Yes, yes, yes to another fabulous Desi love story, filled with second chances, grumpy sunshine, lots of Italy, and hints of Mombasa!
Laila Rafi crafts beautiful, heartfelt stories, and Seven Summers Later is no different.
Safiya is back home in London after a painful divorce. She is nursing heartbreak, but it's not her Kenya-based ex-husband that she can't quite forget.
Her self-confidence has eroded over six gruelling years in a loveless marriage, cementing the way she was made to feel by a close family member seven years ago. Slowly, she picks herself up hesitantly, dipping her toes back into the career she had always loved, but had lost, because of marriage: interior design.
Murad has worked diligently to achieve his current position. He has a successful career, cars, a swanky penthouse, and money, but his life is lacking in love and romance. Because no one quite lives up to the love of his life, who slipped away seven years ago.
A chance encounter brings them both together, once more, where they are not only forced to work together, but live alongside one another in a small village in Italy to renovate a crumbling villa.
You can feel the emotions from the off, the hesitancy to even want to communicate with one another, as both Safiya and Murad struggle with the situation, but also with coming to terms with feelings they thought had long since been buried.
The story centres around them, but also explores the themes of family honour and expectations, both of which can weigh heavily on the shoulders of many, taking chances and believing in oneself.
I was even happier to read brief glimpses of characters who featured in Laila Rafi's previous book, First Comes Marriage, a couple with links to the same family.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for an ARC.

This was a second chance romance but the sweet kind not the we suffered so much pain and tears kind ( even though there was tension and angst especially in the beginning I found myself wanting more intensity .. it did have scenes where they brought up the past a few times but for a heartbreak of seven years I needed more...I absolutely loved the character development for both of the MCs and the self discovery for the FMC , I also loved how the author added healing from family drama for the FMC. The ending was super cute. Overall I really enjoued this read but still wanted to love it a lot more

This was an excellent second chance romance, I was absolutely rooting for them to get back together despite all the anguish! Would look out for another title from this author.