A review by philyra91
Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

2.0

Not your typical beach read.

That was the billing given to Invincible Summer and I can definitely say that it’s true. It’s not your typical read, but unfortunately, it’s not very much of anything, not for me at least.

Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive....

I felt that Invincible Summer was trying too hard to be different. I mean, Camus, really? Quoting his poetry when it has relevance to the story is fine but quoting him for long passages on every other page is just plain annoying.

The story is definitely intense. It’s a gritty family drama but unfortunately, I didn’t feel that. One second, the parents are yelling at each other and all of a sudden, this means that the family’s falling apart and they’re getting a divorce? There’s also Chase’ inexplicable clinginess towards his older brother, Noah. I don’t get it; I really don’t.

You might guess from the story summary that there’s a love triangle involved, but personally, I don’t see it actually happening in real life. The girl is clearly making use of both boys and both of them knew it and allowed it to continue. This is completely unhealthy.

There was a ray of hope towards the end when things started looking up for all the characters and I thought, well, this novel isn’t too and then, a tragedy occurs and I lost faith. It felt like the author was determined to make this a novel that is so different, that she must make it filled with tragedy and drama and general angst.

Overall, I didn’t care too much for Invincible Summer, but if you’re into those gritty, makes-you-think, characters-driven sort of novel, then you might want to give this a try.