This was a fascinating book about friendships and relationships and the effects that secrets can have on both. A group of friends spend a lot of time at a lovely sprawling house together. Their days sound idyllic- food and drink a plenty, but also undercurrents that threaten to break through and upset the special bonds.
The group are drawn back to the house over the summer to meet Alaistairs new partner. They are worried about the haste of the relationship, especially when Alaistair announces his plans to sell his house and move to France with Valentina. They all find her abrasive and fear for their friends future happiness. Maybe selfishly they also don't want her to spoil their future summers.

After the sudden death of his wife, Alistair takes off to travel for several months, to the surprise of his friends. When he returns, he brings together his 2 closest friends and their families to announce that he is going to sell his much-loved house and move to set up home with a woman he met on his travels, with whom he has fallen in love. Predictably, his friends are shocked and suspect that all is not as it should be. Alistair arranges a last get-together at the house for his friends and his new love (plus her stepchildren). As expected, the two tribes do not get on and mishaps occur.
Revelations about past relationships are made and rifts appear. Is everything as it seems and wiill it end happily?
An enjoyable read, if predictable in parts.

This is basically a story about three families who have grown up together in and around a beautiful old property in the Norfolk Broads. The author seems to know the area well and did paint a loving picture. That is unfortunately the only positive comment I can make about the novel. The characters are unlikeable and their motivations are impossible to understand. There is a political undercurrent running through the novel, with comments on Brexit for example - which are completely out of context. All the non British characters in the book are villains and in particular the very lazy character arc of Suzie Wu seems to exist just so the author can make a point about political correctnes. I found it all quite distasteful.

The first thing I want to say about this book is how enthralling it is. As cliched as this sounds, I really couldn't put it down. The twists and turns of the story had me hooked, wanting to know if my theories were right or not.
Swallowtail Summer is a story about three families who are all friends and spend their summers at Linston End, the home of Alistair and his late wife Orla. But this summer is set to be their last at Linston End, Alistair has met a new woman and has plans to sell up.
Alistair's life long friends, Simon and Danny, and their respective wives, Sorrel and Frankie, along with their children, Callum and Rachel, and Jenna, are all excited to see Alistair upon his return to Norfolk. Since Orla's death he had been travelling, but he was returning home for the summer.
Little did any of them know just how much their lives were about to turned upside down once Alistair broke his news to them. The news that he had found love again with a woman named Valentina. The news that he was putting Linston End on the market, and once sold he was going to start a new life with Valentina.
The friends didn't warm to Valentina, as Alistair had hoped. They found her sneaky and were very suspicious of her. Alistair could only see the woman he had fallen in love with, blinded by her underhanded behaviour towards his friends. But with the arrival of her step-children tragedy strikes and more than one life hangs in the balance.
I loved this story from start to finish. I had so many theories about how things would turn out for Alistair and his friends, some were way off the mark! The author has woven a tale of love and betrayal, secrets and lies, and the loyalty of long-standing friendship, it makes for a thrilling read.

The book cover tends to suggest this will be a light-hearted summer read and yet as the story develops you soon realise there is a hidden depth beneath the colourful images. The house, Linston End in Norfolk certainly sounds idyllic but Alastair has been bereaved and only just returned from a jaunt across the world to find that the news he shares with his oldest friends is hardly welcome. Everyone is missing Orla, Alistair's eccentric and dead wife, and hot on the heels of discovering that Alistair has fallen in love with Valentina, they now have to cope with the news that Alistair plans to sell Linston End, a place they have extremely fond memories of as they have holidayed there all together for so long.
The story follows Alistair's battle with bereavement and starting again, Frankie and Danny's fear that Danny will have another heart attack, and Sorrel and Simon's marriage which appears to be ailing but why? Throw in a daughter who wants to be married but ends up nearly drowning, another daughter who has hardened her heart to love but can't help being attracted to Blake, a son who is in love with his sister's best friend and on top of all that yet more complications with friendships, romantic liaisons and a long-ago affair and what do you get? You have a lethal cocktail which turns out to be deadly for one of the characters but full of hope and new beginnings for the remainder of the cast.

This is a book about relationships of all types; friendships, marriages and siblings. It shows that the only people who really know what is happening in a relationship are those involved; particularly in a marriage and that friendships can be compromised no matter how important they are to us.
The book dealt with the close friendship between three men; how their wives and children became an.integral part of that relationship and what happened when the relationships imploded following the death of one of the characters.

A lovely story about friendship, love and loss, amongst the beautiful setting of the Norfolk Broads.

When the main character goes travelling after the sad loss of his wife and brings home a new lady, things don't go as he'd hoped and secrets are uncovered.

It was the perfect summer read with some twists and turns.

3.5 stars


As in every family or group of a long time or life long friends, there are always secrets kept from everyone or there are twists and turns that can change the dynamic of the group forever. In this case, is the dead of Allistar's wife. He then decides to take a year off apart from everything he knew until then and when he comes back, he is bringing a new addition to the group, a new woman that everyone hates and they think she only wants to see them apart from the strong bond they had for so many years.
There are many characters in this story, from different generations, and we get to know a bit of everyone and their current lives, but the true secrets are soon revealed and also that will make for a lot of discussion and doubts, and what-ifs or why and how.
Overall was a good story, the writing is great but the pace of the story and everything else felt a little flat for me, i just couldn't get into it or couldn't relay with any of the characters.

Erica James latest novel is a wonderful, although, summer read set in the idyllic Norfolk Broads. It is where the summer home of Linton's End is located that provides the happy and unforgettable memories for three close families. This is a story of long term male friendships that begin in childhood when Alastair invited his best friends, Danny and Simon, for the summer at Liston's End where they find adventures, looking for the beautiful Swallowtail butterflies, a time of joy and sheer contentment. This is to continue into adulthood, a virtually unbroken ritual and tradition that is to include their partners and children. Time sweeps in the winds of change and the Norfolk summers look to come to an end with the death of Alastair's wife, Orla, and he now has a new woman in his life, Valentina. Alastair's momentous decision that does not go down well with the others. The narrative takes in love, loss, betrayal, family drama, betrayal, secrets and lies set amidst the fabulous background of the Norfolk Broads. Many thanks to Orion.

Swallowtail summer sets the scene with Alistair returning home after travelling abroad following the death of his wife. The reader is introduced to his close friends and the book explores themes of the destructiveness of love and ties that hold them together. Alistair has news for his friends which he knows will not be welcome - the story looks at the complicated relationship between his wife, himself and his close friends both from the past and into the future. What happens next is revealed to the reader.
I enjoyed this book which had a roller coaster of ups and downs with several twists thrown in the mix! Another great read from this author. #Swallowtail Summer#Netgalley

Why are there so many negative reviews? I thought this book was excellent.

Set in Norfolk the book deals in depth with the thoughts and feelings of the main characters.

After being away travelling for a year following the death of his wife, Alastair has returned to his beautiful riverside house and invites his three childhood friends, their wives and their three grown-up children for a final summer holiday in his home. For many years these friends have enjoyed an annual holiday at idyllic Linston End, this is to be the last time as Alastair has announced he is intending to sell his house.

Each character shows their selfishness in different ways, generally annoyed at the thought of losing their long established use of Alastair's home. When the new woman in Alastair's life arrives at Linston End, the friends are determined to dislike her, attributing her with Alastair's decision to sell his house and leave the area.

The writing moves between each character revealing their individual opinions. Secrets are exposed. Some events I expected and some I didn't, the end took me entirely by surprise. This is not the sort of book that you can devote the occasional few minutes to dip into, once I started to read everything else was ignored.

A compelling read and thoroughly recommended.

This is the first Erica James book I have read even though she has a huge back catalogue.

This is essentially a story of friendship. Alistair, Orla, Simon, Sorrel, Danny and Frankie have been friends for a long time and spend there summer's at Alistair's home on the Broads. That is until Alistair's wife dies suddenly and Alistair leaves to "find himself". What he does find is a new lady, Valentina and he brings her back to Linston End in a hope that his friends will love her as much as he does.

Callum, Jenna and Rachel enjoy spending their summer's at Linston End with their parents and are concerned and fearful of change with the arrival of Valentina.

I'm honestly not sure if I enjoyed this book or not and I think that it is because I feel robbed of the ending I predicted. As I've not read any of Erica James' books before I'm not sure if this her normal or if the ending was a curve ball for everyone. Actually I admire Erica for not writing a completely lovely dovey ending as that's not how life is.

It is a beautifully written story and took me back to the family holidays I have enjoyed on the Broads.

Such a glorious read! When I reached the end of this book I felt happy and very content at a story so enjoyed.

Linston End is a wonderful, large home set on the side of the Norfolk Broads with enough space for three families to holiday there together each summer. All of them have the most marvellous memories of the time they spend there every year; this year, however, things are different. Will life ever be the same again?

A superbly created novel which, on the surface, is a smooth gentle read about families, friendships, love and happiness. Linston End sounds idyllic and is described beautifully - who wouldn't want to relax their annually? But you can't have a large group congregating on a regular basis without undercurrents and slowly, bit by bit, more than a few niggles rise to the surface followed by secrets and lies which have been hidden for decades. There is a bit of everything between the pages of this fabulous novel and I absolutely adored everything about it. I have read several books by this author over the years and if you like a cleverly created, well-structured book with lots going on and never a dull moment, then you can't go wrong with Erica James. Highly recommended and definitely a five star read!

My thanks to publisher Orion for my copy via NetGalley. As always, all stated opinions are honest, unbiased and entirely my own.

My sort of story. Well written lots of details and one I couldn't put down. Erica James books are a must have. Not one has failed to deliver.

From the cover and title of this book I was expecting a soppy romantic novel. How wrong was I! It was a romance but it involved three separate families and explored the friend and family dynamics of the group. An easy and interesting read.

I wanted to like this but unfortunately not for me, I couldn’t connect with the story or characters, it was slow and I couldn’t keep an interest going.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Swallowtail Summer by Erica James is a charming story focusing on three families as they visit Linston end, Alistair's home and holiday home of them all. After the recent death of Alistair's wife, Orla, the friends gather as Alistair is about to reveal news that will shock them all to the max.
A large cast of interesting, well-developed characters made all the more realistic by fantastic, well-written dialogue.
Beautifully written descriptions that made me want to move to Linston End. It sounds like the most wonderfully peaceful place to live.
Emotional and heart-wrenching at times. The intricacies of friendships and marriage explored with the lines frequently blurring.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Swallowtail Summer, the perfect summer read.
Recommended!!

I am a big fan of this author so I jumped at the chance of an ARC of this book.

It wasn't what I was fully expected but from page one this book got under my skin. Once I'd started reading I was hooked. The main character Alistair is in his 60's and I did wonder if maybe this book wouldn't be for me but it most certainly was.

I loved the way that the book portrayed the emotions from all angles. This was full of the twists and turns of family, love and friendship. We had Alistair who had recently lost his wife and left his life behind to go on a new adventure. Little did his friends know that he would return with a new lady in his life, who of course all his friends hate at first sight. We flip to the younger generation of the circle who in their 30's are all still single but could love be on the cards?

This is a truly unique group of friends, Alistair and late wife Orla, Sorrel and Simon with their grown up children Rachel and Callum and Danny and Frankie with their daughter Jenna. The group have always, apart from one, spent their summers at Linston End but now with the house going up for sale the whole dynamic of the group is about to change.

The last get together is one that will see secrets being told and hearts being broken.

I am not going to give away any spoilers of this story but Alistair, Danny and Simon have been friends since school and their love lives are more linked then they'd ever imagined when the truth is out this leads to tragic consequences. With the added mix of Valentina and her two step children this leads to a explosive combination of emotions and the fireworks are set to go off.

Set on the idyllic Norfolk Broads this book hooked me in and left me wanting more. I love each character and their in depth personality traits that just tied the whole book together. This was a really heartwarming and enjoyable read.

Thank you to Orion Publishing Group and Netgalley for my arc

This was not one of my favourite books. It never really seemed to be going anywhere. The characters were boring and trying to read it was hard going. I gave up half way through.

Alistair Lucas, having been travelling abroad since the death of his wife Orla, returns to Liston End, the glorious house on the Norfolk Broads that he inherited from his Aunt Cora. For many years it has been ‘open house’ to his lifelong friends Simon and Danny, plus their wives and now grown-up children, and as soon as he is back he once again invites them, an invitation that they all eagerly accept. They soon realise that he has something important on his mind - it is something that shocks them all - he has rapidly fallen in love with a Russian widow. The friends all smell a rat and problems arise as soon as Valentina and her two step-children arrive on the scene.........