Book Reviews : Easy Summer Reads

Since its summer I decided to compile a list of easy summer reads. The kinds of books you read on a pool chair while drinking a banana and coconut smoothie.  After reading these novels I became frustrated that my summer hasn’t been exciting but it is always good to live vicariously through fictional friends. So here is a couple of easy reads for your lazy weekends by the beach on an inflatable flamingo.

1. Since you’ve been gone by Morgan Matson

Emily’s best friend Sloane is everything Emily is not. Sloane is outgoing, popular and mysterious. When Sloane goes missing Emily doesn’t know what to do with herself. Then Emily finds a list from Sloane of a summer bucket list. Everything on the list terrifies introverted Emily but she becomes convinced if she completes the list she will find Sloane. Now we have a novel that inspires you to get out of your own comfort zone. I first started reading this novel, got bored, put it down, picked it up again and then read it in one day. It always bothers me that a supporting character is always vastly more interesting than the protagonist and while this bothered me in the beginning, especially since Sloane is largely missing in this novel, I started to slowly love Emily. Emily is the ultimate relatable character and the slow build up of her friendship with the ultimate good guy character of Frank was lovely to watch unfold. So many novels rush through the character development and the development of love; like in Disney movies and the princess loves the prince at first sight? This is always even more annoying in books but thankfully this book mastered the portrayal of falling in love. Though now I want to spend my summer running every morning with my love and that is never ever going to happen.

2. Before I fall by Lauren Oliver

I’m sure this book has been described as a mix of a 90s teenage girl’s comedy classic with Ground Hogs Day countless times but I’m here to say it again. I mean it is an interesting concept, could we change our view of the world and learn new lessons even if we relive the same day every day? Sam is popular with a close-knit group of besties in her ordinary high school in her ordinary town. On the way home from a party she is in an accident and after the force of the impact she immediately wakes up in her bed and relives the day over and over always right until the impact of the crash. What makes this novel unique is that it is the typical coming of age tale with extraordinary circumstances. We truly discover whom we are as a person, deep to our core, when faced with the hardest challenges that we never thought possible. This book is STRESSFUL, it is excellent but it is stressful. Every twist combined with the anxiety that rises when Sam is getting closer to the crash sends you into a spin. Read this gripping novel before you see the movie starring the beautiful Zoey Deutch.

3. Along for the ride by Sarah Dessen

The always-reliable Sarah Dessen. Why is this author so good at what she does? She manages to tell complicated circumstances in a subtle way that doesn’t feel so overwhelming you need to take breaks to keep it together but still manages to pull apart your heart once you sit back and reflect. Her best book, in my always-humble opinion, is Just Listen closely followed by Dreamland but this novel is more of the great story telling you have come to expect from Dessen. The protagonist Auden is dealing with her parents divorced and living with her infuriating distant father and his new wife Heidi and baby Thisbe. Thisbe? Do not even get me started. I mean I know authors like to poke fun at quirky baby names but this is getting ridiculous. This book is filled with the typical love story but threw in a heavy dose of BMX to shake it up. I really liked Auden, she is gentle yet intelligent and much more understanding and thoughtful of a person than I am. She inspired me not to be shy about my passions and be more forgiving of the shortcomings of others. This book is the ultimate example of not judging a book by its cover, its cover design by the usually on the mark Vici Leyhane, is juvenile and girly, everything Auden and her story is not.

4. The beginning of everything by Robyn Schneider

This book grabs your attention from the very start and doesn’t let you go until the very end. I mean the opening is probably one of the greatest openings of all time. It is so dark and so twisted that by page three you start to wonder about the author and how she could of come up with something so amazingly tragic and horrifying to the very core. I mean I might be overreacting here but I simply could not even believe what I was reading. This book explores the idea that nothing is secure; our world could be turn upside down at any given moment by one tragedy outside of our control. In fact it explores the idea that this will happen to all of us at one point in our lives, something will happen to us that will shake the foundation of the life we have built. The characters in this novel are fun, interesting, cool and I want to hang out with them eating pizza and laughing about current events. The book is constantly witty and occasionally gut-wrenching. It is one of the very best and I’m thinking I should read it again right now so I’m off to do that, bye guys!