Scan barcode
rbookish's review against another edition
4.0
thank you so much netgalley for an arc of this book!
personally, i really liked this book, but in the end i found this book to be a super cute love story. but, i didn't really care for how there was so much drama, and after awhile it was so petty. but, i still really liked this book and some of the topics that were brought up.
personally, i really liked this book, but in the end i found this book to be a super cute love story. but, i didn't really care for how there was so much drama, and after awhile it was so petty. but, i still really liked this book and some of the topics that were brought up.
themaliciousreader's review against another edition
1.0
I was provided an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I hate writing mean reviews but here we go.
Look, I wanted to love this and I was so sure I would.
I mean a f/f summer camp story sounds delightful, doesn't it?
Turns out it wasn't.
The characters were so one dimensional and fell flat, the writing was really not good and it felt like it hadn't been re-read not even once. Victoria Schwab recently said that one should read out loud what they write to ensure that it sounds right, this was definitely not done here and I could tell. I know you feel like I'm exaggerating so here are a few quotes.
Okay, I'm done with the quotes.
It was super hard to get through cause I kept rolling my eyes, and I had to sometimes reread sentences to understand what the author meant. Also, the story jumped for one moment to another in the same paragraph and it was hard to follow.
So yeah, this did not go as well as I had hoped... I definitely wouldn't recommend this.
I hate writing mean reviews but here we go.
Look, I wanted to love this and I was so sure I would.
I mean a f/f summer camp story sounds delightful, doesn't it?
Turns out it wasn't.
The characters were so one dimensional and fell flat, the writing was really not good and it felt like it hadn't been re-read not even once. Victoria Schwab recently said that one should read out loud what they write to ensure that it sounds right, this was definitely not done here and I could tell. I know you feel like I'm exaggerating so here are a few quotes.
"I see," she replied. "Everyone's phone, it tells you an awful lot of information about a person."
I lay on my back as she matched my body's form by climbing on top of me. My hands ventured over her curved body, exploring. We pulled apart and opened our eyes. Staring deeply at one another, we breathed in tandem, our eyes searching; mine were full of wonder, hers of curiosity.
"I kissed you," she hissed, leaning closer so no one else could hear. "You say I make things hard. Emma, no. You have to breathe and it's hard."
Usually, at night the main building's indoor lightning would make the entire camp seem bright and safe, but that night, it was the opposite as the lights weren't on.
Okay, I'm done with the quotes.
It was super hard to get through cause I kept rolling my eyes, and I had to sometimes reread sentences to understand what the author meant. Also, the story jumped for one moment to another in the same paragraph and it was hard to follow.
So yeah, this did not go as well as I had hoped... I definitely wouldn't recommend this.
ironi's review against another edition
2.0
I don't give bad reviews to ARCs lightly. As I see it, a book is a result of so much hard work and I absolutely want to help books that might not reach a broad readership. I also believe that it's great that the publishing world is more accessible, I mean, this started off as on Wattpad as a NaNoWriMo project. That's awesome.
So Night Owls and Summer Skies is about Emma, a bitter teenager who gets sent to camp. She has a weird childhood trauma from this camp (her friends stranded her on a tree and she somehow has turned this into a massive life changing tragedy, I kid you not). At camp, her counselor Vivian and her fall in love and together, work through all the teen drama.
I'll start by saying that the writing was good. It felt polished. The dialogue was a little odd at times but it also felt like it had style. I can imagine people speaking like that, even if I myself do not. Vivian and Emma have as much chemistry as the next ya couple.
However, my biggest problem here was Vivian. Oh Vivian.
As a former camp counselor, let me just say this. I would never ever ever consider getting into any type of romantic or sexual relationship with any one of my campers. It's not an age thing, or a legal thing (well, maybe a bit of a legal thing, my camp kept reminding us that we can get sued for pretty much everything). It's a responsibility thing. Even with older kids, they look up to you. You're not on even ground, you do have some authority and being in a relationship abuses this. Even if there's only a two year difference, I genuinely think Emma's consent is dubious.
When you're working, you're not entirely yourself so I definitely felt like my kids didn't know me actually. They knew me as a counselor but that's just not the same thing. Like heck, it was my actual job to tolerate some of their bullshit and well, when that's the case, there isn't room for such feelings, even if I absolutely adored my campers.
So it was just hard for me to appreciate this book because I couldn't stop wanting to shout at Vivian, "How can the problematic nature of this relationship not concern you??" Vivian never even mentions this, Vivian pursues this relationship just as much as Emma and I just can't explain how irritated this makes me. No one around Vivian thinks about this and I just don't get it.
I wasn't a very good counselor for various reasons and I messed up during my time as a counselor more times than I can remember but even with that, at least I can feel content knowing I wasn't as bad of a counselor as Vivian. Beyond the actual falling in love with a camper thing, here's a brief list of the things Vivian does:
-Looks through Emma's phone: I just can't imagine doing something so invasive to my campers (or really anyone, phones are so private).
- Never helps out: during my time as a camp counselor, I pretended to enjoy sports, I cleaned vomit, I swept the massive auditorium (several times, my camp realized that international staff = cheap labor), I packed like 8 massive suitcases (although, this also has to do with me being really good at packing), I cleaned slime off walls and clothes (parents, please, please, please, don't send your kids to camp with slime, why would you ever think that's a good idea). I genuinely don't understand how Vivian can stand in the sidelines and tell her campers that she's "supervising" or feel that she can just do nothing to help them out.
-Makes fun of her campers: Sure, some counselors have a style that includes teasing campers (and since my tendency to make fun of myself led to my kids thinking I'm actually stupid, I'm not sure if I can really judge anyone's style). That said, Vivian constantly says hurtful things about her campers. This is seriously problematic because campers do remember these things and she's causing damage.
-Gossips about her campers with other campers: My 10-11 year olds had tons of drama and I had to try and mediate and sure, it was very tempting to pick sides and go, "heck yeah, this girl is mean, you're so right!" but you can't do that (even though I absolutely had picked sides). Your kids can't feel that you like some of them more than others, your gossip is not like any other camper's gossip, even if it feels like your kids are mature and you like talking to them.
All together, this is beyond unprofessional. This type of behavior is harmful and never gets addressed in the book. Young people see counselors as role models. When a counselor acts like this, it opens the door for everyone else to act this way (or, as I learned in camp, "why do I have to make my bed when you don't make yours?"). I realize this is a fictional story but I wonder if Sullivan has ever been at camp or why she would portray something that's so far from reality.
I realize I can't speak for all camps and that surely there are different camp experiences but the sheer lack of awareness here felt jarring and made it hard for me to see anything else. All in all, it felt impossible for me to look at this book as anything but deeply inappropriate. It made me so uncomfortable and disgusted.
If the author wanted to create a camp romance, she could have (a) had done the relationship between two counselors (you have no idea about the drama between counselors, it was unreal) or (b) set this a few years after camp. They could have met in college and Vivian could have dramatically admitted that she liked Emma as a counselor but couldn't follow through because of her counselor duties.
As it is now, I just can't recommend this book. I want to support new authors and I want to support LGBT+ romances but the downsides here just overpower the advantages. I hope Sullivan continues writing and will definitely keep an eye out for her next book.
What I'm Taking With Me:
- How the heck did Vivian even have time and mental energy for a romance? There were days when I barely had time to shower.
- Also, there were so many annoying troupes here. Like, the mom who's rude to the girlfriend.
- Don't even get me started about Lauren because that is another mess and I could probably write a 2500 word essay on why Lauren's character is a badly written mistake.
- And isn't it weird that there's so much competition about being a counselor but no official or fair way to get in? I mean, as a family run business, surely they do need to be careful about nepotism.
So Night Owls and Summer Skies is about Emma, a bitter teenager who gets sent to camp. She has a weird childhood trauma from this camp (her friends stranded her on a tree and she somehow has turned this into a massive life changing tragedy, I kid you not). At camp, her counselor Vivian and her fall in love and together, work through all the teen drama.
I'll start by saying that the writing was good. It felt polished. The dialogue was a little odd at times but it also felt like it had style. I can imagine people speaking like that, even if I myself do not. Vivian and Emma have as much chemistry as the next ya couple.
However, my biggest problem here was Vivian. Oh Vivian.
As a former camp counselor, let me just say this. I would never ever ever consider getting into any type of romantic or sexual relationship with any one of my campers. It's not an age thing, or a legal thing (well, maybe a bit of a legal thing, my camp kept reminding us that we can get sued for pretty much everything). It's a responsibility thing. Even with older kids, they look up to you. You're not on even ground, you do have some authority and being in a relationship abuses this. Even if there's only a two year difference, I genuinely think Emma's consent is dubious.
When you're working, you're not entirely yourself so I definitely felt like my kids didn't know me actually. They knew me as a counselor but that's just not the same thing. Like heck, it was my actual job to tolerate some of their bullshit and well, when that's the case, there isn't room for such feelings, even if I absolutely adored my campers.
So it was just hard for me to appreciate this book because I couldn't stop wanting to shout at Vivian, "How can the problematic nature of this relationship not concern you??" Vivian never even mentions this, Vivian pursues this relationship just as much as Emma and I just can't explain how irritated this makes me. No one around Vivian thinks about this and I just don't get it.
I wasn't a very good counselor for various reasons and I messed up during my time as a counselor more times than I can remember but even with that, at least I can feel content knowing I wasn't as bad of a counselor as Vivian. Beyond the actual falling in love with a camper thing, here's a brief list of the things Vivian does:
-Looks through Emma's phone: I just can't imagine doing something so invasive to my campers (or really anyone, phones are so private).
- Never helps out: during my time as a camp counselor, I pretended to enjoy sports, I cleaned vomit, I swept the massive auditorium (several times, my camp realized that international staff = cheap labor), I packed like 8 massive suitcases (although, this also has to do with me being really good at packing), I cleaned slime off walls and clothes (parents, please, please, please, don't send your kids to camp with slime, why would you ever think that's a good idea). I genuinely don't understand how Vivian can stand in the sidelines and tell her campers that she's "supervising" or feel that she can just do nothing to help them out.
-Makes fun of her campers: Sure, some counselors have a style that includes teasing campers (and since my tendency to make fun of myself led to my kids thinking I'm actually stupid, I'm not sure if I can really judge anyone's style). That said, Vivian constantly says hurtful things about her campers. This is seriously problematic because campers do remember these things and she's causing damage.
-Gossips about her campers with other campers: My 10-11 year olds had tons of drama and I had to try and mediate and sure, it was very tempting to pick sides and go, "heck yeah, this girl is mean, you're so right!" but you can't do that (even though I absolutely had picked sides). Your kids can't feel that you like some of them more than others, your gossip is not like any other camper's gossip, even if it feels like your kids are mature and you like talking to them.
All together, this is beyond unprofessional. This type of behavior is harmful and never gets addressed in the book. Young people see counselors as role models. When a counselor acts like this, it opens the door for everyone else to act this way (or, as I learned in camp, "why do I have to make my bed when you don't make yours?"). I realize this is a fictional story but I wonder if Sullivan has ever been at camp or why she would portray something that's so far from reality.
I realize I can't speak for all camps and that surely there are different camp experiences but the sheer lack of awareness here felt jarring and made it hard for me to see anything else. All in all, it felt impossible for me to look at this book as anything but deeply inappropriate. It made me so uncomfortable and disgusted.
If the author wanted to create a camp romance, she could have (a) had done the relationship between two counselors (you have no idea about the drama between counselors, it was unreal) or (b) set this a few years after camp. They could have met in college and Vivian could have dramatically admitted that she liked Emma as a counselor but couldn't follow through because of her counselor duties.
As it is now, I just can't recommend this book. I want to support new authors and I want to support LGBT+ romances but the downsides here just overpower the advantages. I hope Sullivan continues writing and will definitely keep an eye out for her next book.
What I'm Taking With Me:
- How the heck did Vivian even have time and mental energy for a romance? There were days when I barely had time to shower.
- Also, there were so many annoying troupes here. Like, the mom who's rude to the girlfriend.
- Don't even get me started about Lauren because that is another mess and I could probably write a 2500 word essay on why Lauren's character is a badly written mistake.
- And isn't it weird that there's so much competition about being a counselor but no official or fair way to get in? I mean, as a family run business, surely they do need to be careful about nepotism.
storiesonmydoor's review against another edition
3.0
I really, really, really liked the concept of this book. I was half-way through the book and I was still rooting for Emma, but then nothing really happens, the book goes on and it ends.
When you finish it first, you'd wonder why you'd read something with a pretty meh ending but I guess we expect books to end on a high note or something crazy to happen, or something crazy to be revealed, when real life doesn't usually have that aspect.
It's a good summer causal beach read and in 2020, we need light books to get us through (although wouldn't recommend going to beach, you know why) I had fun reading this, I hope the author had fun writing it.
When you finish it first, you'd wonder why you'd read something with a pretty meh ending but I guess we expect books to end on a high note or something crazy to happen, or something crazy to be revealed, when real life doesn't usually have that aspect.
It's a good summer causal beach read and in 2020, we need light books to get us through (although wouldn't recommend going to beach, you know why) I had fun reading this, I hope the author had fun writing it.
jude7's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book and it’s one of my new favourite books! I loved the will they won’t they and I’m glad it had a happy ending. One reviewer didn’t like the “still gay, mom. i suppose the correct term would be lesbian, but gay kind of sits better with me.” quote but I actually resonate with this and I appreciate the representation!
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
fiekesfiction's review against another edition
3.0
( thanks Netgally for the free ARC, this review contains only my own opinions and criticism.)
Night owls and summer skies is a story about Emma, as her mom goes of on a cruise with her new husband she is forced to spend her summer at summer camp.
What I liked most about this story was probably the setting. I’ve never been to summer camp, but through the activities and the fun group names I really felt the fun summer vibes. I thought the main character and Vivian were both pretty strong characters. You get to know them pretty well which helps you root for them. Another thing I really liked was Gwen, her friendship with Emma and her character in General. Oh and consent, which should be the norm.
I also really liked the interactions with Emma’s mom, her homophobia was horrible but it felt like this (crazy) person could actually exist and it really worked in making me feel angry at her.
But in other areas this story fell short for me. I liked the idea of thoughts on bullying and loneliness, but since Lauren didn’t really seem flashed out it felt a bit unrealistic.
I didn’t think Emma and Vivian had a ‘problematic’ relationship, because they only differ one year in age. I do however think it was a bit strange that someone who is barely older than the kids was given the responsibility to supervise them alone. Especially given the things that go on there concerning bullying. And it didn’t really seem as if Vivian had to confide in other adults a lot, only when Emma and Laura were sent to her dad. After which Vivian was still the one to take care of things. What makes this tricky is that someone who is basically the same age, is very involved in the social “drama’s” that are going on and therefore she has a bit of a... different way of handeling things.
I also felt like there were many other characters (Mike, Abby) who I started to like but could’ve had more of a rol in the story. I just wanted to get to know everyone a bit better.
Merged review:
Night owls and summer skies is a story about Emma, as her mom goes of on a cruise with her new husband she is forced to spend her summer at summer camp.
What I liked most about this story was probably the setting. I’ve never been to summer camp, but through the activities and the fun group names I really felt the fun summer vibes. I thought the main character and Vivian were both pretty strong characters. You get to know them pretty well which helps you root for them. Another thing I really liked was Gwen, her friendship with Emma and her character in General. Oh and consent, which should be the norm.
I also really liked the interactions with Emma’s mom, her homophobia was horrible but it felt like this (crazy) person could actually exist and it really worked in making me feel angry at her.
But in other areas this story fell short for me. I liked the idea of thoughts on bullying and loneliness, but since Lauren didn’t really seem flashed out it felt a bit unrealistic.
I didn’t think Emma and Vivian had a ‘problematic’ relationship, because they only differ one year in age. I do however think it was a bit strange that someone who is barely older than the kids was given the responsibility to supervise them alone. Especially given the things that go on there concerning bullying. And it didn’t really seem as if Vivian had to confide in other adults a lot, only when Emma and Laura were sent to her dad. After which Vivian was still the one to take care of things. What makes this tricky is that someone who is basically the same age, is very involved in the social “drama’s” that are going on and therefore she has a bit of a... different way of handeling things.
I also felt like there were many other characters (Mike, Abby) who I started to like but could’ve had more of a rol in the story. I just wanted to get to know everyone a bit better.
Night owls and summer skies is a story about Emma, as her mom goes of on a cruise with her new husband she is forced to spend her summer at summer camp.
What I liked most about this story was probably the setting. I’ve never been to summer camp, but through the activities and the fun group names I really felt the fun summer vibes. I thought the main character and Vivian were both pretty strong characters. You get to know them pretty well which helps you root for them. Another thing I really liked was Gwen, her friendship with Emma and her character in General. Oh and consent, which should be the norm.
I also really liked the interactions with Emma’s mom, her homophobia was horrible but it felt like this (crazy) person could actually exist and it really worked in making me feel angry at her.
But in other areas this story fell short for me. I liked the idea of thoughts on bullying and loneliness, but since Lauren didn’t really seem flashed out it felt a bit unrealistic.
I didn’t think Emma and Vivian had a ‘problematic’ relationship, because they only differ one year in age. I do however think it was a bit strange that someone who is barely older than the kids was given the responsibility to supervise them alone. Especially given the things that go on there concerning bullying. And it didn’t really seem as if Vivian had to confide in other adults a lot, only when Emma and Laura were sent to her dad. After which Vivian was still the one to take care of things. What makes this tricky is that someone who is basically the same age, is very involved in the social “drama’s” that are going on and therefore she has a bit of a... different way of handeling things.
I also felt like there were many other characters (Mike, Abby) who I started to like but could’ve had more of a rol in the story. I just wanted to get to know everyone a bit better.
Merged review:
Night owls and summer skies is a story about Emma, as her mom goes of on a cruise with her new husband she is forced to spend her summer at summer camp.
What I liked most about this story was probably the setting. I’ve never been to summer camp, but through the activities and the fun group names I really felt the fun summer vibes. I thought the main character and Vivian were both pretty strong characters. You get to know them pretty well which helps you root for them. Another thing I really liked was Gwen, her friendship with Emma and her character in General. Oh and consent, which should be the norm.
I also really liked the interactions with Emma’s mom, her homophobia was horrible but it felt like this (crazy) person could actually exist and it really worked in making me feel angry at her.
But in other areas this story fell short for me. I liked the idea of thoughts on bullying and loneliness, but since Lauren didn’t really seem flashed out it felt a bit unrealistic.
I didn’t think Emma and Vivian had a ‘problematic’ relationship, because they only differ one year in age. I do however think it was a bit strange that someone who is barely older than the kids was given the responsibility to supervise them alone. Especially given the things that go on there concerning bullying. And it didn’t really seem as if Vivian had to confide in other adults a lot, only when Emma and Laura were sent to her dad. After which Vivian was still the one to take care of things. What makes this tricky is that someone who is basically the same age, is very involved in the social “drama’s” that are going on and therefore she has a bit of a... different way of handeling things.
I also felt like there were many other characters (Mike, Abby) who I started to like but could’ve had more of a rol in the story. I just wanted to get to know everyone a bit better.
heieleo's review against another edition
It broke my heart to have to stop reading this at around 20%, but I just couldn’t make myself sit down and continue. I was so hyped because it has a f/f romance, the cover is just so beautiful, the plot seemed entertaining and I liked the fact that the author originally published this on wattpad. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the writing style and I did not get attached to any of the characters, something that I really need to be able to read a romance book.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending me an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for sending me an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.
voidwhales's review against another edition
I really wanted to love this becasue a lesbian camp romance sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, I never connected to the characters, and I just didn’t believe the romance. It felt very insta-lovey, and I never got a grasp of who Vivian was as a character, which made it difficult to root for the relationship.
I also really didn’t like how the whole Lauren plot line was handled. There were a few times it felt like it was being played for laughs, even while she was bodily getting into Emma's space, things, and openly harassing her.
Thanks Netgalley for sending me this arc.
I also really didn’t like
Thanks Netgalley for sending me this arc.
kel's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This pains me because I wanted to like this but I ended up feeling so disconnected from the story that halfway through I could not give you a single opinion on literally anything that happened. I started asking myself questions about if I liked the plot, the writing and the characters and all I could think was ??? which is a major problem. And this major problem wasn't rectified by the end because even right before I started writing a review I could barely think of any concrete opinion except for ??? so I had to sit on it for a while. And then sit some more. Just so that I could have anything to say.
That should be enough to explain that the writing and the plot were completely disconnected and I don't think it was done very well. The writing was okay and the idea had potential but overall it wasn't executed very well. I had a lot of problems with the dialogue and how childish the characters came off, particularly Walter, and because of that I couldn't really connect with them. I didn't hate them but I also didn't like them so it really became a chore to finish.
I also had problems with the basic premise of this plot. Emma is sent to live with her bigoted mother over the summer, which she is dreading, only for her to find out when she gets there that her mother is shipping her off to camp so she can go on a cruise with her new husband. Emma resents this and is terrified because she had a bad experience in the woods that left her with anxiety and PTSD. Because of this, she starts acting out and doing things to get herself kicked out which are ignored by her camp counselor (her love interest in the end) because she thinks the camp will be good for her. She also doesn't want to turn her in because that's what Emma wants her to do and for some reason she doesn't want to give in to that. Vivian, the camp counselor, does not know that Emma is terrified of camping and the woods so she can't necessarily be at fault here but what I don't understand is why Emma doesn't explain to the camp director that her mother forced her to go against her will, that she has a big fear of camping and wants to call her father WHO DOESN'T EVEN KNOW SHE WAS DROPPED OFF AT CAMP AT THIS POINT.
I know a major theme of this book is camp being a place to find who you are and move past your problems but I can't believe that a camp would hold her prisoner and force her to stay against her will. It was more than her just not wanting to be at camp, she had valid reasons for not wanting to be there and a very easy way of getting out of it. If she would've just opened her mouth and demanded she call her father this would have been immediately fixed. Her father doesn't even find out for several WEEKS that she's even at this camp and that her mother ditched her there. So the fact that the first third of the book is spent on Emma doing whatever she can to get kicked out is illogical to me because they can't force her to be there. If she would have gone to the director, explained what was going on and that she wanted to call her father, this would have been handled in two seconds.
And I just do not understand why this completely illogical premise is the basis for the plot when there are ways to work around that. It was kind of annoying and made me hate Emma in the beginning because everything she did came off as childish and frustrating.
Besides this glaring plot hole, I had another major issue with this story. In the author's note Rebecca Sullivan explained she wanted to write characters that represent you and are at the forefront of the plot without being sidelined or killed off. And I respect that. So why she wrote a story with a character who says "Still gay, Mom. I suppose the correct term would be lesbian but gay sits better with me." I don't really understand. Lesbian is often treated as a dirty word and we so rarely get characters that flat out identify as one so this part of the story really didn't sit right with me. There's nothing wrong with wanting to identify as gay, but this is a fictional character and hearing her say she's a lesbian and claiming that label - especially because she recognizes it fits her - would have been important but instead she acts completely indifferent to it. I know that's a minor thing but it just made me feel kind of icky.
The major issue I had was with Lauren. Let's be real, she fits the predatory lesbian stereotype to a T. That's what she's meant to do. She's a bully, she doesn't respect boundaries, she invades personal space and sexually harasses Emma. And then we find out she did the exact same thing to Vivian last year which makes her a repeat offender. The fact that nothing was done about this is gross and doesn't make sense especially considering Vivian is the daughter of the camp director.
Her behavior is not treated as okay and obviously Lauren is supposed to be the villain of the story but it's so unnecessary it drives me insane. What I don't understand is why the author, who admitted she wanted to write a story with good queer rep, would make the villain a character who falls into a toxic lesbian stereotype that is often portrayed in media and that lesbians have been saying for years is gross and predatory when she wanted to give us good reputation that we could see ourselves in. It's actually kind of infuriating. I know that it's said that Lauren has issues at home but those issues at home do not excuse her behavior and I don't know why therapy wasn't immediately suggested considering everyone knows she has issues at home.
Despite those things mentioned above, everything else about the story is just very meh. There's nothing I particularly liked about anything that happened. That mostly stems from how disconnected from everything I was but the reason I was so disconnected from this is because of how it was written.
I don't necessarily want to deter people from reading this because I think there's a lot of people who could enjoy this. It just was not for me and that sucks because I really wanted it to be.
That should be enough to explain that the writing and the plot were completely disconnected and I don't think it was done very well. The writing was okay and the idea had potential but overall it wasn't executed very well. I had a lot of problems with the dialogue and how childish the characters came off, particularly Walter, and because of that I couldn't really connect with them. I didn't hate them but I also didn't like them so it really became a chore to finish.
I also had problems with the basic premise of this plot. Emma is sent to live with her bigoted mother over the summer, which she is dreading, only for her to find out when she gets there that her mother is shipping her off to camp so she can go on a cruise with her new husband. Emma resents this and is terrified because she had a bad experience in the woods that left her with anxiety and PTSD. Because of this, she starts acting out and doing things to get herself kicked out which are ignored by her camp counselor (her love interest in the end) because she thinks the camp will be good for her. She also doesn't want to turn her in because that's what Emma wants her to do and for some reason she doesn't want to give in to that. Vivian, the camp counselor, does not know that Emma is terrified of camping and the woods so she can't necessarily be at fault here but what I don't understand is why Emma doesn't explain to the camp director that her mother forced her to go against her will, that she has a big fear of camping and wants to call her father WHO DOESN'T EVEN KNOW SHE WAS DROPPED OFF AT CAMP AT THIS POINT.
I know a major theme of this book is camp being a place to find who you are and move past your problems but I can't believe that a camp would hold her prisoner and force her to stay against her will. It was more than her just not wanting to be at camp, she had valid reasons for not wanting to be there and a very easy way of getting out of it. If she would've just opened her mouth and demanded she call her father this would have been immediately fixed. Her father doesn't even find out for several WEEKS that she's even at this camp and that her mother ditched her there. So the fact that the first third of the book is spent on Emma doing whatever she can to get kicked out is illogical to me because they can't force her to be there. If she would have gone to the director, explained what was going on and that she wanted to call her father, this would have been handled in two seconds.
And I just do not understand why this completely illogical premise is the basis for the plot when there are ways to work around that. It was kind of annoying and made me hate Emma in the beginning because everything she did came off as childish and frustrating.
Besides this glaring plot hole, I had another major issue with this story. In the author's note Rebecca Sullivan explained she wanted to write characters that represent you and are at the forefront of the plot without being sidelined or killed off. And I respect that. So why she wrote a story with a character who says "Still gay, Mom. I suppose the correct term would be lesbian but gay sits better with me." I don't really understand. Lesbian is often treated as a dirty word and we so rarely get characters that flat out identify as one so this part of the story really didn't sit right with me. There's nothing wrong with wanting to identify as gay, but this is a fictional character and hearing her say she's a lesbian and claiming that label - especially because she recognizes it fits her - would have been important but instead she acts completely indifferent to it. I know that's a minor thing but it just made me feel kind of icky.
The major issue I had was with Lauren. Let's be real, she fits the predatory lesbian stereotype to a T. That's what she's meant to do. She's a bully, she doesn't respect boundaries, she invades personal space and sexually harasses Emma. And then we find out she did the exact same thing to Vivian last year which makes her a repeat offender. The fact that nothing was done about this is gross and doesn't make sense especially considering Vivian is the daughter of the camp director.
Her behavior is not treated as okay and obviously Lauren is supposed to be the villain of the story but it's so unnecessary it drives me insane. What I don't understand is why the author, who admitted she wanted to write a story with good queer rep, would make the villain a character who falls into a toxic lesbian stereotype that is often portrayed in media and that lesbians have been saying for years is gross and predatory when she wanted to give us good reputation that we could see ourselves in. It's actually kind of infuriating. I know that it's said that Lauren has issues at home but those issues at home do not excuse her behavior and I don't know why therapy wasn't immediately suggested considering everyone knows she has issues at home.
Despite those things mentioned above, everything else about the story is just very meh. There's nothing I particularly liked about anything that happened. That mostly stems from how disconnected from everything I was but the reason I was so disconnected from this is because of how it was written.
I don't necessarily want to deter people from reading this because I think there's a lot of people who could enjoy this. It just was not for me and that sucks because I really wanted it to be.
vighnesh's review against another edition
1.0
Wow, this was really bad. I really hated the main character. She was so bratty and annoying and the love interest was even more annoying. They were both so annoyed and the love story itself was so bad and I didn't care for it at all. The writing was okay but it felt really empty, I couldn't feel anything from the writing and it was a bit too descriptive.