Blog Tour: Swept Away by Michelle Dalton

Hi all, today I get to share with you my review of Swept Away by Michelle Dalton as part of the blog tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club. But first here's a bit about the book. 

Swept Away by Michelle Dalton
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 5th 2015 

Beachfront love blossoms in this refreshing summer romance, in the tradition of Sixteenth Summer and Seventeenth Summer. Mandy Sullivan isn’t exactly looking forward to the summer months as tourists invade her seaside hometown on the coast of Maine. Her best friend, Cynthia, has abandoned her for camp and her older brother just announced he’ll be staying at college taking classes for the summer, leaving Mandy with nothing to do and no one to hang out with. Hoping to keep herself busy, Mandy takes a volunteer job at the Rocky Pointe Lighthouse. On her very first day, Oliver Farmingham asks for a private tour. A new—and incredibly cute—face in Rocky Pointe, Oliver seems more interested in Mandy than the lighthouse and its history. Without her best friend at her side, Mandy is scrambling to act the right way and say the right things when Oliver is around. Cynthia—not Mandy—has always been the confident, flirtatious girl that everyone wanted to be around. As Mandy and Oliver spend more time together exploring the coast, biking through the woods, and attending the local summer festivals, their budding friendship becomes much more. But with Mandy’s insecurities creeping to the surface, can she open her heart to someone who will only be in town for three months?

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I love diving into my Summer reads just before the Summer is with us, I am very much a mood reader, so definitely need my Summery type of reads to get me in the mood for Summer and Dalton’s Swept Away very much did that.

Mandy isn’t expecting much from this Summer, she’s stuck helping out her mum at Candy Cane, her best friend Cynthia is off away at musical-theatre camp and her brother doesn’t even come home this Summer, so Mandy’s just expecting to wallow her Summer away. But she doesn’t expect cute boy Oliver to turn up and actually show an interest in her, maybe this Summer will turn out to be one that she won’t forget. I didn’t realise just how quick Mandy was to judge or be easily swayed until Oliver made an appearance in Mandy’s life. Mandy was one of those girls, who sort of overlooked where she lived, she thought of it mostly as dull or boring (but this also could have been because, this was exactly her best friend Cynthia’s opinion too) But Oliver came along and actually made Mandy want to make the most out of her Summer and actually experience some of the beauty around her. Oliver did come across as a bit dorky at first, he was particular about everything and wanted things done a certain way, these tendencies certainly made more of an appearance during the boat parade. But despite this Oliver was the sweetest guy, he just wanted Mandy to be herself and enjoy the time he had left with her. I was hoping that Mandy would find some guy to spend the Summer break with and I’m glad that guy was Oliver, he made her days fly by without Mandy even realising it and actually made her want to appreciate and experience things that she wouldn’t have considered. I’m glad that Oliver made Mandy come out of her shell a bit more and not always listen to the ideas that her best friend had instilled upon her. I had the feeling that things would resort back to the way they way when Cynthia returned, but I’m glad that despite some minor bumps along the way, Oliver and Mandy’s relationship grew stronger.

Swept Away was the perfect book to pick up in preparation for the Summer, it was a light hearted fun read about letting yourself go and just making the most of things. It definitely made me want to get away to the beach and just experience the sort of blissful sweet Summer that Dalton created in this book. 

GIVEAWAY: Prize: Win (1) finished copy of SWEPT AWAY by Michelle Dalton (US Only)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michelle Dalton is one of the many names Carla Jablonski uses when writing. Her two YAs written as Carla Jablonski (published by Razorbill/Penguin), Thicker than Water and Silent Echoes, were included on the NYPL Books for the Teen Age list, and her graphic novel trilogy Resistance (illustrated by Leland Purvis, published by :01 Books) has won several awards, including the Sydney Taylor Silver Medal. In addition to writing novels she is an actor, playwright, and former trapeze artist. A native New Yorker, she is eternally grateful to her friends who invite her to their beach houses.