Someone Else’s Summer by Rachel Bateman is an upcoming Young Adult novel. I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The book is scheduled for release on May 9, 2017.
Anna is eleven months younger than her sister Storm. Growing up Anna always followed in her sisters footsteps, she looked up to her, it was always the two of them. Then Cameron, the boy next door moved in and it was the three of them. They spent their summers using their imaginations and when Storm and Cam started kindergarten, Anna was left waiting at home until their school bus pulled up in the afternoon and their adventures could begin again. By the time Anna starts high school, she has drifted away from Storm and Cam. She joins the cheerleading squad, makes new friends and spends less time with her sister and their friend. Then on the night of Storm and Cam’s high school graduation, Storm is killed in a car accident. Anna’s world is torn apart and she has no idea who she is or what to do without Storm there to guide her in some way. Then one night she ends up in Storms’ room and finds a journal with a summer bucket list of 15 things that Storm wanted to do that summer. She grabs the journal, her sisters Polaroid camera and her car, as well as Cameron, and they head out on an epic summer road trip to complete Storms bucket list and along the way find out who they are and where they belong.
I absolutely loved this book! I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the romance. I loved how the author took a tragedy and turned it into something even more life changing. The writing was done beautifully. I enjoyed the little twists toward the end of the novel, those were unexpected for me and I really think that it just made the book come together even more. I appreciated that the author didn’t drag anything out. I find that in many books I read that have road trips or a blossoming relationship that leaves someone questioning if it’s right or if there is some kind of conflict, the author drags them and turns it into chapter after chapter of should I or not? can I or not? or they use multiple pages to describe a location or what a town looks like and it just feels like they are never going to get to the bones of the story. This book was nothing like that. There was just enough detail so that I could imagine what these characters looked like, what the places looked like. I could imagine being there right along with them. I went on this road trip of self discovery with Anna and Cameron. I felt what they felt and did all the things that they did with them. I love when I can just sit back and enjoy a book without it being filled with details that just don’t matter when you get right down to it. This book had structure and balance and it gave me all the feels. I will most definitely be rereading this one in the future. I highly recommend trying to get a copy from Netgalley if you can, otherwise definitely go and pick it up in May. You won’t regret it, this absolutely got 5 stars on Goodreads.
Keep reading…Lola
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