I have adored every single book by Josie Silver in the past, but this I just really struggled with.

I’m sorry, but I simply couldn’t get past the premise. You’re telling me a sane, functioning adult just... accepts credit for someone else’s work? On purpose? And we’re meant to go along with that? Absolutely not. That’s not morally grey—it’s morally beige and deeply unpleasant.

It’s the kind of plot that had me pausing every few pages just to mutter, “No, but seriously, what are you doing?” under my breath like a disapproving aunt. And then we’re supposed to feel anxious about the lie being discovered? I wasn’t on the edge of my seat—I was on the edge of writing a strongly-worded letter.

Look, I love a good mess as much as the next person, but ideally not one built entirely on ethical quicksand. If I wanted to watch someone make bad decisions and lie about it, I’d just attend a work Zoom call.

So no, not for me, I’m afraid. If you enjoy yelling “YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF” at fictional people, you’ll have a grand time. Otherwise? Proceed with caution and possibly a moral compass.

Firstly thanks for my opportunity to read and review . I’ve read a few of this authors books so was excited to get stuck in.
This is a beautiful book about new beginnings, hope, taking chances ,loss and love.
It was funny and heartwarming as we follow the journey of Kate and her adventures in her new career .
There will ups and downs along the way .
A uplifting read perfect for a summers day !
Great characters and a fantastic plot .
Highly recommend

On one hand Slow Burn Summer was just that, a slow burn for the reader. It felt we were going nowhere fast and had to encourage myself to keep reading. I quite enjoyed the chaos magnet that was Kate. I can appreciate the idea that you get to a point in life and you are forced to review your life, and edit your own life story ruthlessly. But when my highlight of the book was the incredulity of the T- rex scene, I have to ask myself, did I miss something?

I appreciated the slow and deliberate relationship between Kate and Charlie that reflected a mature couple with full lives rather than the often explosive nature of seemingly  younger couples on paper. That said, I didn't feel the chemistry between Kate and Charlie. The letter exchange and interactions between Kate and the unknown author was a lovely touch.

I was sidetracked by the two other very strong ideas playing out on the page.
One, the concept of a ghost author.
Two, the idea that readers are  unwilling or unable to appreciate an established author offering something different leading to marketing fabricating a story for a story.

As a reader, I understood the choice of the author to maintain anonymity from a heart and vulnerability perspective. This is topical at the moment given a current release *might*maybe*could be* an author writing under the banner of a nom de plume in a genre they are not typically known for.  However, the ghost author angle also struck me as the kind of deceit AI generated publications might employ. And that was very uncomfortable.

I'm not sure if Slow Burn Summer is truly a romance read.  It certainly has the readability of a summer book that you can pick up or put down when you have a moment and I enjoyed many elements but it isn't one that I'd rush to have on my shelf. Maybe it's just me?

Many thanks to the author, Elsie Silva, Netgalley and Penguin General UK for a copy of the eARC to read ahead of publication.
All opinions and grammatical errors are my own.

This was a fun book! It would be a nice easy beach read for anyone that wanted to take it on holiday.

I really loved Liv and Kate’s relationship. Liv making the mouse orchestra for Kate was my fave part 😢.

The slow burn was slow ngl. Thanks Netgalley for the arc.

This was such a disappointment for me... I don't know quite what it was, but I just didn't feel the chemistry in this at all and I found it a drag to get through.

When you’re freshly divorced with no job and living in a flat above your sisters shop, of course you’re going to jump at the chance of a job where you become the face of a new book that the real author doesn’t want to be associated with.

What follows is silly, funny, romantic and heartbreaking. A perfect summer read

First of all, thank you to NetGalley, Penguin, and Josie Silver for an advanced copy of Slow Burn Summer in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, Slow Burn Summer didn't really do it for me. This is the first Josie Silver book I have read; however, I had heard a lot of positive things about One Day In December so I was excited to give it a go. I did think it was a fairly strong women's fiction book, the plot was different to anything I had read before, and the concept of a Ghost Author was intriguing, but marketing it as a romance is a mistake, I feel. The romance between Kate and Charlie was very much an afterthought and was pretty sloppily developed in my opinion.

There isn't anything objectively bad about this book, but it's not the sort of thing I would usually gravitate towards.

Slow Burn Summer releases 17 July 2025.

I will start by saying that I loved the relationship between Kate and Liv, they had me giggling to myself and there was joy in their bond. I liked the premise of the story and I enjoyed the bond that Kate had with H. I just felt that the romance and angle was a bit of an afterthought: I’m not saying it needed to be front and centre, it just seemed to bubble up out of nowhere. I nice gentle read with some excellent characters.

Kate is divorced, living in a flat above her sister's shop and looking for a way to earn her living again. Before she was married she had briefly acted in a TV soap, so wrote to her old agent to see if she could find employment as an actress again. Unfortunately he had died, his agency was now being run by his son, Charlie, who had previously been a scriptwriter in the US, with little experience of being an agent. He did, however, find a potential acting gig for her - with a difference.
I liked the idea of turning the position of ghost writer on its head - a famous crime writer had written a romance, but didn't want to be associated with it, so Kate was hired to act as the author for publicity purposes. I liked both Kate and Charlie, although his business partner Fiona is very scary. The whole publicity circus has its moments, both good and bad, and the growing attraction between Kate and Charlie keeps the romance interest going whilst there is the mystery of the identity of the actual author. Katie's sister Liv gives her strong support but this leads to triflegate.....
A slow burner with that interesting concept that I did enjoy, 4.5* as ever rounded up to 5*.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

Unfortunately, when I tried to read this book, it didn’t really resonate with me, and I wasn’t able to finish it. I’m still very grateful for the opportunity to read it in advance, and I hope it will find its audience.

Here are some of the tropes you can expect in the book:
🩷 Agent x Actress
✨ Hilarious banter
🔥 Slow burn
📖 Contemporary romance

Thanks again to NetGalley, and I hope you enjoy the book.

I always enjoy books by this author, but she has outdone herself with this one, it’s an absolute delight. Kate is the heroine for older, divorced ladies everywhere; determined not to find herself on the scrap heap of life. This book will be the ‘ must read’ recommendation of the summer. A celebration of book lovers, a commentary on social media, the importance of family and an array of great characters are all here, yet tenderly written and laugh out loud funny at times. It’s brilliant and will hit the bestseller list like the book in the story.

This had all the right ingredients but for some reason, it just didn’t click for me. The pacing felt off right from the start and while I kept waiting for that emotional spark or for something to pull me in, it never really landed.

The characters were… fine. I didn’t dislike them but I never felt fully connected to them either. Their relationship played out more like a series of awkward conversations than a romance. I get that it was meant to be a slow burn, but instead of building tension or depth, it didn’t have much impact.

That said, the writing was good and the atmosphere was cozy. It wasn’t a bad book by any means, it just didn’t leave much of a mark. In the end, it felt like a story that never quite found its momentum.

𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 : slow burn romance, forced proximity, fake identity.

Thank you to Josie Silver, Penguin UK & NetGalleg for my e-ARC copy.

This was a wonderfully written book. I really enjoyed Kate as a character and her development. I do feel like the romance element is not the strongest plot in the book, but honestly I didn’t mind because of how much I loved other aspects of the book.

It's been a while since I've read anything from Josie. This book was just what I was wanting. I really enjoyed it. Gave me all the feels. It was funny, heartwarming and gave all the summer feels.

I loved the story and the characters

This book had me smiling and sighing in equal measure. I loved how Kate’s journey—recovering from divorce and stepping into a faux author role—unfolds with warmth and humor. Plenty of reviewers called it “adorable” and “a slow burn worth the wait,” and I totally agree. There were moments where the romance felt understated, almost too gradual, but the sisterly dynamics and character growth more than made up for it. Overall, it feels like a cozy hug of a novel—thoughtful, gentle, and charming enough to earn 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC 💕

I really enjoyed this!
Kate is your run of the mill divorcee with a 19 year old daughter when she decides to try and contact her agent from her days acting 20 years ago. Little does she know that her agent has passed away and the business is now in the hands of his son, who just so happens to be looking for an actress to pretend to be the author of a new romance novel that is really written by a well known author of a different genre, wishing to detach their name from this book.

Kate takes on the role and for a brief moment everything is amazing but with such an intricate lie going on behind the scenes, how long can this narrative be kept up?

I found Kate to be a relatable, funny character to follow and I really felt for her in her tougher moments (like dealing with her asshole ex-husband) and I loved seeing the natural progression of her friendship and feeling for Charlie (her new agent).

Charlie is such a likeable love interest and I liked the subtle backstory of his own divorce with elements of the media getting in the way of the real story.

I can’t wait to pick up a copy of this for my bookshelves!

3.5 ⭐️

To be honest I don’t think the title makes a lot of sense. I wouldn’t consider this a slow burn and I didn’t get summer vibes AT ALL. The romance part was pretty weak actually, because it seems like the characters just liked each other and got together with no more depth than their personal problems (divorces and family) and their “forbidden” love. What I mean is that they didn’t seem to connect any further than that and it looked a bit weird.

I still liked the book though. It was well written and had a good main storyline (which doesn’t match the title). I also liked the characters and their personalities a lot. I loved how Kate and her sister had this tight relationship and how Charlie was willing to help Kate every time. The mystery author part was really cool, actually, though I would’ve enjoyed if we were told a bit more about their back story.

It wasn’t a bad book but I was expecting it to be as emotional as One Day in December. I would work more on the romance and their feelings towards each other.

Thank you Penguin UK for the arc :)

A great summer rom com, fantastic for book lovers with some unexpected twists.
Kate has an appointment with her old acting agency as she very much needs a job since her horrible divorce but it’s her agent’s son at his desk who offers her a very unusual role. Charlie is back in London from California trying to cover for his late father at his agency, can he carry on the legacy!
There is some tension, some slapstick here and there, a few surprises and a whole lot of love. Life is complicated and not straightforward that’s for sure in this story!!
At times heartwarming, funny and a glorious summer feel good read. Loved some of the situations and descriptions, fun and brilliant! This book certainly keeps you guessing!
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin books for the early read! This is fab!

found the plot for this book really unique, I enjoyed how the main characters were involved with each other and how they worked together.

I didn’t have an emotional connection to either of the main characters but it was an easy romance book to read.

Josie Silver has written some of my favourite wintery reads so I’ve been very excited to get my hands on her latest novel.
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The story follows Kate, a newly divorced ex-actress, living in a flat above her sister’s shop, trying to get her life on track. She sends an email to her old agent on a whim and his son, Charlie who has taken over the agency, picks the email up. The agency has a job, to be the face of a new romance novel as the author wants to remain anonymous. This is such a unique idea for a book and I really enjoyed the ride.
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There are two main reasons I loved this story, which felt like a breath of fresh air. For one, although romance is a theme, it felt subtle and secondary to the main plot. The fact that the two main characters are slightly older than the twenty-somethings we’re normally reading about in these books and that they’re divorcees navigating a new version of their lives, felt refreshing. The romance felt more mature and real in a way.
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The second point is that this book has such an important message throughout. It is really clever, pitching the good and bad sides of the internet against each other and really drawing on how things work in the modern world. The fact that in the blink of an eye, social media can play a part in destroying something good or lifting something to new levels. It felt powerful.
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Adding to these points, it’s bookish, there are some great side characters, the banter is bantering and a Cornwall getaway sneaks in there at one point, I think it’s a perfect summer read. The only downside is I’d have loved slightly more romantic build up and yearning but that’s me being picky!
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💕forced proximity
💕workplace romance
💕divorcees
💕living with grief
💕bookish
💕london setting
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Thank you so much to Viking, Penguin and Netgalley for the e-arc of this book