Reviews

Night Owls and Summer Skies by Rebecca Sullivan

catsunshine's review

2.0

This book is about a girl, Emma, who goes to a summer camp for teens aged 15 to 18. There, she meets her first friend, Gwen, who is the youngest daughter of the director of the camp and falls in love with Vivian, the older daughter, who is a councillor at camp. The premise sounds amazing, as I'm usually a huge fan of the whole summer camps idea. Unfortunately, the whole book is just so unrealistic and, honestly, not very well written.

So let's start with my problems with the plot. The idea of a camp for older teens is really interesting for me, as normally camps say they are for all ages but then activities are quite boring for older teens. However, Camp Mapplewood was strictly for kids aged 15 and above and yet all the activities sounded like a 12 year old ideal of fun. If that was all, I'd have been able to overcome my problems and simply accept that american teens are simply different and actually enjoy that kind of thing. Notwithstanding, there were so many plotholes or simply things that made no sense at all. I don't want to go into any specifics so I don't give any spoilers but for example (SPOILER ALERT) how come Mr Black was so into following the rules of camp and there was a rule saying basically councillors couldn't date campers but when it's a lesbian couple they're all suddenly accepting relationships?? (END OF SPOILER). There were just too many things that didn't make sense, the world just seemed to change in order to accommodate their relationship and frankly I didn't like it.

About the writing, maybe this was a problem of my kindle or the format, but it was really hard to follow dialogues, as I wouldn't understand who was saying what. I think having a paragraph before each of the characters speaking would make it a lot more comprehensible, but again, maybe it was just a matter of formatting.

Overall, I think this book had the potential to be really amusing and heart-warming, but for me, it was a 2/5 book.

cateslittlelibrary's review

1.0

i read this book after reading the WEBTOON adaptation, which was cute, well written, and had some gorgeous art. this, on the other hand, was arguably the worst piece of writing i’ve read this year. inconsistent, bland characters, completely undeveloped side characters, jumpy writing, unnatural character and relationship progression- and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! i don’t really know what i was expecting from a wattpad originating book but damn, this just kind of sucked. the only reason i kept reading is because i love summer camp and gay people. i’m thoroughly disappointed and kind of confused about what the point of this whole damn thing was. nice try, mapplewood, but unfortunately not salvageable.

nebulouswitch's review

emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Cute, but the plot meandered a bit. Enjoyed the nostalgic YA-ness! 

deethereader's review

4.0

I really enjoyed this story. It was easy to read and the characters were unique in their own ways. I particularly loved Walter and how he interacted with Emma and his family. This story is one that is common in the world that includes an absent parent that is not willing to accept their child for who they are, a bully who is used to getting their own way and an unexpected friendship.
A beautiful story that had me laughing out loud in places an grimacing in others over the actions of one of the characters but even the way that was handled by the writer was, in my eyes, interesting and appropriate
Thank you to NetGalley and WattPad for the opportunity to review this eARC

extrafolklore's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

gelog's review

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

zagsreads's review

emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

peskilanim's review

hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Lesbophobia

rainbowjavi's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

duckyisokay's review

5.0

This book was amazing

i loved all the characters and they all had their own charm to them

Vivian and Emma r so cute together

i left this book thinking damn i wish there was a second

the author really knows how to write such charming characters :)