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A review by emilyjean33
The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry
1.0
Normally giving a book the shame of a one-star rating is enough to pacify me, but this book was such complete nonsense, I have to share.
First of all, two big complaints that no amount of quality writing could have made up for: the author fails to remember if her main character's name is Aiden or Aidan (at the very least the editor should have caught that?) and this novel, named "The Summer I Found You" does not, at any point of the story, take place during summer. Not even sure how to react to that oversight. It's so ridiculous I want to laugh. Why name it that?
Now, onto the actual characters and plot of the story. The back cover tells a promising enough tale: a 17-year-old Kate is struggling with the changes in her life resulting from her recent diagnosis of type one diabetes when she meets Aidan (Aiden?) a 19-year-old veteran sent home after suffering an injury. Offering the potential of great character development, in-depth discussions on mental and physical health, and two characters who understand what the other is going through in a way no one else seems to, the book fails to deliver on all of the above.
Kate "struggling" to accept her diagnosis should be read as, "Kate ignores her illness completely despite her parents, sister, and friends literally begging her to eat on a regular basis and take her shots so she doesn't die. She simply blows them off, throws tantrums about how unfair it all is, and continues to lie to her doctor and suffer a series of incidents from shaking, passing out, and hospitalization."
Kate forces herself to be a victim, and I'm not sure if this is meant to be an aspect of her character or a reflection of how the author views teenage girls (she never fails to miss an opportunity to lement on how annoying high school girls are). I'm actually half convinced her diagnosis was simply a plot device used to drive her and Aidan apart, considering she spent the whole book lying to him about it and the climax of the story involved her secret being revealed in the worst way possible (who would have guessed?) and Aidan breaking things off. In the end, Kate was one of the most annoying and incredibly bland main characters who had no real personality traits beyond a disease that was simply used as a bad plot device.
Aidan himself is not without his own sins, however. While his chapters come as a nice breath of fresh air after having to read from Kate's POV, he is still in no way, enjoyable. His whole storyline is such a tragedy, not because he lost his arm, but because it had the real potential to tackle something meaningful and instead, it chose to use his injury as another bad plot device. In the beginning of the story, we see Aidan struggling from PTSD, nightmares, flashbacks, and the difficulties of having lost not only an arm but a close friend thanks to a bomb. He also struggles with the fact that everyone in his life now treats him differently, and he can't seem to sit through a single therapy session.
But do we seem him deal with or overcome any of this? No. Halfway through the book, he walks out of therapy while angry, and never returns. We never mention his therapy again, nor does he consider going back. His PTSD seems to vanish overnight, never having been actually dealt with, he never gets the chance to sit down and talk to the people in his life about what he's going through, but hey, at least he got the chance to talk to his friend's widow, for about two pages. Aidan's "happy ending" is getting back together with Kate without having dealt with any of his own problems.
Aidan and Kate together are almost worse than they are on their own. Aidan constantly whines about how annoying teenage and high school girls are, how much drama they have, how young they are, how stupid high school relationships are, and how frustrating it is to be dating a high school girl (so...why are you?). He spends the whole book second-guessing his relationship with Kate, and we never truly seem him actually enjoy being with Kate...sure he compliments her looks and talks about how great it is to make out with her, but he genuinely never talks about any part of HER that he enjoys beyond her looks. That's okay though because Kate is the same way. She never reflects on why she likes Aiden or his personality, it's always the looks. And after getting over her ex, she always compares how he dresses vs how Aidan dresses as a measure of which is better and more mature. Apparently anything beyond and t-shirt and jeans is "trying too hard" and she can't believe she liked that before. Their relationship is almost entirely physical, which is fine, but I'm not sure why it's being sold to me as love.
The two also never get to the point the WHOLE book was based on: two people going through similar life changes connecting and sharing their experiences with someone who understands them. Kate lies about her illness the whole time while demanding more and more information from Aidan about his arm and making jokes about it so often it becomes ridiculous. We get it, she doesn't hide from his injury like everyone else, move on. But don't be confused, Aidan's version of "sharing" is a sentence or so every hundred pages. Certainly not the in-depth conversations and discussions about mental health I expected. We don't even get a satisfying conversation when they reconcile. Kate writes a letter and Aidan shows up later to get back with her, we never see a real dialogue between the two on their issues.
In the end, Kate ends up in the hospital because she put off eating, again. Aidan learns her secret, and despite lying in a hospital bed with an IV, she claims her disease is still no big deal. Finally, after a verbal lashing from Aidan, who breaks up with her and takes off for days (still not dealing with his own issues or going back to therapy), Kate decides she should probably try to eat every now and again. She's gonna live now, and it's all thanks to her boyfriend! Forget her parents sobbing in the doctor's offices, that does nothing for this girl, it's all about the boy angst. Aidan and Kate reunite, with Kate's whole life looking wonderful, and Aidan will probably go to bed and have nightmares because he never got the therapy he needed.
Skip this one, guys.
First of all, two big complaints that no amount of quality writing could have made up for: the author fails to remember if her main character's name is Aiden or Aidan (at the very least the editor should have caught that?) and this novel, named "The Summer I Found You" does not, at any point of the story, take place during summer. Not even sure how to react to that oversight. It's so ridiculous I want to laugh. Why name it that?
Now, onto the actual characters and plot of the story. The back cover tells a promising enough tale: a 17-year-old Kate is struggling with the changes in her life resulting from her recent diagnosis of type one diabetes when she meets Aidan (Aiden?) a 19-year-old veteran sent home after suffering an injury. Offering the potential of great character development, in-depth discussions on mental and physical health, and two characters who understand what the other is going through in a way no one else seems to, the book fails to deliver on all of the above.
Kate "struggling" to accept her diagnosis should be read as, "Kate ignores her illness completely despite her parents, sister, and friends literally begging her to eat on a regular basis and take her shots so she doesn't die. She simply blows them off, throws tantrums about how unfair it all is, and continues to lie to her doctor and suffer a series of incidents from shaking, passing out, and hospitalization."
Kate forces herself to be a victim, and I'm not sure if this is meant to be an aspect of her character or a reflection of how the author views teenage girls (she never fails to miss an opportunity to lement on how annoying high school girls are). I'm actually half convinced her diagnosis was simply a plot device used to drive her and Aidan apart, considering she spent the whole book lying to him about it and the climax of the story involved her secret being revealed in the worst way possible (who would have guessed?) and Aidan breaking things off. In the end, Kate was one of the most annoying and incredibly bland main characters who had no real personality traits beyond a disease that was simply used as a bad plot device.
Aidan himself is not without his own sins, however. While his chapters come as a nice breath of fresh air after having to read from Kate's POV, he is still in no way, enjoyable. His whole storyline is such a tragedy, not because he lost his arm, but because it had the real potential to tackle something meaningful and instead, it chose to use his injury as another bad plot device. In the beginning of the story, we see Aidan struggling from PTSD, nightmares, flashbacks, and the difficulties of having lost not only an arm but a close friend thanks to a bomb. He also struggles with the fact that everyone in his life now treats him differently, and he can't seem to sit through a single therapy session.
But do we seem him deal with or overcome any of this? No. Halfway through the book, he walks out of therapy while angry, and never returns. We never mention his therapy again, nor does he consider going back. His PTSD seems to vanish overnight, never having been actually dealt with, he never gets the chance to sit down and talk to the people in his life about what he's going through, but hey, at least he got the chance to talk to his friend's widow, for about two pages. Aidan's "happy ending" is getting back together with Kate without having dealt with any of his own problems.
Aidan and Kate together are almost worse than they are on their own. Aidan constantly whines about how annoying teenage and high school girls are, how much drama they have, how young they are, how stupid high school relationships are, and how frustrating it is to be dating a high school girl (so...why are you?). He spends the whole book second-guessing his relationship with Kate, and we never truly seem him actually enjoy being with Kate...sure he compliments her looks and talks about how great it is to make out with her, but he genuinely never talks about any part of HER that he enjoys beyond her looks. That's okay though because Kate is the same way. She never reflects on why she likes Aiden or his personality, it's always the looks. And after getting over her ex, she always compares how he dresses vs how Aidan dresses as a measure of which is better and more mature. Apparently anything beyond and t-shirt and jeans is "trying too hard" and she can't believe she liked that before. Their relationship is almost entirely physical, which is fine, but I'm not sure why it's being sold to me as love.
The two also never get to the point the WHOLE book was based on: two people going through similar life changes connecting and sharing their experiences with someone who understands them. Kate lies about her illness the whole time while demanding more and more information from Aidan about his arm and making jokes about it so often it becomes ridiculous. We get it, she doesn't hide from his injury like everyone else, move on. But don't be confused, Aidan's version of "sharing" is a sentence or so every hundred pages. Certainly not the in-depth conversations and discussions about mental health I expected. We don't even get a satisfying conversation when they reconcile. Kate writes a letter and Aidan shows up later to get back with her, we never see a real dialogue between the two on their issues.
In the end, Kate ends up in the hospital because she put off eating, again. Aidan learns her secret, and despite lying in a hospital bed with an IV, she claims her disease is still no big deal. Finally, after a verbal lashing from Aidan, who breaks up with her and takes off for days (still not dealing with his own issues or going back to therapy), Kate decides she should probably try to eat every now and again. She's gonna live now, and it's all thanks to her boyfriend! Forget her parents sobbing in the doctor's offices, that does nothing for this girl, it's all about the boy angst. Aidan and Kate reunite, with Kate's whole life looking wonderful, and Aidan will probably go to bed and have nightmares because he never got the therapy he needed.
Skip this one, guys.