⭢ BLURB My Summer Abroad A Novel by Rachel Radley
Piper Page is a journalist who's hit writer's block and, even worse, a roadblock in her love life. A recent divorcee and a woman in stasis, Piper is freelancing for an international publication when she meets a much younger man: Nero Winters. Nero is everything Piper feels she's missing in life: stability, optimism, and exhiliration.

With wild abandon, Piper spends an unforgettable, whirlwind 24 hours with Nero- but that's not where the story ends. In fact, the story hasn't even begun. Piper's story is a classic fish out of water tale in a not so conventional setting. She's about to find out what it means to be family, and how adventure can be found in even the most mundane of settings.
⭢ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rachel Radley is a New York Times Best Selling Author (High Notes: A Collection of Short Stories) and journalist. Rachel has been traveling, learning, and writing all her life, drawing from experiences working as a freelance journalist and her adventures abroad. She wrote her first story when she was ten years old, a foundational experience which would eventually lead to penning and publishing of her first novel, My Summer Abroad.
⭢ CHAPTER LIST chapter one ⭢ his family
chapter two ⭢ heaven on earth
chapter three ⭢ it's not all glam
chapter four ⭢ the worst birthday ever
chapter five ⭢ "just how pregnant are you?"
chapter six ⭢ his mother
chapter seven ⭢ her ex-husband
chapter eight ⭢ a series of family dinners
chapter nine ⭢ alone on the farm
chapter ten ⭢ could they not
chapter eleven ⭢ rock'n'roll...
chapter twelve ⭢ ...in the hay
chapter thirteen ⭢ the cracks begin to show
chapter fourteen ⭢ the first last argument
chapter fifteen ⭢ a short visit home
chapter sixteen ⭢ the undying need to return
chapter seventeen ⭢ the last straw(s)
chapter eighteen ⭢ the calm before the storm
chapter nineteen ⭢ a perfect night
chapter twenty ⭢ the farm is a home to everyone...
chapter twenty-one ⭢ ...except me
⭢ EXCERPTS CHAPTER 1, "HIS FAMILY" There are three things on this earth Piper Page finds terrifying: alligators outside of a cage, a cloudless sunny day and no sunscreen to be found, and a large family. His family was large. The largest she'd ever encountered, in fact, and she'd dated guys who had sibling counts to rival an 18th century farm family's. And maybe that's what it was- he was a farmer, after all, or at least descended from one. He and his siblings had branched off from the property they'd grown up on, giving up the quiet life of sheep shearing and lambing for more glorious, high profile ventures. He wasn't exactly high profile, but he wasn't a farmer, and he wasn't a celebrity either. That's what intrigued her at first. So down to earth, so optimistic, and yet a world-weariness could be found in his eyes that didn't seem a quality of your average folksy sheep farmer. CHAPTER 4, "THE WORST BIRTHDAY EVER" "He's really upset about it," Nero said, throwing himself on their bed. It was the first time Nero and Piper had endured family drama- the first time she'd really felt a part of his life. And that was saying something, considering she was already well into her first trimester of pregnancy. "His boyfriend hit his best friend. He hasn't really talked with me about it, but I know he's upset." Piper recalled a beautiful cloud of angry hair, furrowed brows, coke-fueled physical violence that was definitely not on theme with an otherwise sparkly and peaceful birthday party. "I don't know, Piper," Nero sighed and rolled to his side, looking up at Piper. He looked up at Piper with an earnestness inherent to him, one she found undeniably charming. "We still have to tell them." He put his hand on her belly. Piper rested hers atop his and sighed, nodding.

"Maybe it'll help them forget about this whole mess." CHAPTER 6, "HIS MOTHER" "I don't know, Payton," Piper sighed. She heard her sister groan. "It's not like she's overbearing. If anything she's underbearing. But, like, is really loud about it."

"Aren't they all that way?" Payton has always had much less patience than Piper, who could sit through anything- to a fault.

"What do you mean?

"Celebrities. Rich people. Like, they think the world turns black and white and they're the only ones living in color."

Piper considered the analogy before shaking her head. "Not him, though."

"Well, yeah, Piper. He's young. And you're hot. You're still technicolor for him." CHAPTER 10, "COULD THEY NOT" "I hate it," Piper said, throwing herself on their bed. She hadn't left this place in months and suddenly open fields were starting to make her feel claustrophobic. The trees that surrounded his family farm used to give her solace, now they took the shape of bars on a cage. "I absolutely hate it."

"I know." His voice was always so calm, calm and understanding to the point of annoyance- like a kindly grandmother who refilled your teacup without asking. "I know." He repeated, and she smacked him with a pillow."

"Pippy." She said, over-exaggerating his family's accent. "Pippy." She said it again, more exaggerated this time. He cringed, but it was clear he wanted to laugh. "They call me Pippy."

"Could be worse," There was a pause at the end of his sentence, an insufferable trailing off that was inherent of his entire family's speech patterns. "They could call you Pipes."

Something clicked for Piper in that moment. All of the quippy comments, the dry humor that went over her head, the expectation to be five minutes late, the snide remarks when she forgot to take off her shoes before entering the house, the pedantic corrections when she remembered a year incorrectly, and the empty smiles when she forgot to bring a gift to one of his siblings' gatherings. "It's fine!" "You're American, there's no expectation." "Really, Pippy, it'll be alright." Her hands curled into fists. She felt like a five year old with a temper tantrum coming on.

"How is that worse?"
⭢ CRITICAL RECEPTION My Summer Abroad is the journey of a woman who's granted a chance to start over, and start over again after that. Piper finds a new life overseas away from everyone she knows, but at the heart of this story is self exploration and change that anyone can achieve and, in that way, is a story full of humanity. A great read! Georgia Jacobsen, NYT Bestselling Author
A story told with an abundance of characters, each one with their own motives and distinct personalities. A true ensemble cast, a feat to pull off! Everyone feels so real, one might think Radley is drawing directly from her personal experiences. What starts as a story of self fulfillment and discovery becomes a story of friendship, family, and ultimately... redemption! A real page turner! Kelly Smith, Booklist
⭢ GOODREADS
Melissa Reads rated it ★★★★★
Shelves: female-lead, romance, great-world-building, kissing-books, would-not-read-twice i’m not going to address the rumors around this book because it’s gross, but i do want to say the world building in this book is honestly really good. we tell people all the time to “write what they know” and let sad old men lusting after their younger neighbors and wives sisters get away with it. so props to rachel for doing a great job establishing a real sense of place and family.
Torie rated it ★★★★★
Shelves: a-waste-of-time, good-sexual-tension, almost-amish-romance there were some cute parts, i loved the love interests' siblings' dynamic but the protagonist is kind of unlikable (i don't think this was on purpose) and it feels like a dollar store version of eat pray love in a less interesting setting with even less to say about introspection
Colleen the Kindly rated it ★★★★★
Shelves: 5-star-reviews, romance, realistic-fiction, great-animal-sidekicks Look. LOOK, OKAY, just. Look. We’re all going to be rabidly refreshing our twitters and buzzfeed for the next 48 hours while people decode #MySommerAbroad. The writing is fine, like, she’s clearly a journalist that has been reading a lot of articles on how to get published in her free time. I for one just want her to come out with a kids book about the adventures of the angry barn cat Mme. Tammy and the incredibly sweet, well trained farm dogs she’s in a war with. Like I might just write fic on ao3 about the animal characters in this book that did NOT get enough love. Help.
Michael rated it ★★★★★
Shelves: female-lead, fabulous-secondary-characters, pastoral-setting I read this book in about 4 hours on my Kindle after seeing the shit storm on Twitter about it, and I was honestly surprised by how much I liked it. Is it a lurid, probably risky jab at her boyfriend’s family that exposes a ton of personal information about everyone to anyone that puts the work in to figure out who's who? Yes. But it’s also really well put together. She does a great job establishing setting, and you can really feel the tension building in the background as she struggles to find her place in the world and with the Winters. I knocked a star off because Piper’s big moment at the end feels rushed and flatter than the rest of the book.
Brad Harrington rated it ★★★★★
Shelves: how-did-this-get-published, not-actually-romance, what-has-been-seen-cannot-be-unseen Is everyone rating this 4 – 5 stars HIGH or just titillated because it’s literally brimming with useless celebrity gossip? Piper Page – and by extension Rachel Radley – is almost violently disconnected from reality. She thinks she’s the protagonist of this story but if you take 30 seconds of critical thinking it’s pretty clear she realized she had a great opportunity to exploit this family for her own personal gain. The writing is pedestrian, the sex scenes are WAY too liberal with winky farm puns, and I will never be free from the mental image of them getting interrupted mid-pregnancy-boink by a loose pig. That somehow found its way upstairs after evidently opening several doors with its hooves. God, I’m getting angry again just writing this.
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