Life Without Summer    by Lynne Griffin Order:  USA  Can St. Martin's, 2010 (2010) Hardcover, CD Read an Excerpt      Reviewed by Joan Burton Tessa and Ethan Gray's four year old daughter Abby has been killed by a hit and run driver outside her preschool. Ethan is devastated but Tessa's life, which revolved around Abby, is shattered. They went everywhere and did everything together. There were no eye witnesses, and Tessa has no faith in Caulfield, the detective assigned to the case. He has told Tessa the case is unsolvable, but Tessa won't rest until she faces the killer and gets answers to her questions. Tessa seeks help from a grief counselor, Celia Reed, and begins to keep a journal counting the days without Abby. Celia is reserved, but understanding and compassionate. Celia tries to discourage Tessa's obsession with finding answers, but being a journalist, Tessa gets help from her connections in Boston, and begins to write a list of people who have had convictions of DUI's in her area. Tessa tells no one of her list, knowing Ethan and the police would not approve. As Tessa meets weekly with Celia, their time together opens old wounds for Celia that she has ignored for years. She also has suffered a loss that ended her marriage to Harry, an alcoholic. She has now remarried but there is tension between her troubled teenage son Ian and her husband Alden. As tensions mount, Ian moves in with his father, and this forces Celia to re-evaluate the mistakes of her past. Life Without Summer is told in the alternating voices of Tessa and Celia. Each woman has suffered an unbearable loss, and is trying to carry on. Their two lives merge into a shocking conclusion. This is a great character study, well written, and an amazing read. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews