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A review by mel_and_the_backlist
When Summer Ends by Jessica Pennington
4.0
4.5/5 stars
When Summer Ends is told through alternating POV’s between Aidan and Olivia. This form of story telling really worked for this book and I loved both of their POV’s equally. I truly adored this book. It’s a fun, light, summery read.
The book starts off with Olivia’s POV. She is getting fitted for a bridesmaid dress for her boyfriend, Zander’s, sister. Olivia and Zander have been friends for a long time and then moved into dating a few years before our story begins. She is very close to Zander’s family and they almost treat her like a daughter, which delights Olivia as she doesn’t have a family like Zander’s. She lives with her aunt because her mom took off years ago and her father has never been in the picture. Every Summer she travels to Zander’s family’s lake home with him. Olivia believes she has the perfect life, she has her boyfriend, her boyfriends family, her aunt, and a job at a local paper for the summer. Right before Summer begins however, Olivia finds out that her aunt got a job in Arizona and she may have to move away. Determined to stay for her senior year, she asks Zander if she could stay at his house and he basically breaks up with her. He doesn’t think a long distance relationship is possible. He leaves for his family’s lake home right after this. Her life seemingly crumbles before her as the paper she was set to work for informs her that they are shutting down and she will not have the opportunity to work for them. This leads her to taking a job at the River Depot.
Aiden is the star pitcher at his school. He’s a junior like Olivia, but everyone talks about him. He’s known by his last name Emerson on the field. He also plays on the same team as Zander, Olivia’s now ex-boyfriend. During a game toward the end of their season he ends up getting hit in the face, and that bad game ends their season. Unbeknownst to everyone, Aiden is having vision problems and his eyesight cannot be corrected by glasses or surgery. Because of this he has lost his ability to drive and he decides to quit the baseball team right before summer begins. Aiden gets a job at his family’s business, the River Depot, for the summer and wants to focus on his art.
Aiden and Olivia meet at the River Depot and slowly begin to support each other and go through a whirlwind of a summer, exploring what it means to deal with love, life, loss, self-discovery, and starting anew. It is a wonderfully told story about the importance of honesty, being true to yourself, and how letting go of what you thought you wanted can help you find what was meant for you all along.
As someone who was born and raised in a small Midwestern town I adored the setting of this novel. I think Jessica really captured the essence of small town living and the magic of summertime. I really enjoyed the writing style as well as it made it very easy to just delve into the story and follow along with our leads.
I would have liked to see a little bit more out of the epilogue as it is very short and its only from Aiden’s POV. The side characters are quite lovely and add to the story as well. Despite that, this is the perfect cute summer read. I would definitely recommend it.
Thank you to Jessica, the publishers, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review an ARC for this book tour!
When Summer Ends is told through alternating POV’s between Aidan and Olivia. This form of story telling really worked for this book and I loved both of their POV’s equally. I truly adored this book. It’s a fun, light, summery read.
The book starts off with Olivia’s POV. She is getting fitted for a bridesmaid dress for her boyfriend, Zander’s, sister. Olivia and Zander have been friends for a long time and then moved into dating a few years before our story begins. She is very close to Zander’s family and they almost treat her like a daughter, which delights Olivia as she doesn’t have a family like Zander’s. She lives with her aunt because her mom took off years ago and her father has never been in the picture. Every Summer she travels to Zander’s family’s lake home with him. Olivia believes she has the perfect life, she has her boyfriend, her boyfriends family, her aunt, and a job at a local paper for the summer. Right before Summer begins however, Olivia finds out that her aunt got a job in Arizona and she may have to move away. Determined to stay for her senior year, she asks Zander if she could stay at his house and he basically breaks up with her. He doesn’t think a long distance relationship is possible. He leaves for his family’s lake home right after this. Her life seemingly crumbles before her as the paper she was set to work for informs her that they are shutting down and she will not have the opportunity to work for them. This leads her to taking a job at the River Depot.
Aiden is the star pitcher at his school. He’s a junior like Olivia, but everyone talks about him. He’s known by his last name Emerson on the field. He also plays on the same team as Zander, Olivia’s now ex-boyfriend. During a game toward the end of their season he ends up getting hit in the face, and that bad game ends their season. Unbeknownst to everyone, Aiden is having vision problems and his eyesight cannot be corrected by glasses or surgery. Because of this he has lost his ability to drive and he decides to quit the baseball team right before summer begins. Aiden gets a job at his family’s business, the River Depot, for the summer and wants to focus on his art.
Aiden and Olivia meet at the River Depot and slowly begin to support each other and go through a whirlwind of a summer, exploring what it means to deal with love, life, loss, self-discovery, and starting anew. It is a wonderfully told story about the importance of honesty, being true to yourself, and how letting go of what you thought you wanted can help you find what was meant for you all along.
As someone who was born and raised in a small Midwestern town I adored the setting of this novel. I think Jessica really captured the essence of small town living and the magic of summertime. I really enjoyed the writing style as well as it made it very easy to just delve into the story and follow along with our leads.
I would have liked to see a little bit more out of the epilogue as it is very short and its only from Aiden’s POV. The side characters are quite lovely and add to the story as well. Despite that, this is the perfect cute summer read. I would definitely recommend it.
Thank you to Jessica, the publishers, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review an ARC for this book tour!