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A review by ellysreadsbooks
Summer Ever After by Jane Crittenden

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

2.5

⭐⭐1/2

Summer Ever After is a lovely escapist romance that is unfortunately sullied by some questionable rep, a couple frustrating characters, and a few tropes that are just personally not my cup of tea. Still, the storyline is charming, the MMC endearing, and it’s all tied up with a bow of “happily ever after” that, despite it all, melted my heart.

“My heart aches. That’s the trouble with memories. They have a habit of creeping back into your head when you think you’ve managed to erase them.”

What I loved:
  • Alice is such a relatable and loveable character, and a lot of her struggles and shortcomings speak to me personally
  • Much of the cast of characters, including the smaller characters, feel fully fleshed out and three-dimensional
  • The plot, especially the smaller moments, feels incredibly true-to-life.
  • While I’m not usually a fan of split-POV, this book handles it incredibly well.

And what I didn’t:
  • I find the miscommunication or lack of communication trope incredibly frustrating, and this book relies on it a lot.
  • While I understand that there are people who do fit stereotypes, the choice to write a promiscuous pansexual character who cheats on her partner and a helpless fat character weaponizing her incompetence to be lazy rubbed me the wrong way.
  • Dani’s growth especially rubbed me the wrong way, with all of her problems seemingly disappearing as soon as Alice stopped coddling her/she found a man. I understand the use of her weight loss as a marker of her growth, but it also made me uncomfortable, especially the way its portrayed as the pounds “melting off” the second she got over herself and found a lover.
  • The twist at the end in Alice’s story was infuriating (see: the lack of communication trope).

You Should Read This If:
  • You enjoy escapist romances
  • You love exploring different cultures—especially through food
  • You enjoy (or at least don’t mind) the use of miscommunication as a plot device

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review of the book.