#summeroflove

Title: Summer of Love

Author: Lily Easton

Narrator: Ciaran Saward

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

Closeted Boxer, Declan King, and recently dumped Ballet Dancer, Oliver Wright, are both about to become contestants on British reality dating TV show “Summer Of Love” . While each man needs to win for their own reasons they soon realise they may actually find love.

The narrator, Ciaran Saward, did an amazing job bringing this vast cast of characters to life. I haven’t come across any of his previous work, but I will certainly be keen to hear him again.

What I liked:  I enjoyed the plot immensely, it felt more than just a fluffy romance. I’m not a fan of reality tv but I’ve seen enough to know what to expect. This debut novel was a sweet satirical piece on what goes on behind the scenes of a reality tv show. The two main characters and supporting cast were well rounded and I found myself routing for many of the other couples on the show.

What didn’t work for me: I did occasionally lose track of who was who, which is always a risk with a large amount of characters interacting so frequently, especially with an audiobook as you can’t easily flick back to double check a plot point.

Final thoughts: A brilliant debut contemporary romance.

Who would enjoy this: Fans of contemporary romance.

Can you imagine if a conservative said anything like this about Trump’s cases? Look how much “Fight like hell” was taken out of context and “march peacefully” is rarely brought up. Remember she made these comments while 2billion dollars in damages and 39 people lost their lives in relation to 2020 “mostly peaceful protests”.

Direct Quotes:

A US congresswoman is under fire after urging demonstrators to "get more confrontational" if a not-guilty verdict comes in the George Floyd case.

At a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Maxine Waters told protesters to "stay on the streets" if ex-officer Derek Chauvin is acquitted in the case.

If there is a not-guilty verdict in Mr Chauvin's trial, Ms Waters said, "then we know that we got to not only stay in the street, but we have got to fight for justice".

She also said: "We've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business."

Of the curfew, Ms Waters said: "I don't think anything about curfew. Curfew means I want you all to stop talking. I want you to stop meeting. I want you to stop gathering. I don't agree with that."

The judge said he wished "elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law". "Their failure to do so is abhorrent," he added.

Steve Scalise, a Republican lawmaker who was shot in 2017 by a left-wing gunman, demanded Democrats and the media condemn Ms Waters' remarks.

He tweeted: "I was shot because of this kind of dangerous rhetoric."

This is not the first time she has been accused of dangerous rhetoric. At a 2017 charity event in New York City she told a crowd: "I will go and take Trump out tonight."

A year later she urged a crowd, if they ever saw a Trump official in public, to "get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome".

Ms Waters denied the violent protests, which left more than 60 people dead, more than 2,000 injured and hundreds of millions of dollars in property destroyed, should be defined as a riot.

The article tries to separate 25 deaths during “protests” and 14 linked “to political unrest”. So the number of deaths during the 2020 “Summer of Love”, BLM riots, at the time of this article, is 39.

The young man in Seattle’s “Autonomous Zone” was not counted in any of these numbers. I’m assuming it was a wrong place, wrong time kinda deal? He was bleeding out in the Autonomous Zone and violent protesters did not allow 1st responders to treat him. Will any Democrat denounce this behavior and violence?

Direct Quotes:

At least 11 Americans have been killed while participating in political demonstrations this year and another 14 have died in other incidents linked to political unrest, according to new data from a non-profit monitoring political unrest in the United States.

Nine of the people killed during protests were demonstrators taking part in Black Lives Matter protests. Two were conservatives killed after pro-Trump “patriot rallies”. All but one were killed by fellow citizens.

News reports at the height of demonstrations over Floyd’s killing cited dozens of deaths in connection with protests, but many of those turned out to be examples of deadly crimes carried out in the vicinity of protests, rather than directly related to the demonstrations themselves, the researchers concluded. ACLED’s dataset only focuses on political violence.

Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a far-right Trump supporter, was shot after a rally in Portland in August. Danielson’s suspected killer, Michael Reinoehl, was a leftwing protester who called himself an “anti-fascist”

In addition to the people killed while demonstrating, at least 14 more Americans have been killed in other incidents linked to political unrest this summer, including seven people shot during alleged looting of businesses