Book Review: Someone Else's Summer
Someone Else's Summer
By: Rachel Bateman
Published by: Running Press Kids
Release date: May 9, 2017
Genre: YA Contemporary
320 pages
Buy it at Amazon, IndieBound, Book Depository, or Barnes & Noble
Source: ARC kindly provided by publisher
In Someone Else's Summer, Rachel Bateman has given us a satisfying make-you-laugh, make-you-cry, coming-of-age pleasure read. It's a story of taking time to let yourself feel and figure things out. It's about loss and adventure, all at the same time, which makes it feel just right for YA.
The novel opens on Anna dealing with all the awkward overwhelmingness of her sister Storm's funeral. She, Storm, and Cameron- the boy next door- used to be inseparable, until Anna's social circle expanded in high school and pulled her away from the others. Now Anna is left do deal with her sister's absence, and the only person who seems even passingly equipped to help her is Storm's best friend, Cameron.
Sometimes you come across a great book at a time when you're not ready for it. This was the case with me and Someone Else's Summer; I had a busy and exhausting spring, personally and professionally. This book demands emotional availability that I just didn't have at that time, so I got no more than 20 pages in and had to put it down. I am so glad that I did- because when I recently picked it back up, I was consumed, and finished the novel (and a box of tissues) in a day. This story and these characters are extraordinarily easy to relate to, and the emotional wave was cathartic and sweet.
In Someone Else's Summer, Rachel Bateman has given us a satisfying make-you-laugh, make-you-cry, coming-of-age pleasure read. It's a story of taking time to let yourself feel and figure things out. It's about loss and adventure, all at the same time, which makes it feel just right for YA.
The novel opens on Anna dealing with all the awkward overwhelmingness of her sister Storm's funeral. She, Storm, and Cameron- the boy next door- used to be inseparable, until Anna's social circle expanded in high school and pulled her away from the others. Now Anna is left do deal with her sister's absence, and the only person who seems even passingly equipped to help her is Storm's best friend, Cameron.
Sometimes you come across a great book at a time when you're not ready for it. This was the case with me and Someone Else's Summer; I had a busy and exhausting spring, personally and professionally. This book demands emotional availability that I just didn't have at that time, so I got no more than 20 pages in and had to put it down. I am so glad that I did- because when I recently picked it back up, I was consumed, and finished the novel (and a box of tissues) in a day. This story and these characters are extraordinarily easy to relate to, and the emotional wave was cathartic and sweet.
I loved this book and would love to keep the ARC copy for my collection, but am compelled to send it out into the world for another reader to enjoy. This one absolutely deserves to be passed around. Please look for the giveaway post, which will appear later today, and go enter!
Anna's always idolized her older sister, Storm. So when Storm dies in a tragic car accident on the night of her high school graduation, Anna is completely lost and her family is torn apart. That is, until she finds Storm's summer bucket list and decides to honor her sister by having the best summer ever—which includes taking an epic road trip to the coast from her sleepy Iowa town. Setting out to do everything on Storm's list along with her sisters best friend Cameron—the boy next door—who knew that Storm's dream summer would eventually lead to Anna's own self-discovery?
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You are so right in which you must be emotionally and mentally ready for a book especially one with such depth and draw as this one.
ReplyDeleteSounds like this is a really emotionally charged book. Like you, I'm likely to set down a book when it requires too much of my time/thoughts -- and will pick it up again when I have a little more to give. It's more satisfying that way!
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