Talkie Tuesday: A Summer to Remember

"A new lease on life."

Hello everyone!

Well, that's it. Summer as officially said goodbye, because on the TV this morning, we could already see that some higher-lying cities in Austria have been graced with snow. 

Some cameras were completely snowed-in!

As far as that goes, I'm quite happy to live in a place where we can have a bit more of autumn before we transition to winter again, but that being said, I thought I'd celebrate with a really summer-y movie review just because.

It's one of those things I plucked off a list of Hallmark movies and ended up enjoying, despite the fact that I don't really see myself watching it again this season. Maybe next year, but by then I'm sure there'll be a long list of other summer movies to watch!

The movie I'm talking about is aptly named A Summer to Remember and stars Catherine Bell and Cameron Mathison.

First off, let me say that, inevitably, I will fall in love with anything Catherine Bell acts in. She's just that kind of actress.

And I've been following her since her JAG days so that's saying something!

Anyway, in this movie she portrays ER doctor Jessica, who seems to be overworked (as ER doctors usually are) but she's just about to head to vacation with her daughter Ava. Their destination: Fiji, because it seems to have been a promise to her husband, who is either deceased or they're just no longer together, I don't think they ever specified. Or I wasn't paying attention, but I'm pretty sure it was never spoken outright.

Anyway, she and Ava (her daughter), arrive in Fiji and have to make a deal right off the bat: Jessica won't check her phone unless it's something urgent from her pregnant friend and Ava will get out from behind her camera more.

See, the girl's a bit shy and looks at the world through a lens to capture "the perfect photo" but might forget to actually live, too.

At the gorgeous resort where they're staying, Jessica runs into a fellow doctor who makes plans with her and her daughter several times during the movie to go do things together, but they never quite get to it because, as Jessica slowly lets go of all the unimportant interruptions, he just keeps getting busier and busier and in the end has to cut his vacation short, so they part ways.

Meanwhile.

Yeah, there's always a meanwhile, especially as I might have mentioned one Cameron Mathison up there.

Co-owner of the resort Will seems to have taken a shine to Jessica too, but he seems to be her polar opposite when it comes to certain things, even though the other couple who co-own the resort keep teasing him about the whole thing.

It also helps that both Will and Jessica sort of help matchmake between smoothie maker Peter and the other couple's daughter Millie, because hey, it's paradise, time to fall in love, right? Right.

As Will and Jessica grow closer and she and her daughter find more common ground and time to spend together, Jess begins to question whether she should potentially relocate to Fiji entirely, like it had been her dream back in the day. She and her husband had always wanted to come back to where they'd met and married, and she would have opened a practice here. Will advocates for all the pros, saying that you need to grab hold of your life and control it, as opposed to it controlling you, but she's not too sure.

After many, many missed or interrupted opportunities for a stolen kiss (and the flower in her hair going left and right), Jessica gets a call from her friend who went into early labour and her husband is still on his way from where he'd been stationed previously.

Jess and Ava take a quick leave of everyone with heavy hearts to get there just in time, but when faced with the possibility of a promotion at the hospital she works at, Jessica realizes that it's not what she wants from life.

So, packing up Ava and the rest of her life, she returns to Fiji - and to Will - to take up a position as the resort's doctor (handy to have one around because there's always someone getting hurt there, obviously) and for a new lease on life.

As for Ava, she's more than happy to be back in paradise!

Plus, I mean, Cameron Mathison. Come on, who'd want to go back to civilisation with that option?!

This was a fun, relaxing, easygoing kind of summer movie shot on location in the most gorgeous environment ever and Catherine sparkled, as always. It was flirty, it was very seasonal, and the only other thing I could wish for was that there'd be a bit more on the stolen kisses front, but seeing as this is Hallmark I suppose one to seal the deal at the end is to be expected.

Just in case you're down because of fall, take a look at A Summer to Remember and remind yourself of how lovely summer was this year!

Definitely recommended.

xx

*images and video not mine