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A review by achilleanshelves
The Summer of Everything by Julian Winters
4.0
The Summer of Everything is a wonderful YA contemporary about a Queer teen dealing with the stress of growing up as everyone around him does it faster than he is; dealing with a crush on his best friend; and dealing with the fact that his second home and workplace, the book-store ‘Once Upon a Pages’ is closing. It’s packed with feelings and geekiness and so much book love!
Wes is our protagonist, he’s awkward and dorky and means the absolute best for everyone in his life, even if he can’t express it the way he’d like to. He’s an extremely well-written teen character who is relatable with his nervous habits and constant anxiety. His love for geeky culture, particularly Green Lantern, the bookstore he works at and his friends were all amazingly portrayed and made him easy to root for as a lead.
The extended cast of characters are some of my favourites of any book, even beating out the AMAZING football found family team in Winters’ first book Running with Lions. The found family formed at Mrs. Rossi’s bookstore is absolutely outstanding. Seeing these wonderful characters interact was such a joy. Ella is so spunky and uses the word ‘fat’ on-page to describe herself in an empowering way which was incredible (and very rare) to see; Cooper was so excitable and an AroAce icon; Lucas and their love of comics was amazing, the fact they also have a scene where they are palpably excited about getting a binder was amazing to see represented; and many other characters such as Zay, Anna and Leann were all so unique, interesting and funny.
Then, of course, there’s Wes’ love interest, Nico who is a Mexican boy who doesn’t label his sexuality (he says he feels bi/pan) and lives life freely. He’s a skater who loves books and his family. You can totally see why Wes would fall for this best friend in question and their dynamic because of their lengthy friendship is so amazing to read. They clearly have history which is discussed and explored and informs their actions in the story, for better and worse.
The subplot about Leo, Wes’ brother, and Leanne’s wedding felt ultimately pointless and like a subplot one too many to me, crowding this book already full of moving parts, however, the exploration of family and pressures of growing up were so well explored and navigated throughout the entire story that it did give the novel a solid through-line.
I’d highly recommend The Summer of Everything if you’re looking for a feel-good read this summer about messy teenage feelings, books, geekdom, queer boys and found family or any story that will make you believe in the immense power of friendship and self-belief to bring about palpable change.
Content warnings for this book include Cancer / Terminal Illness (discussed, toward end), drug-use (not POV) & panic attacks (POV, on-page)
Wes is our protagonist, he’s awkward and dorky and means the absolute best for everyone in his life, even if he can’t express it the way he’d like to. He’s an extremely well-written teen character who is relatable with his nervous habits and constant anxiety. His love for geeky culture, particularly Green Lantern, the bookstore he works at and his friends were all amazingly portrayed and made him easy to root for as a lead.
The extended cast of characters are some of my favourites of any book, even beating out the AMAZING football found family team in Winters’ first book Running with Lions. The found family formed at Mrs. Rossi’s bookstore is absolutely outstanding. Seeing these wonderful characters interact was such a joy. Ella is so spunky and uses the word ‘fat’ on-page to describe herself in an empowering way which was incredible (and very rare) to see; Cooper was so excitable and an AroAce icon; Lucas and their love of comics was amazing, the fact they also have a scene where they are palpably excited about getting a binder was amazing to see represented; and many other characters such as Zay, Anna and Leann were all so unique, interesting and funny.
Then, of course, there’s Wes’ love interest, Nico who is a Mexican boy who doesn’t label his sexuality (he says he feels bi/pan) and lives life freely. He’s a skater who loves books and his family. You can totally see why Wes would fall for this best friend in question and their dynamic because of their lengthy friendship is so amazing to read. They clearly have history which is discussed and explored and informs their actions in the story, for better and worse.
The subplot about Leo, Wes’ brother, and Leanne’s wedding felt ultimately pointless and like a subplot one too many to me, crowding this book already full of moving parts, however, the exploration of family and pressures of growing up were so well explored and navigated throughout the entire story that it did give the novel a solid through-line.
I’d highly recommend The Summer of Everything if you’re looking for a feel-good read this summer about messy teenage feelings, books, geekdom, queer boys and found family or any story that will make you believe in the immense power of friendship and self-belief to bring about palpable change.
Content warnings for this book include Cancer / Terminal Illness (discussed, toward end), drug-use (not POV) & panic attacks (POV, on-page)