Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Hurricane Summer

“Everyone has that one summer. The summer that changes your life. It passes through you like a hurricane, leaving as quickly as it came. But once it has torn through you, nothing can ever be the same. You are changed.”

It is so hard to find the words to adequately express how I feel about this book. And it’s so hard to talk about any of it without giving anything away. I will say that it was completely heartbreaking. I also have never felt so much rage toward fictional characters in my life 😅.

I just have no words. This left me completely wrecked and devastated. While I highly recommend it, you’ll want to be in a good emotional/mental space and check the content warnings beforehand.

Content Warnings

onemorepagecrew's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield is a debut contemporary YA novel that held my heart captive while I read it. In it, we meet Tilla and her sister who are traveling from their home in Canada to their dad’s home in Jamaica. During their annual trip to visit their father, we see Tilla grappling with their strenuous relationship while finding her way with family and friends in Jamaica. In the background, the island is preparing for a hurricane and the potential destruction it will bring.

Coming-of-age stories are one of my favorite types of YA fiction and this story delivered depth and heart. It directly confronts colorism, classism, sexism, and generational stories of a family with vulnerability. The biggest thing I take away from this book is how I felt while reading it. I was attached to Tilla and there were times that my heart was broken, and others when I was frustrated and protective, but also times where I deeply felt her joy and self-discovery. It’s such a well-rounded look at the complex emotions of young adults.

The author did a wonderful job allowing the reader to be uncomfortable with how Tilla was treated while giving space for her family and their stories, too. It’s a hard balance to strike and she did it very well. I also really enjoyed that the Patois language in the book and the glossary of terms included, it added so much.

If you enjoy coming-of-age YA then I strongly recommend you read this book – and do it when you feel ready for an emotional pummeling. I loved meeting Tilla and if there was a sequel that takes place in her adulthood, I’d sprint to the bookstore for it.

Content warnings: Abandonment, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Colorism, Classism, Sexism, Infidelity

Content Warnings

piperlee's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

This was a really beautifully written story of self-discovery, courage, and learning to derive purpose from oneself & not others. The growth of the mc was powerful & her narration full of raw emotion.

And it was extremely heavy. I think too heavy for me. It felt like 90% struggle and despair with only 10% of joy and redemption. So much trauma was fit into one storyline, & mixed with the mc’s own internal dialogue of self-doubt and depression…it was hard for me to get through.

**do not read this if sexual assault is a triggering topic for you** there was graphic on-page description & emotional abuse and gaslighting afterward from basically everyone about the incident. It never was resolved & the truth about what happened was never shared which created a snowball effect of shaming and lies. I felt it was handled poorly & was very disturbing to read.

Trauma felt like a device for growth & I take issue with that. And when there is so much trauma fit into one story, it felt like a lot was glossed over & not properly dealt with. The ending especially felt over the top & incredibly distressing simply for the point of the mc’s development.

Further, I didn’t like any of the characters. There were obvious antagonists that we’re not supposed to like, but even the mc…she wasn’t likable. The only character I felt drawn to was Andre.

So I’m giving this a low rating because I had a hard time enjoying it. But it was very well written & the theme of redemption and freedom in the end is important. I listened to the audiobook read by the author & that was also very well done & added to the intensity and emotion of it all.

Content Warnings

cookiemonsterinwonderland's review

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emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

Content Warnings

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

thelovelylibrarylady's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Bromfield, an author of Afro-Jamaican descent, wrote this beautiful story set in Jamaica. While it is not the main focus, I learned a lot about the island and Jamaican culture by reading this novel. Hurricane Summer is a bit of a slow starter. I found the early chapters to be a little boring, but once the plot picks up, it doesn't stop. Many heavy topics are addressed in this novel including (but not limited to) colorism, sexual assault, the sexualization of girls of color, and classism. I would recommend this book to others, but also make sure that they were ready to tackle such an emotionally taxing story before they started this one.
(PUB DATE: AVAILABLE NOW)
(I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed above are my own.)

Content Warnings

courtneyfalling's review

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was definitely a powerful premise and sometimes stunning story and character portrayal, but I honestly felt uncomfortable and on edge through most of my time reading because of how little Tilla challenged what was happening to her... like wow I had a lot of secondhand hate for characters around her, but without relating to Tilla as much, it felt consuming! (I do think this might be impacted by how much this book activated my own teenage experiences, fears, and traumas, so like, definitely check the CWs on this!)

A few main frustrations:

Tilla does not read as 18, she reads as like 15 :/. I couldn't get over how much younger her perspective felt than what we were supposed to believe throughout basically every chapter. And to a lesser extent, Mia doesn't read as 9, she reads as 11-12 with some of the comments she makes. She's not really believable, just a device for Tilla.
This book shows a pretty graphic sexual assault on page then refuses to openly name it as sexual assault in Tilla's thought process, let alone out loud to other characters, and given the victim-blaming and internalized slut-shaming that follows, I really think this book needed to address it as sexual assault. It feels incomplete and potentially really damaging, especially given this is YA with what is supposed to be a clear-cut moral and main character we relate to/like.
I hated Andre's death being used as Tilla's final moment of self-understanding. It's shitty to use the darkest-skinned character's death as merely a plot device and moment of redemption for other characters after spending the whole rest of the book challenging the colorism that exact character faces.
I didn't feel like Tilla should "forgive" her father. I just didn't. She hadn't processed enough yet, her father hadn't taken any accountability, so much will still happen when Tilla returns to Canada and talks to her mother, and honestly, her father doesn't deserve any forgiveness. Tilla can absolutely live her life and live it well without ever forgiving her father and I don't like how this book simplifies surviving an estranged parent-kid relationship into all this burden, still, onto Tilla. Like her father can rot for all I care and she can never speak to him again? And I didn’t understand her not forgiving Hessan in comparison OR telling him he should be with Diana because he can still go on to date neither girl and discover other relationships he's fully invested in instead? Maybe the bigger issue is that I didn’t like how uncritically pro-Christian this book ended up. It was way too trite and undeserved for the characters. And trauma isn't something that just "makes you stronger" and that constant messaging is wildly irresponsible.

Content Warnings

bookwormbullet's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow. What a heartbreakingly beautiful book. I went into Hurricane Summer with no expectations other than a glance over previous reviews and finished this in one sitting. Many reviewers stated how there are a lot of potential triggers in the book, and I do wish I had taken those warnings more seriously because this book is very explicit for a Young Adult book. There are no content warnings attached to the book, so here is a list of TWs: rape (explicit, on-page), sexual assault (explicit, on-page), physical abuse & domestic violence (explicit, on-page), slut-shaming (explicit, on-page), colorism & racism (explicit, on-page), bullying, death (drowning, off-page), gaslighting (explicit, on-page), and cheating. I would definitely recommend this book for readers 16/17+ and do agree that this probably should have been marketed as New Adult even though Tilla is 17 years old in the novel.

Asha Bromfield does a really good job of explicitly portraying what many people of color who are a part of the diaspora of their home country go through when they have to balance both of their identities (in Tilla’s case, her Canadian identity vs. her Jamaican identity) while traveling to and from their home country. I also liked how Tilla’s feelings regarding her identity and her relationship with her father naturally contrasted with Mia’s feelings. The relationship Tilla has with her father was really devastating. Her father, frankly, was a horrible father to her and Mia and as much as I wanted Tilla to unleash all her rage on him and get back at him for treating her so horribly, I understand why she forgave him and told him that she loved him at the end of the novel. It’s a feeling many children of immigrants feel--that even though their parents may not be the most perfect parents to exist, they still love them for sacrificing their livelihoods and moving to a country they know nothing about, all in the hopes of ensuring that their children have a better life.

It was also really hard to read about Tilla’s relationship with her relatives back in Jamaica, but still relatable. I’ve also experienced this line of disconnect between children of immigrants and their extended family who still live back in their home country, especially when these two parties don’t see each other often. I was so happy that Tilla at least had Andre while she was in Jamaica, especially after witnessing how both of them are treated by their relatives, but my heart completely broke at the end of the novel. I really have to admire Tilla for still acknowledging how much Jamaica has strengthened her after everything she endured that summer.

As stated, this book is definitely relatable for those of us who are children of immigrants. Please take the content warnings seriously if you choose to read this and only read this if you are in the right headspace to take it all in, because it was really heavy. I’d give Hurricane Summer four stars overall!

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