Product Description

A funny, compulsive and wildly original novel set in Brighton about a journalist who interviews a handsome psychic who predicts that they will be married by the end of the year and proceeds to turn her life - and everything she believed - upside down.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #294774 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Cosmopolitan
'Hugely entertaining and addictive - the kind of book that you don't want to end'

Daily Mail
'An engaging and easy-going novel'

Glamour
'Warm, wise and witty ... a compulsive page turner that'll keep
you up all night.'

Customer Reviews

disappointing
I really wanted to like this. I'm not much for chick lit, though I enjoyed Adams' Cool For Cats. But despite occasional appearances by Linda (the heroine of cool for cats), this one was a mish-mash of too many ingredients, too little resolution, and too much rambling. A good editor could, pehaps, have slashed about a third of the book, tightened it up and made it far more readable. As it was, the characters were thinly drawn, and the heroine was a cipher who only achieved any vibrancy through her connections with the men in the book, and whose utter failure to act on anything, in work or love, became intensely irritating. The psychic phenomena are inexplicably strange, and Adams doesn't even attempt a rationalisation- or any real insight- as to their purpose, despite having her psychic hero ask what his purpose is. "I don't know," is the only answer, which could equally apply to the book itself. Adams has talent- but next time, she should stick with reality.

Excellent
I've been a fan of Jessica Adams since I read Single White E-mail way back in 1999, but this for me is her best since then. It really reminded me of another title I've recently read, Cecelia Aherns "A Place Called Here", it's all psychic readings, missing dead cats and witches' covens in Brighton. Katie Pickard (the worst regional reporter ever - according to her lecherous boss Guy) is sent to interview Australian psychic Jim Gabriel, who amongst other things, predicts they will be married within the year....But Katie then goes and shacks up with deeply unsuitable ex-school fantasy Pete (think Pete Doherty and you're spot on), and a marriage looks unlikely. Or does it? With a back story of real life tragedies Jim predicts including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and tsunami; and random news stories including the £7m Damien Hurst shark, the date change of Charles and Camilla's wedding and the Ashes coming home - this story is beautifully written without being overly sentimental or slushy.

Solidly entertaining, truthful vibe, great for non-chicks like me, too.
I very often find chick books very boring. Kind of merengue-like--- all fluff, meandering around endless descriptions of the curtains and how everybody feels all the time, and banging on about EVERY little detail of social life ad nauseum, discussing forever 'what it all means' (FYI: I'm not a chick).

'Summer Psychic', which I bought sort of 'accidentally' (it was on the 3 for 2 table at the book shop, and I needed a third), was surpsingly good. Actually, it was very good, which was a surprise. Unlike many of her novelist sisters, Jessica Adams seems to understand the male mind, and the male world. She throws that in together with the female world, so us guys get to have an inside voice from the ladies. The story was solid. It moved along with a brisk pace. And, unusual for a relationship book, there were times toward the end where I was actually nervous for the characters.

Another thing I liked about Adams' book was the way she dealt with psychic phenomena. Her descriptions and use of the arena were consitent with my own experiences over the past 20-odd years. To me, anyway, it had the ring of truth to it.

Further, the story was sweet. And interesting. Whether you're a girl or a guy, you might find it engaging. I could see a bit of myself in the situations and people--- and that is certainly one important thing many of us try to get from a movie or a book. We like it when we can find something in the story that speaks to us in our own world. Some males can write for both females and males, and vice versa. But is that real common? I don't think. it happens, sure, but very often does not. So when I find a chick writer (such as Susan Isaacs, Diana Gabaldon, for example) that seems to LIKE me, and understands me, and helps me learn more things about myself, etc., I say grab that person's work and enjoy it. Jessica Adams, in my view, is such a writer.

It's corny and soppy to say--- but by having characters go through this and that--- and we'd hope that some of them resolve difficulties, and grow and heal and get nice results, etc.--- it is something we personally can identify with. We can feel as if we 'learned' something. 'Psychic Summer' had all that for me.

I am not a fan of astrology (IMHO, it's a bit whispy, vague, and pointless), and I read that Adams writes about that regularly. But that's cool. It's not my thing, and 'Summer Psychic' is devoid of any mentions of Saturn or Uranus (haha). I appreciated that.

Overall, a very, very nice book to read in your free time. More than a mere trifle--- when you're done reading it, not only will you have had a good time with an absorbing book, but you may feel a little better about yourself and the world. I did.