A review by epilieaspiechick
Night Owls and Summer Skies by Rebecca Sullivan

1.0

Thank you to Wattpad Books for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Why is it always the books that have important representation of typically misunderstood populations that seem to have the most offensive material?

The last time I got offended this quickly (single digits page wise), the book was about the Autism Spectrum.

This time, this story is about a lesbian girl being forced to go to a summer camp where she experienced bullying and homophobia. The father is made out to sound like someone who genuinely cares and is just following custody rules with her mother. The mom is not only offensive, but if the dad cared as much as he is meant to appear to, he would NOT have been okay with what the mom pulls. She openly refuses to accept her daughter's sexuality and truthfully, bullies her own daughter. She belittles the experiences she went through and calls it "dramatic".

Really lady? Try saying that to my face and you'll see what happens. I get that sometimes these situations happen, but it doesn't make writing it okay or appropriate.

There are so many poor choices made in rapid time that I have an extremely difficult time believing would occur. With a main character written to be as confident as she is post-assistance from mental health specialist, I highly doubt she would've stopped as quickly as she did to contact her father. Plus, I doubt that any camp worth their weight would so willfully allow someone back who had that terrible of an experience without some seriously careful handling.

I hope the publisher takes better consideration of the material before agreeing to publish in the future. This story is offensive and displays poor behavior that does not send the right message (or an okay one) on any level.