The story of a mass shooting and an old summer love Winner of the Seven Hills Review Novel Excerpt Contest Summer of '85 is part coming-of-age story, part mid-life crisis story, and a timely tale for our era. In the summer of 1985 at the Jersey Shore, Cara Cassaday was Dan Fehr's first love. Since then, Dan has endured a series of mismatched relationships and unfulfilled dreams. Now his second marriage is in trouble and he's stuck writing for a mid-size newspaper in a small city. When he learns that Cara is among the victims of a gun massacre in a Philly hoagie shop, it triggers a chain of emotionally charged reactions as he confronts the realization of a lost love and a life lost-Cara was The One. This is an intimate look at the long arm of tragedy, unfulfilled promise, and the tensions of our times. "A cleverly imagined and well-orchestrated novel"--Nancy McKinley, author of St. Christopher on Pluto "Summer of '85 dazzles us with the humanity of a passionate and sensitive man who acts on his feelings with little notion of the consequence and leaves us wondering if we should be more inclined to act in the same way."--Willard Cook, publisher of Epiphany Literary Journal