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A review by witcheep
Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It's a cute and heartwarming story that kept me entertained. My resons for not giving the book a higher rating come from unsatisfying drama in the plot. I love when the characters are good with communication, but here they were almost too good at it at all times: the drama didn't have enough time to grow to feel actually impactful. I feel like the conflicts built up in the plot felt a little plastered over overly mature main group of characters (even the teen sibling acts like an adult most of the time in big interpersonal events). This made the problems almost immediately resolve themselves with the characers always being very understanding and forgiving with each other.
Another thing that bothers me with the book is how the main character Sam is very fixated on her dyslexia. The representation for the neurodivergent struggles and coping mechanisms is great, but Sam lets her whole personality be dictated by that one trait in every aspect of her life: work, love life, and even familial relationships. She has been bullied and dumped over the dyslexia, and it has scarred her deep. This is a very real possibility for many, but I don't like how in the book Sam needs a "good man" to "fix her" by showing her that she is so much more than her dyslexia, and by doing so shifting Sam's inner monologue from the discourse set by the bullies to the new voice (and his words) of self love and positive affirmations. Sam has always had a supportive friend and made a successfull career for herself, so always feeling like a failure and a fraud because of the dyslexia in her late twenties feels wrong. Why wouldn't she had made any revelations by herself or with the help from that close friend by then that she is a multidimensional human being? Or why wouldn't she had seeked professional help, if not during the bullying on school, then later in life to deal with the consequenses of it?
Another thing that bothers me with the book is how the main character Sam is very fixated on her dyslexia. The representation for the neurodivergent struggles and coping mechanisms is great, but Sam lets her whole personality be dictated by that one trait in every aspect of her life: work, love life, and even familial relationships. She has been bullied and dumped over the dyslexia, and it has scarred her deep. This is a very real possibility for many, but I don't like how in the book Sam needs a "good man" to "fix her" by showing her that she is so much more than her dyslexia, and by doing so shifting Sam's inner monologue from the discourse set by the bullies to the new voice (and his words) of self love and positive affirmations. Sam has always had a supportive friend and made a successfull career for herself, so always feeling like a failure and a fraud because of the dyslexia in her late twenties feels wrong. Why wouldn't she had made any revelations by herself or with the help from that close friend by then that she is a multidimensional human being? Or why wouldn't she had seeked professional help, if not during the bullying on school, then later in life to deal with the consequenses of it?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent and Misogyny