A review by maddiesminilibrary
Summer Ever After by Jane Crittenden

adventurous hopeful slow-paced

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

3.25

 

Summer Ever After gave fun summer abroad vibes. I really enjoyed the setting of Barcelona in the summer. I also liked that it was dual timelines and the past timeline focused on Andy’s POV and the present focused on Alice’s. I had a fun time reading the first 60% of the book but then after that, especially the ending, felt like a women’s fiction which isn’t necessarily a genre I enjoy. I also continuously kept forgetting or mixing up the side characters and two of them were extremely annoying. I also felt like there were a lot of things just left up to the imagination or maybe the author just forgot about them? And it seemed like after ten years, the characters hadn’t matured and they were facing the same exact problems that they did ten years ago which was extremely frustrating to read about. I also felt like the book could have been at least 60 pages shorter. 

 

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC! 

 

☆ I’d recommend this book if you love: 

🥘 descriptive writing about food 

☀️ European summers 

✨ past and present timelines 

 

☆ Spice: closed door 🚪 

☆ Language: some explicit language 

☆ When to read: summer ☀️