It has EVERYTHING I adore... The Age of Elegance, the rich families and the working class families, the fashions and manners of an innocent era teetering on the precipice of war and my favorite words to read on the front of a novel... "Book One"... because that means there will be more! Ms. Wills is such a great author that she has created characters that I cannot wait to continue with in the next volume.... Read the full review.
The book is sweeping and epic in scale and feel with a marvelous grandeur of times past. …an engrossing and addictive read…. Historical fiction readers will sink into this tale, happily immersed in the end of an era that is marching relentlessly into a terrible and costly war.... Read the full review.
Watch out and move over, Downton Abbey, because The Muskoka Novels are here…. Ms. Wills skillfully weaves together fragments of history with fiction into a deep story with a plethora of events, characters, and stories to keep track…. I rate this book a 5 out of 5! I loved it! ... See the full review.
A sweeping epic, The Summer Before the Storm pulls you into so many lives, lives you can't help but care about. For readers who love a good historical fiction tale, this certainly will not disappoint. But, it's as much about relationships, both in times of joy and suffering, as it is about the war or the Lusitania. And it was those relationships that will stick with me the most.... See the full review.
I applaud Ms. Wills for the extensive research she has done on this subject…. The dialogue flows and the characterizations are wonderful. When I came up for air, I was actually surprised to find myself in 2012 instead of 1914…. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel.... Read the full review.
The Summer Before the Storm is a richly detailed, complex novel - one that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.... See the full review.
I was completely immersed in this epic generational tale set in idyllic Muskoka, 1914 before the onset of WWI…. the author's vivid descriptions and impeccable research transported me there, feeling much like a friend of the family, relishing in that glorious summer then anxiously observing the Canadian involvement in WWI…. The Summer Before the Storm is a keeper on my bookshelf.... Read the full review.
"Self-published author Gabriele Wills is as enterprising in the book world as she is adept in story-telling. A tribute to both these qualities is the fact that this June, Muskoka Chautauqua selected The Summer Before the Storm, her first in a series of Muskoka novels, for its esteemed 2010 Reading Circle List." - Patrick Boyer, Muskoka Magazine
