Reviews

Nights Owls and Summer Skies by Rebecca Sullivan

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100pagesaday's review against another edition

3.0

The summer before Emma Lane's eighteenth birthday is the last summer she will have to return to York Beach, Maine for the court ordered two months of visitation with her mother. Since Emma came out as gay at the age of twelve, her mother has been unaccepting of her sexuality, distant and divorced her father. Now, Emma returns to York Beach only to be dumped at Camp Maplewood where she suffered a traumatic episode several years before throwing Emma into a depression complete with PTSD while her mother jet sets around the world with her new husband. Emma immediately sets out to get herself thrown out of camp by breaking into the shed holding the camper's phones only to be thwarted at every attempt by counselor Vivian Black. As Emma deals with her worst fears at camp, she makes a friend in chipper, outgoing Gwen Black and a passion for cooking with Julie Black, the camp cook. Each time Emma even thinks about doing something to get herself kicked out, Vivian seems to be a step ahead, helping Emma through her fears and getting to know her well, maybe even more.

Night Owls and Summer Skies is a perfect summer romance. I loved that Emma's character was already secure in her sexuality and that finding her sexuality was not the main point of the book, this was simply a romance. Emma's character also had deeper issues such as her depression and PTSD which still affect her, but don't define her. The writing brought me into Emma's head and at times I felt like I was having a panic attack along with her. Emma's growth at camp was amazing to read through. From dealing with bullies, making friends, finding a hobby she enjoys and learning how to trust again along with slowly recovering from her trauma from years before. Emma and Vivian's relationship felt natural and unhurried as they simply fell into one another. I did find it a little weird that they were counselor and camper, although they were only one year apart in age. I do wish there was some growth for Emma's mother along with some of the other campers; however, it is Emma's story. Overall, a fun summer romance.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

catsunshine's review against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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 against another edition

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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