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janessa_h's review
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
erikfazekas's review
3.0
Mne sa to pacilo, co s tym narobim. Colby, nasu hlavnu hrdinku poslu rozvadzajuci sa rodicia do Grecka za strelenou tetou Tally. A tam sa deje vsetko co sa v letnej knizke diat ma. Cele je to pisane formou listou, esemesiek, e-mailov, blogu a dennika z Colbinej strany. Noelova tymto naozaj prekvapila, ziadne sprosta hrdinka, ziadne nerealno, lahky letny pribeh, ktory sa hodi ako citanie na plaz, prvu polovicu precitate kym si opalite predok, druhu kym zadok.
Necakajte ziadnu tazku literaturu a inde ako na plazi to ani necitajte, lebo inak to bude pre vas blbost:)
Necakajte ziadnu tazku literaturu a inde ako na plazi to ani necitajte, lebo inak to bude pre vas blbost:)
seejennread's review
1.0
Read in double book "Forever Summer"--HATED the writing format (texts, emails, journal) and made it hard for me to get into.
alyssaarch's review
5.0
This is a fun, fast, easy read that I would recommend to all lovers of young adult fiction. It deals with real-life issues in a humorous and hopeful way. From divorce to the death of a friend, Noel covers it all and lets readers know that no matter what happens, there is still hope and life is still worth living.
anna_reads_too_much's review
5.0
I loved this book. It was written in e-mails, letters, Colby's blog, and by Colby's diary. I usually don't like books like this with all the mixed letters and e-mails and stuff, but Cruel Summer was a fabulous read. I enjoyed it a lot - almost as much as I did Saving Zoe by the same author.
Cruel Summer has somewhat of a slow start, but when it starts to get interesting, it picks up right away after she gets to Tinos. Once it starts to get interesting, you won't want to put it down.
Alyson Noel really knows how to write a teenager's feelings. If I was in Colby's place, I would feel pretty much the same way that she does. Under her confident self, you see a teenager who is just confused and scared as to what will come next in her life. She doesn't know what will happen and she doesn't like it very much. The emotions are written really well, to say the least.
Cruel Summer is a wonderful read and the only real bad thing I can say about it was the slow start. Other than that, it was really, really good. And it was fun reading it now in the middle of winter when it was snowing outside, because it took place in warm Tinos and it made me think of summer. :) Which is always a plus, to me. :)
Cruel Summer has somewhat of a slow start, but when it starts to get interesting, it picks up right away after she gets to Tinos. Once it starts to get interesting, you won't want to put it down.
Alyson Noel really knows how to write a teenager's feelings. If I was in Colby's place, I would feel pretty much the same way that she does. Under her confident self, you see a teenager who is just confused and scared as to what will come next in her life. She doesn't know what will happen and she doesn't like it very much. The emotions are written really well, to say the least.
Cruel Summer is a wonderful read and the only real bad thing I can say about it was the slow start. Other than that, it was really, really good. And it was fun reading it now in the middle of winter when it was snowing outside, because it took place in warm Tinos and it made me think of summer. :) Which is always a plus, to me. :)
snarkywench's review
4.0
First of all, this is a beautiful, simple cover featuring the stark tranquility of the sky and great body language of the models. It jumped out at me from the shelves of my book store despite someone obviously already having read it (grrrr). I hadn't heard of Alyson Noel before I read this last night and I haven't seen her books on the shelves here in Adelaide, Australia but I will be seeking her out from now on. What I loved about this book was the very fluid, chatty writing style that flowed throughout. It may be a more casual style but don't assume there's no substance. We are able to access Colby's thoughts through letters, blog entries, texts, and diary entries and I found myself laughing and joyfully turning page after page. I particularly loved it when one piece of correspondance contradicted another as I felt that is was very true to the protagonist.
Colby suffers and she explains her suffering, at length. But she does it in such a whiney, bratty and remarkably unconscious way that it paves the way for actual, organic character development. Our heroine may dump her best friend, hook up with a shallow loser, break some rules and make really bad decisions but we don't hate her because of it. Why? Because Noel sprinkles comments about her homelife that make it truly impossible not to wish happiness for her. Divorce is pretty common these days and Colby's parents choose the road most travelled in their management of it. By that I mean...just plain mean to each other and periodically, Colby. I loved the flippancy and liveliness of this character, she possesses that classic impetuousness and enthusiam that you love to death in a person but which also drives you up the wall.
I loved the minor characters. Natalie, though we never witness any actual interaction with one another than some emails from Colby, is my fave. She is a true friend and someone that Colby eventually sees the value in. I have a real soft spot for Tally, Tassos and the beligerant Petros. Yannis sounds divine but I could take or leave him, the real story here is Colby and her striving unconsciously to be a better person.
Alyson Noel, I think I adore thee
Colby suffers and she explains her suffering, at length. But she does it in such a whiney, bratty and remarkably unconscious way that it paves the way for actual, organic character development. Our heroine may dump her best friend, hook up with a shallow loser, break some rules and make really bad decisions but we don't hate her because of it. Why? Because Noel sprinkles comments about her homelife that make it truly impossible not to wish happiness for her. Divorce is pretty common these days and Colby's parents choose the road most travelled in their management of it. By that I mean...just plain mean to each other and periodically, Colby. I loved the flippancy and liveliness of this character, she possesses that classic impetuousness and enthusiam that you love to death in a person but which also drives you up the wall.
I loved the minor characters. Natalie, though we never witness any actual interaction with one another than some emails from Colby, is my fave. She is a true friend and someone that Colby eventually sees the value in. I have a real soft spot for Tally, Tassos and the beligerant Petros. Yannis sounds divine but I could take or leave him, the real story here is Colby and her striving unconsciously to be a better person.
Alyson Noel, I think I adore thee
confusedetc's review
3.0
I have seen this book a couple times in my school library. I have read Alyson Noel's Immortals series, and I did not enjoy it, because of many reasons, but mainly the fact that Ever is annoying selfish brat. And from what I have been reading here on Goodreads, I will have the same problem here. I have looked at the book and read the blurb, which makes me want to read it, and yet at the same time turns me off. Why? Because every single freaking time there is a book where the main character is transported to some gorgeous, exotic, interesting place, they turn there noses up and want to go home. And this is very annoying to me, because that is just about my dream summer. If my parents were to send me off to Greece, I would be so excited. Bring on the delicious food, sexy boys with sexier accents and some of the most beautiful scenery and hospitable people in the world!!! Let me tell you, I would not, under any cicumstances be complaining! Why would you choose to miss out on such an amazing oppurtunity to see the world and experience a culture that is so different from yours? I just don't get it. This girl, Colby, is living my dream, and I'm pretty sure most people's dream, and she doesn't even want it. And that would drive me absolutley crazy the entire time I would be reading this book. I would want to smash her head in, or abduct her and take her place. (less)
julieabe89's review
Cruel Summer is a stand-alone novel by Alyson Noel. Colby is the main character whose parents are going through a really rough divorce. Since summer is starting, her parents decide to send her to Greece to stay with her crazy simplistic lifestyle aunt while they go through the court issues of deciding who gets what and so on. Now from the outside, this seems really smart. Divorces, especially nasty ones, are hard on kids and teenagers, and being in tranquil Greece with a stable home while your life implodes would be good for her to miss all the fighting and name calling. But for 17 year old Colby, it’s the end of the world. She’s finally broken into the popular crowd and slept with the hottest guy in the school, and now she’s being sent away from all of it to a place with no internet (cause her aunt is a hippie chick)! The book unfolds entirely through Colby’s letters, blog and journal. Mostly she’s whiny in the first part of the book because she’s a teenager who is hurting, because her parents are selling her house and dating new people while she wants to keep them together because she doesn’t want things to change. She meets a local Greek boy and starts falling for him and there’s some hijinks with the douchey American boy she slept with before leaving coming to visit because his family is on a cruise. By the end she’s trying to convince her parents to let her stay in Greece with her aunt, because of course she’s learned something. Overall a pretty quick read for people who like contemporary YA romance. It’s a good palate cleanser for book hangovers.