. The area is a scam to sell to first-time homeowners, then force them to walk away by adding unknown costs to their mortgages. The young ladies unite with others and discover their own strengths as they decide to fight the swindlers. Lots of feel-good moments.
***

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While equally as excellently crafted as the others in this series, I just didn't like it as much. It has a great message, but also a whole different feel. This book encompasses many lives, and how each of them touches or connects to the others. It is definitely more about the community of Blue Sky Hill, rather than the individuals.

I found the topic of real estate fraud fascinating, and I love how the Summer Kitchen continues to grow, and brings so many people together. The reading program is genius, and the families of both Shasta and Tam are fun. I also enjoyed Sesay's character, as well as that of Terence, and it was nice to see a little bit more of MJ.

I just wish this series had continued, and focused more on previously introduced characters. I am still waiting to read the rest of Mary's story, and also that of Ifeoma. I kind of feel like the author bailed on them, after making them such an integral part of the first book.

I'm also still mad that Uncle Poppy's house got sold at all (in the previous book) and still wish the Summer Kitchen had been able to remain there, or at least that SandraKaye had been able to keep her mother from selling it, and, instead, had rented it to the Williams'.

Beyond Summer really deserves five stars- for being a great book. Even if the series didn't go in the direction I had anticipated.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in Lisa Wingate’s Blue Sky Hill series. The book builds on to the story that developed in the first two books.

The house that featured in the second book is renovated by the dodgy housing company with bad intentions and Shasta and Cody and their two young boys move in. At the same time, Tam’s father looses everything and disappears.

Tam, her stepmother Barbie, her crazy aunt and four step-siblings are forced to move into the old house across the street.

Tam and Shasta become unlikely friends despite the circumstances. Their friendship and lack of opportunities brings them closer to the activities at the small church where the Summer Kitchen is being held and they both start volunteering to help with the literacy classes.

Woven into the story is the homeless Haitian lady, Sesay who sees all and has a fondness for the small children.

When the truth about Tam’s father comes out, the community rallies together to stand up to big business and development that endangers their community.

I really enjoyed the way the friendships and trust in this book develops and transformed the community from a scary to a welcoming place.

[Carol Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the Summer series. Features Tam, whose father loses all his money and skips town; Shasta, who is young and married with 2 boys; Seseay, who came to America years ago alone, had to work in the cane fields until she escaped. Tam, her young stepmother, 3 younger brothers, and baby sister come to live in a small house close to the projects. Her stepmother doesn’t help or do anything with her 4 children and it falls to Tam and crazy Aunt Lute to keep them together. Shasta has insisted she and her husband can afford a house that has all kinds of hidden fees, and she dreads having to ask her Choctaw mother for help from Okla. Sesaey is homeless and sleeps where she can. She carves animals and secretly gives them to the children in the area. They teach each other positivity, humility, and learn how to be friends with people not like themselves. Good blood.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tam Lambert, 18 has lived the life of a rich teenager. For her 18th birthday, she is hoping for a new car and a big party but is surprised to find that her father has disappeared and her house is being foreclosed on. She and her step-mother, Barbie are forced to deal with her step siblings and find a place to live. Barbie is not helping, drinking, crying and disappearing. Her uncle finds a house in a very poor area, Blue Sky Hill where the family barely have enough money to eat. They meet the Native American family across the street, Cody, Shasta and their two boys. They connect at the local church where they listen to stories, eat and tutor people learning to read. Wingate writes characters that come to life and make the reader care about them.

[Rebecca Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 3rd and final book in Lisa Wingate's Blue Sky Hill series (1. The Summer Kitchen and 2. A Month of Summer). This series is set in a run down Texas neighborhood. Each book focuses on a different set of characters, but there are characters that run through all three books. The neighborhood is fighting corporate developers, that would like to put condos everywhere.
This book focuses on two families. Shasta, who is full of hope in her new, not quite as advertised, home. The other family, new to the neighborhood, was just evicted from their mansion, and dad had fled the country.
As both families learn to live in "what is" a friendship forms.
A nice read that brings up numerous current issues.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this was going to be a novel about some ditzy women, but I soon discovered that there was a depth to their characters. Tam‘s dad disappears when the house she, her stepmother, and four your siblings is being foreclosed on. A friend of the family finds them housing in a rundown neighborhood where she becomes friends with a young homeowner across the street. The area is a scam to sell to first-time homeowners, then force them to walk away by adding unknown costs to their mortgages. The young ladies unite with others and discover their own strengths as they decide to fight the swindlers. Lots of feel-good moments.

[Toni L · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to say first up that I listened to this book in audio form. This is the third book in a series of four. I loved the first two audio books. This one disappointed me. Not in the story but in the narrators.
In books one and two I give 5 stars each for the story and the narration. In this third one I give the story four stars but only three for the narration. The narrator that read for the character Tam Lambert was enjoyable. The other two narrators for the characters Shasta and Sesay nearly ruined the book for me.
I would recommend this book but if you are an audiobook fan do yourself a favor and read this one in boook form.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book in this series, which is a lot about the "little people" challenging the "big corporations" in the area of over-development of neighborhoods. This one follows a young family of Native American heritage as they buy their first home and then find out they probably fell to a mortgage scheme. Across the street moves in Tam and her family after their high-end home in an upscale neighborhood was foreclosed and secrets about her father are revealed. It was a fine enough story and if you like the theme of little guys battling the big guys, you would enjoy it. The main thing I don't like about the book in this series is the moralizing and social commentary. No sex or profanity.

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I got this book I didn't realize it was part of a series but I read It not knowing. I really enjoyed the different characters in the story and think that it is a little but unbelievable but fun to read. Of course you have the rich family that is forced into moving into a tiny house and doesn't want anybody to know what has happened after their house is foreclosed on and their father disappears to Mexico and the neighbor across the street who is so excited to have her first home. Will they be able to become friends?

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Lisa Wingate. Her emotional /physical descriptions ring true to me. I can feel what she writes. Beyond Summer was a fun continuation of the Blue Sky Hill books. She intertwines the other stories but in a way that you get to know the new characters in more detail. She often brings the other characters together at the end of the book. It is great to sit down to read a fictional account of other's lives and helps you to feel their lives. I listen on audible and it is great. Recommend it.

[Arnetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book! There is such a diverse group of characters, so many different backgrounds for them and life experiences. She then brings them all together and like a great recipe - they each bring something unique to the combined total that creates something wonderful. Seeing the growth in each and every one of the main characters, through mostly hardships, was encouraging. An absolute feel-good book!

[Julie McGue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing tale of a wealthy, blended family who hits hard times. Wingate is a master at character development and scene and setting. I enjoyed the main character's transformation and the conflicts she navigates: wild, younger siblings, a self-center spend thrift step-mom, an absentee mom, and a father who disappears under financial strain. This started off slow, but I stuck with it and was rewarded in the end. This could very easily have a sequel. Great summer read.

[Deemcgdiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The themes of class and socio-economic status & differences, racial differences, cultural differences, personal histories, life struggles, and our perceptions of others and the world, based on our own situation(s) and experiences, are prominent and interwoven throughout this story and the characters on the page. Watching each character unfold and “become” was rewarding. Timely read despite the fact that its debut was a decade ago.

[Jenny Machak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Lisa Wingates novels very much. I saw a deal on this older novel I had not read and grabbed it. As usual she develops her characters very well, in this instance an 18 year old from a wealthy family, an impoverished 22ish year old wife and mother of 2 of Native American descent and an aging homeless emigrant. Through life’s circumstances they all come together in a struggling Dallas neighborhood. It is sad, humorous at times and uplifting.

[Bridget Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in her series so I knew what was going on. I like that her books are all related but not necessarily need to be read in order and all back to back. It's different stories altogether but all related to the same neighborhood just different people. I like that aspect of it. She is a really good writer and all of her books are well done. I would recommend this book and the whole series so far.

[Donna H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another wonderful book by Lisa Wingate. Her books bring calm and warmth to a world that is crazy these days. Lisa always develops her characters to where you feel you truly know them. Christian fiction - the 3rd in her Blue Sky Hill series. Love when the characters from the other books make appearances but yet the story adds new characters and different stories. Lisa Wingate’s books are like watching a Hallmark movie, you always feel good at the end.