Review: A Midsummer Night's Fling by Eliza Walker!

“A magical, joyful, delightful, sexy contemporary romance by a new star in the making!” — New York Times bestselling author, Marie Force

The show must go on, but the price of admission could be her heart.

Sick of her vagabond life in a Broadway touring company, Nicola is ready to settle down. She wants nothing more than to park her suitcase in California, put out feelers for local auditions, and leave her past firmly behind her.

Too bad her past comes knocking on her door her first day home. All six-foot-three, beautiful man of her past named Max. Stupid Max. The mistake Nicola just can’t seem to stop making.

Even before Nicola—fiery, quick-witted, beautiful Nicola—slams the door in his face, Max is in trouble. She will always be the one who got away. Three times. Which makes convincing her to play Titania to his Oberon a bit…awkward.

Though she has zero desire to re-re-rekindle an old flame, Nicola can’t turn down the chance Max is offering: a lead role with the West Coast’s premiere Shakespeare company. But when their first rehearsal kiss disintegrates into a passionate liplock, she’s questioning her sanity and tempted to jump ship—before Max can break her heart again.

Now it’s up to Max to convince her that the torch he’s been carrying is actually an eternal flame. 

I loved this book! Normally I'm not a huge fan of contemporary romance, but this novel was so unique that I couldn't help but love it. As someone who went to school for English and loves romance novels, there was something really special about combining Shakespere's work with a romance novel.  I think it takes a special type of author to pull something like this off. Eliza's writing was magical. It completely sucks you in to this amazing theater and all the goings on there. I love that A Midsummer Night's Fling was set in a theater setting. I found it really fascinating reading about the characters falling in love (again!) while putting on this huge production of a play. Getting to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff was interesting because you aren't able to see that in real life.

As for the other aspects of the book, I found everything to be pretty enjoyable. I really like how independent and career driven Nicola is. She's the type of girl everyone wishes to be like. However, I didn't care for Max's character as much. That being said, I enjoyed watching not only his character progress, but the progress of their relationship as the novel goes on. Another character I am looking forward to seeing more in the future is Lachlan. He was very intriguing and I can't wait to see what's going on in his head after stuff that happened in this book.

The romance is nice and steamy while also being sweet. I found it's the perfect balance between those heavy, romantic moments and the funner, sensual ones. Any romance reader loves a good second chance story and this one definitely falls under that. Between the characters, plot, and romance, this story was a very enjoyable read. 

I am so glad that this is the first book in a series. I will definitely be reading the other books and look forward to checking out more of Eliza Walker's books.

5/5