We kick this story off with Birdy pretending to be her best friend Heather, who's a sommelier, so she can blag a free place to live for the summer - assuming that Heather's job is easy enough that Birdy can bluff her way into pretending to be an expert. I cannot stand the cringe of the mistaken identity trope where we won't correct the mistake but it's quite obviously going to blow up in the protagonist's face. And this book takes it a much worse step further by having the mistaken identity not even be a mistake, but by having Birdy wilfully partake in a plot to fool everyone. Sigh. Reading this was a form of self-torture. I struggled so hard to make myself pick this up. I wanted to shake the main character thoroughly because why carry on this bullshit when it's so obviously going to end badly?

To add insult to injury, there was a wildly awkward and off-putting sex scene where the protagonist wishes she didn't have to have actual physical sex and could just achieve intimacy without sex when the guy she's about to bone doesn't even know her real name because she is STILL pretending to be someone else. Make it make sense. Literally nothing less sexy than a main character who's having sex when she actually doesn't even want to have sex. Could not cope with being inside Birdy's head. She was awful and so selfish.

And as a cherry on top, no one learned her secret until basically the last 20% of the book. It made me feel insane because I just wanted the truth to come out. Birdy spent so long pretending to be a whole other person that it just became gross and irredeemable. It was months. She was such a genuinely awful human, faking doing her best friend's job as if it's easy when her best friend has done so much training over the years to be good at her job. And Birdy started out doing it because she thought it'd be a laugh, and really easy. It felt especially deceptive when she started sleeping with a man, having no intention of telling him the truth, letting him develop feelings for a completely imaginary person.

I could barely pay attention to the Scottish setting, or to Birdy's inner turmoil due to her crappy childhood because I was so busy reluctantly cringing my way through the book.

“The Summer Job” was such a wonderful read. It pleasantly surprised me. I am really hoping that someday it gets made into a movie!

Birdy decides to do something utterly reckless. She accepts a summer job at the highland Scottish hotel as a wine expert. The catch is - she is pretending to be her best friend, Heather. And although Heather made it perfectly clear she will not be accepting this job, so she can spend more time enjoying Europe with the man she just met, she has no clue Birdy is doing this.

Birdy is useless when it comes to wine knowledge, but she’s going with the “fake it ‘till you make it” attitude. What doesn’t help is that this hotel is actually at a loss and desperate for a good Sommelier to save their summer and their business. Basically, “Heather, the Sommelier” is their best hope, and instead, they get noobie Birdy.

At first, I was astonished by the audacity of Birdy’s decision, even though I can understand why she did it. She needed a place to live and Heather was not going to accept it anyway, so what’s there to lose (apart from obviously, Heather’s reputation and her reputation and dignity). I was not okay with her pretending to be someone else, but she would never have been accepted otherwise. Once I judged Birdy for this for a small amount of time, I decided to move on and enjoy the story, as it promises to be quite interesting.

As the time went by, I started to root for Birdy, and I felt her pain of carrying that secret with her. Especially when she started catching feelings for the handsome chef, James. Without revealing anything else, I will just say this book is such a pleasurable read. It has a weird sense of nostalgia in it, to the summer days when we would do summer jobs and all the adventures and memories those summer sunsets would bring. If you’ve ever watched “High School Musical 2”, you might know what feelings I am talking about. The hotel staff felt like a large family and the way they cared about each other was heartwarming. A funny and feel-good romance story - one of those gems that are good for the soul. I warmly recommend it.

This was a fun, easy rom-com that I really enjoyed. I found Birdy a great character, and loved watching the relationship with James build.

This book was such a wonderful surprise! Not usually a genre I go for, I was drawn by the Scottish aspect and thought I would give it a try.

What starts off as deception, soon turns into love! The whole idea was fun and I really loved seeing Birdie change and grow as the book goes on. The hotel based characters were brilliant and they soon became ingrained in my head and I could really imagine being at the hotel and working alongside them all!

I loved the slow build romance and felt the ending was completely satisfying!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

This book was enjoyable and fun to read! I liked the way the plot was written.

Will read from this author again

One of the lushest escapist rom coms ever (and I’ve read a few!) Glorious characters and all the feelgood vibes - this is such an enjoyable read. Highly recommend.

Birdy was used to covering for her best friend, Heather, when she was too busy or didn't want to go to events, so going to a wine event was nothing new. What she didn't realise was this was the start of a deception she couldn't stop. She was expecting to wing covering a job in a tatty hotel in Scotland after she failed to tell them that Heather couldn't take the job she has been accepted for.

Once she got to Scotland, she realised that she had to wing it as a top sommelier at a restaurant with a Michelin starred chef. This book is a combination of nerves and Birdy settling into a job she began to love with people she was struggling to deceive as she found who she wanted to be.

She is constantly having to lie to her best friend about what she is doing, and where she is, and pretend to be someone she isn't.

The twist in the ending though was fantastic and I think was concluded wonderfully.

I really enjoyed this one! It gave me just heart-warming vibes and James reminded me so much of Jamie from Outlander and I loved the Outlander references. It was different to a lot of romances I’ve read recently and didn’t focus so much on a romance and a lot more on the found family aspect of the narrative which was really refreshing. A slow burn is my preference!

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

The Summer Job
by Lizzy Dent
A well written book. Birdie finds herself jobless and homeless so she decides to take her best friends place at a Scottish hotel there is only one problem she is a world class sommelier but Birdie certainly isn’t - then the fun begins! Birdie finds herself on a steep learning curve. Follow her journey. A quick entertaining can’t put down read. Great character and scenery what is not to like.

While this rom-com is undeniably enjoyable, it also surprises with its depth. I couldn't help but root for Birdy and found the setting and characters of the Scottish hotel where she spends her summer to be truly captivating.

I ended up only reading the first 100 pages or so of this one. It was a little slow to get going and I wasn't connecting with the characters. I've left it on my Kindle as I'm tempted to give it another go in the summer time!

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

Yes, this is a fun rom-com but it's also got a depth to it that you might not expect. I found myself really rooting for Birdy, and enjoying the setting and characters in the Scottish hotel where she ends up for the summer.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Birdy decides to replace her best friend Heather as a Sommelier in Scotland she has bitten off way may that she realised. Birdy has had a checkered work history and so when she finds herself without a job or accommdodation she decides that it was a good idea to go to Scotland in place of Heather who was going to Italy with the potential love of her life. Not realising just ow hard the role of a sommelier is Birdy finds herself way out of her depth and having to learn over 100 wines and how to pair them with a menu as well as opening and pouring, which as Birdy finds out is so much harder than it looks.
This was a highly entertaining read and I found myself rooting for Birdy to make it through the charade. The description of the Scottish countryside made me feel like I was there and I found all the characters relevant to the storyline. Great fairly quick read that gave me a laugh and kept me turning the pages.

Sadly this didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I think if you enjoy books similar to Sally Rooney you’ll probably enjoy this. It just didn’t do much for me. As a whole it’s pretty well written and will probably be a book I recommend quite widely for people who enjoy a lot of general fiction.

4 stars!

Fun, heartwarming, and fast paced story about a bad decision and everyone that comes after it.

Entertaining, funny, with a dash of “she finds herself in the end”

I do not thin it was my time to read this book: I put it away for now and I will be coming back to this once in the mood for that genre.

I could not get into this book, ultimately it was not form me and I could not finish it. It may be one for other readers

What a gem of a book!
Endearing characters, all the feels & so so much laughter.
Definitely one to pick up if you are a romcom fan.

I've tried really hard to get into these Lizzy Dent books and I know a lot of people enjoy them but this was another I just couldn't connect with the writing and if I can't connect with the writing then I know I won't be able to make it through the whole book. I did try but this one just wasn't for me.