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whatthedeuce 's review for:
Just for the Summer
by Abby Jimenez
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think the last 50 pages are so we’re really clunky, and that really affected my final rating of the novel. Also Neil’s acceptance of Amber burning his house down was so bizarre. I guess it makes more sense if you’ve read Part of Your World, but since I can’t recall him from that story at all, his reaction to such a catastrophic event was really stilted and weird.
Another big gripe for me is that I really wish Emma’s healing journey via therapy was portrayed instead of wrapped in a “6 months later” time jump, which made it feel too neat. She had 30 years of trauma and abandonment issues to unpack, and it bugged me that she would feel she was ready to try tackling life with Justin and his siblings a mere half year after their breakup. Like a whole year would’ve felt somewhat more realistic as far as how much she could have learned coping-wise in therapy, as well as raising the stakes of whether Justin would have started dating again, ya know?
Another big gripe for me is that I really wish Emma’s healing journey via therapy was portrayed instead of wrapped in a “6 months later” time jump, which made it feel too neat. She had 30 years of trauma and abandonment issues to unpack, and it bugged me that she would feel she was ready to try tackling life with Justin and his siblings a mere half year after their breakup. Like a whole year would’ve felt somewhat more realistic as far as how much she could have learned coping-wise in therapy, as well as raising the stakes of whether Justin would have started dating again, ya know?