I’ve been…oh dear,what’s the word?

Oh, yeah, now I remember. Lazy.

So today, I made a Very Serious To Do List because I did not want another 24 hours to go by without sharing a great summer read with you. The title is Breaking and Holding which, once you read the book, you’ll see is a very clever title. But for now, I’ll add that tennis plays a big part in the story and isn’t it serendipitous that Wimbledon’s going on?

Judy Fogarty is the lovely author and I met her when I was down at the beach. She came out for an afternoon chat and I learned all about her publisher (Lake Union Publishing, in the Amazon family), her writing group (a hard-working and well-published bunch!) and all about her journey to publication (a long road with a nicely successful ending).

I hadn’t quite finished the book when we met, but I’d read enough to know how much I liked it. Judy calls it a romance at heart–and it is–but it’s so much more.

Breaking and Holding is a beautifully written novel, a compelling literary debut. Whether on the South Carolina resort beaches or the high-rise advertising boardrooms of New York, you’ll be lost in this story of love and passion, deceptions and truths, of control and breaking free.

It’s a delightful bonus that the story takes place in the 1970s, a golden age of tennis, and a time when Mister Man and I played–and watched–a ton of tennis. I felt 20-something again, and I’m not going to lie: that’s quite a feat!

And it’s quite a feat to keep a reader like me, who’s not exactly a fan of romance, turning the pages. I think the book is classified as women’s fiction, but I hope you don’t let a label keep you from grabbing up this book. Because whatever it’s called–romance, women’s fiction, contemporary adult–it’s a thrilling ride with an authentic cast of well-developed characters. And a perfectly wonderful novel, guaranteed to jumpstart your summer reading.

Especially if you’ve been…oh, what’s that word again?

Yeah. You know what I’m talking about.