Cover Image: Freefall Summer

Freefall Summer

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This book had a premise that was pretty different for me. I've never read a Skydiving centered book. There were elements that I really enjoyed, especially the scenes of skydiving. The writing was good, but I think this isn't my style of book.

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This was kinda dull but, for the most part, very average. I enjoyed it as I was reading it but nothing stands out for me so I can't really give it anymore than 2.5/3 stars.

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Freefall Summer by Tracy Barrett

Knowing how hard Clancy's father took her mother's death, she always played it safe. Starting her senior year soon, 16 year old Clancy decides she is tired of tiptoeing through life. She wants to break free from the rules her father imposes and from the protection of her boyfriend. Then she meets an older guy, Denny.

Freefall Summer was an easy summer read. A little romance, a little skydiving, and some family drama. Although I liked the idea of the book, I think it could have been better. The underdeveloped characters and relationships left the book lacking. I found the book to be forgettable.

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Freefall Summer by Tracy Barrett

Knowing how hard Clancy's father took her mother's death, she always played it safe. Starting her senior year soon, 16 year old Clancy decides she is tired of tiptoeing through life. She wants to break free from the rules her father imposes and from the protection of her boyfriend. Then she meets an older guy, Denny.

Freefall Summer was an easy summer read. A little romance, a little skydiving, and some family drama. Although I liked the idea of the book, I think it could have been better. The underdeveloped characters and relationships left the book lacking. I found the book to be forgettable.

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This is a great story for anyone who is trying to move outside of their typical comfort level. For anyone who needs to be true to themselves and they know it will disappoint or scare the person who loves them most. Freefall Summer is all about making the right choice for you even when you know the people in our life don't support what you truly need to do just for you. A great read!!

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"What I did know was that when people say your life can change in an instant, that's only half the story. It's not just your life that changes. It's you. You become a whole different person."
I give this book a 2.5 rating. This book was given to me as an arc in exchange for my on this review. This review is my honest thoughts and opinion on this book. I have to say I am not crazy about this book (hence the rating) and I wish DNF the book instead of Reading it. I will say overall this was an easy read and the writing was okay with no major character development for twist. I did however, like that you learn much about skydiving. This book deals with parental loss, the helicopter parent, and relationship based lies. Each chapter starts with a guide to sky-driving.

"What I really wanted was to see what it felt like to not always be a good girl.”

In Freefall Summer we follow 17 year old Clancy. Her father owns a skydiving business and ironically losses his wife during a skydiving accident. After losing her mother her father becomes a helicopter parent. Clancy tired of her fathers and his rules she seeks freedom even if its just for the summer. Then one day at the shop Clancy meets college student Denny. Denny comes to take sky diving lesson and Clancy realizes she just met her ticket to freedom.

Clancy and Denny start off as friends and she makes him believe that she is older than what she really is. Danny has come to take sky diving lessons. I honestly can’t think of how Denny can think that Clancy is older than a teenager because she has such a immature attitude about things. Although she was giving a crap hand she I feel like she could have handled things differently. I feel that Clancy makes decisions just because and doesn’t really have a justification for the things she does.

The book has a good pace but this book is just not really for me. This plot just doesn’t satisfy me. I like that the chapters start with a lesson on skydiving though. Although this book was written well I can’t relate to it and I couldn’t see myself in the characters.

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Covers are so important, and this one really is not good. It looks like it was made on Paint, and I almost skipped over the book because it looked so amateur, but I gave it a go. It was ... fine. Nothing special. Nothing stood out to me in particular. It was an easy, lighthearted read, but it wasn't a very strong story.

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First of all, thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

"Freefall Summer" is the light, refreshing, entertaining page turned that I needed! The narrator of the story, Clancy, is a 16 year old girl who is being parented by a single dad who owns a drop zone (a skydiving facility). Clancy grew up in the drop zone and now spends her summer packing up parachutes for students and instructors to use. Her mother tragically died 10 years earlier in a skydiving accident right on the property that the majority of the story takes place on.

Clancy's character is smart and plays it safe - a perfectionist in every sense of the word, and she really seems to have a lot of things going for her in her life. Her dad loves her like crazy, she has a boyfriend who seems to be pretty crazy for her, and she gets paid a decent wage packing rigs at the drop zone. Clancy is tired of playing it safe though, and that's what Freefall Summer is all about - it's a coming of age book that allows us to see Clancy grow, mature, and take risks that she wouldn't normally take.

The development of her and her fathers relationship is a little rocky - he is a single dad that really doesn't know how to talk to his daughter. He hasn't had a serious relationship with a woman since Clancy's mother, so Clancy hasn't had a strong female in her home during these pivotal years of her life. There are women at the drop zone that love her and care for her, but she still is very clearly struggling without the presence of her mother.

The other main character in the book, Denny, seems witty, charming, and fun for her to hang out with, but she makes the mistake early on of lying about who she is and her age. Throughout the book, her feelings grow for Denny and she comes determined to prove that she can be independent and think for herself.

What I loved the most about the plot of this book is that the decision that Clancy makes to ultimately prove to herself that she is in control is brought on by herself - nobody tells her on encourages her to do it. It takes one last time of someone making a decision for her for her to put her foot down and decide to be her own person.

This book was fun, flirty, and an easy read. I very much enjoyed it and look forward to seeing more from Tracy Barrett in the future. 4/5 stars.

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I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book. It was different from any other book I’ve ever read. I want to read other books by this author.

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Thanks to netgalley for an arc of this book in return for an honest review.

A 'nice' light easy read book perhaps more suited to a younger reader but was enjoyable none the less.

I have to say I very much enjoyed the setting and have learnt a fair deal about skydiving through this book! Something that is definitely on my bucket list .. but I digress...

This is a simple story of growth, self awareness, taking risks and character building with some fun, laughter, tears and saddness along the way - a perfect pool-side read !

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While the summary and cover are beautiful the book falls a tad flat for me. The author makes the main character to ballsey and in your face. The plot is flat and most of the story revolves around her lying about some thing or another.
I think the idea was there but the execution just fell flat for me.
Those who want a more fluid story with not much up and down would enjoy this story.

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This book is sweet and original, I haven't read another with sky diving at its base.
The protagonist is great, however it feels like she is really forcing her personality, that brave and full of gusto persona seems to overpower the sweetness within the plot.

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This book was very cute! I really liked the story along with the skydiving setting. Most of the contemporary YA genre is set within a high school so I thought it made this story a little more unique and I enjoyed learning facts about skydiving as I read. The main character Clancy is a likable character and I enjoyed watching her grow and learn to take some risks in this story.

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This was a pretty amazing book!!

We are all struggling with different things like the main character in the book, but we all have to learn when to speak up and when to break boundaries. I went into this book thinking it was gonna be a suuuper slow paced book but it kept up quite well :) 4 Stars!

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I liked the overall plot and the writing was great, unfortunately some of the Protagonist's actions did get on my nerves, I can understand some of her frustrations but I just couldn't connect with her or justify her choices. The book was pretty fast paced, had a semi-satisfying ending, and the author seemed really knowledgeable about skydiving which helped the story a lot.
The story was great I just didn't like the characters.
Rating: 3.5 Stars
FTC DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

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Freefall Summer is a heartwarming story where a young girl named Clancy is fighting to gain her independence without disappointing the people in her life. All with a key focus on the world of skydiving. I greatly enjoyed all of the cool skydiving facts that the author includes at the end of every chapter- I learned more about skydiving from reading this book, than I probably will the rest of my life. There are so many little details that go into making skydiving possible.
All of the characters were very realistic and weren't afraid to put in the effort to change whenever they were unhappy; which is very refreshing to see within the YA genre. All of the relationships presented were handled in a grown up fashion even when said relationships weren't the most positive or healthy in nature.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a lighthearted summer read 🙂
I will definitely be on the lookout for more by Tracy Barrett. Sorry, this review is so short but I didn't want to risk spoiling anything.
Check it out for yourself....

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In Freefall Summer, Clancy is struggling to cope with her grief over the loss of her mother and her overprotective father. She lies about her age to an older boy, and those lies lead to an unraveling.

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A Five Star Review of FREEFALL SUMMER, by Tracy Barrett

After reading FREEFALL SUMMER from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I went online and bought the hardcopy. That’s a first for me in the few years that I’ve been reading-for-reviews, and perhaps the most honest indication I can give that I loved and admired this book.

I really REALLY liked Clancy. She’s a high school junior that works hard at school, gets great grades and has clear college plans that she’s working toward both academically and financially. Clancy spends her weekends and summers working hard at the DZ – her dad’s skydiving school - to earn enough money to go away to college. But despite being obviously clever and capable she’s been pigeonholed by both her caring, if wildly overprotective dad and her boyfriend as a girl who needs protecting. And it’s driving her crazy. FREEFALL SUMMER is the story of how Clancy claims her voice.

I love reading fiction that also contains authentic facts whether it’s history, science, art, sport… FREEFALL SUMMER has that in spades. I found the details about skydiving, from the equipment to the people who jump, were fantastic (even though I learned that my one static-line jump while in college was kind of cliché).

This was so tightly written that while I was reading the climax scene a friend turned to me and asked if I was all right. Apparently I was so wound up in the scene that I was moaning.

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This is a book about learning to find your voice while living in the shadows of a damaged past. I did like the informative aspect as you do learn cool tidbits about skydiving. However I had major problems with the boyfriend in this book and not in a i love/hate this character. I kind of felt like this book focused on abusive relationships. Both her father and boyfriend acted in some abusive manners and I didnt feel comfortable reading some of it as I felt like it could give actual young adults reading this bad misconceptions of what relationships should be.

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Clancy is 16 and spends all her weekends of the summer with her dad at the Drop Zone he runs, but she’s only ever allowed to pack the parachutes and sometimes go on observer rides of the planes. Her father barely allows her to be driven around by her best friend, so skydiving is out of the question. With an overprotective father, and an equally overprotective boyfriend, Clancy is set for a very safe summer. Except she’s tired of being treated like she’s made of glass just because her mom died in an accident when she was six.

Freefall Summer was in the romance category of both NetGalley and Goodreads, but really, I feel like it’s a novel about finding yourself and becoming independent. Sure, Clancy finds her independence from her boyfriend as well as her father in part by finding a new boyfriend, but I felt like it was only a vector of her growing up.

Another thing I really liked was that there are a lot of details about the world of skydiving, from the different planes used to specific terminology. I kind of want to read her Whuffo’s Guide to Skydiving for myself. Though some of the details of actual skydiving made me very tense.

My only criticism is that I didn’t really feel like Clancy got to really tell her dad all that she was feeling. It was implied at the end of the book, but I think I would have enjoyed a more detailed scene. Other than that, the book was pretty good, and even kept me up so I could finish it.

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