Two Gals Talking: One Summer by Karen Robards

Narrated by Anna Fields/Kate Fleming

NOTE: the sound samples referenced in this post are no longer available, so the links have been removed.

One Summer features schoolteacher Rachel Grant, now in her mid-thirties, and former student Johnny Harris, five years younger, who has spent the last ten years imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit. An extreme bad boy in high school from the other side of the tracks, Rachel sensed a deep intelligence beneath Johnny’s rough façade and knew there was more to this particular student who enjoyed reading and poetry.

The book opens with Johnny’s release from prison. Rachel has agreed to employ him at her family’s hardware store as a condition of his parole. The chemistry sparks between the two as soon as he steps off the bus and Rachel sees Johnny for the first time in eleven years:

Then there he was, in the doorway. Johnny Harris. He wore scuffed brown cowboy boots and beat-up jeans and a white cotton T-shirt. His shoulders were wide enough to stretch the knit shirt taut across them. His biceps bulged with muscle, and his skin was surprisingly tan. He was thin. No, that wasn’t the right word – lean was the one she wanted. Lean and hard and rough as leather. His hair was the same color, coal black, as it had always been, though it was longer than he used to wear it, almost touching his shoulders, and wavy. His face was the same – she would have recognized him anywhere once she looked into it, although several days’ worth of stubble blurred the lines of his jaw and chin. The sullenly handsome boy she remembered was still sullen, still handsome, but no longer a boy. He had matured into a dangerous-looking man.

Lea: What an intro! I thought it effective in print but hearing Anna Fields set up Johnny’s appearance was like a drumroll of things to come. Brenda, where do you think we should start with the sound samples? There’s so much to choose from.

Brenda: Lets start at the beginning. Johnny walks off that bus with a chip on his shoulder a mile wide (and rightfully so) while Rachel’s surprise at seeing a “man” exiting the bus mixed with his seeming disrespect of the only person willing to befriend him keeps her off balance. Anna Fields portrays this perfectly in their first interactions as you can hear in this short montage of conversational clips.

Lea: Oh yeah, he’s still the total bad boy and a man rather than the boy she remembers which he thoroughly proves in this opening scene. His attitude towards life jumps off the page with just the right amount of emphasis.

Okay, let’s try to tempt romance listeners further to cry out with us in asking for the rerelease of One Summer. Here’s more from that opening scene that starts at the bus station – tell us where we’re coming in Brenda.

Brenda: Rachel is now driving Johnny to his new home and trying to come to grips with him treating her as a woman instead of a teacher. He revels in continuing to bait her with one shocking comment after another.

Lea: Anna Fields adds greatly to this scene with her expressive performance of Johnny and Rachel. Rachel’s “What?” says it all.

What’s up next for our listeners?

Brenda: We’re skipping a few descriptive passages that let us know Rachel has a backbone but here she once again pulls her calm around her determined to stay in teacher mode just before delivering Johnny to his apartment.

Lea: We’ve been concentrating on setting up Johnny as the bad boy he was – and still is – to those who don’t care to look deeper. It’s not long before we see that Johnny has a tender spot for Miss Grant and a shift occurs in their interaction with one another. I know we are approaching one of your favorite lines in the narration Brenda.

Brenda: As Johnny settles into his new apartment and job, we find out his true motivation in turning to Miss Grant to help him gain parole. Johnny goes from irritating to cajoling Rachel and that is when he won my heart keeping me riveted to the story to hear “this” voice woo her time and again.

Lea: I appreciate the fact that Johnny doesn’t play games. That sound clip made me totally tune into his character. Johnny sounds just like I imagined when reading the print version and Rachel sounds just as Johnny describes her – a lady.

Robards allows her characters to be real and she effectively avoids any big misunderstandings, which I appreciate to no end. I’m relistening to One Summer for the third time as I write this and I feel the romance as strongly as the first. It’s a love between two mature adults despite the age difference. In one scene Rachel reflects, “At that moment it was Johnny who seemed the more mature, the more in control of the situation.” He may still be that bad boy with a few partying ways but his love for Rachel is based on wisdom combined with choices.

What were your overall thoughts on the romance?

Brenda: Although it surprises Rachel, the chemistry between her and Johnny is clear from the start. Her hesitation is understandable especially given the situation. But what makes Johnny a hero is not only his determination to win Rachel despite the odds, but his true understanding of her nature. He knows the dreamer she keeps locked inside and he’s willing to bare his past and rise above it to prove he is the man for her. The marriage proposal scene shows he’ll always be that bad boy but underneath is the heart of a man truly in love – who can resist that combination?

Lea: Since One Summer was written in 1992, one would expect an aged contemporary. I didn’t notice the aging all that much – no lack of a cell phone when needed or an out-of-date computer (none at all). However, I did notice Rachel’s wearing of pantyhose nearly every day, the music, and the reference to Johnny’s long hair. None of those details distracted from the story even one bit. But I guess I should add that I tend to favor romances written in the early 1990s. Did the original date of release take away from your 2012 listening experience?

Brenda: I generally notice immediately that a book is from a decade or more back and take the time frame into consideration while I listen. But I agree it didn’t actually cross my mind except in the “Dirty Dancing” scene – One Summer was released after the movie. You have to wonder if Ms. Robards was inspired a bit with that one. ;)

When the question of favorite Romantic Suspense comes up, One Summer hits my list because from the beginning you know the true murderer is still in town and not happy to see Johnny back. But that angle plays in the background for the most part. Lea, I know you don’t see this one as romantic suspense although I can see why you feel it’s Contemporary Romance instead.

Lea: Yes, it’s always a little fun to see the two of us list our favorites on some public forum – you reference One Summer as Romantic Suspense while I mention it as Contemporary Romance! I have always considered it a contemporary but I too understand your thoughts about the suspense. I guess I get so lost in the whole Johnny and Rachel thing that the suspense (which was the weakest part of the book IMO) just fades into the background.

Brenda & Lea

Editor’s Note: This discussion was originally published October 14, 2012 as part of Hunting Hard-to-Finds – One Summer.