I received the arc for this book over a year ago and I never got around to reading it, so I'm declaring this ship having left the harbor. I'm still interested in reading it eventually, and thank you for your acceptance of the arc back in 2019!

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I love a good contemporary ya read and found that I really enjoyed the characters and storyline in this book.

When Summer Ends was a great summer read! I wished I was at the beach while reading! If only...

This was such a cute YA contemporary. I finished it in a day. It was fast paced, with a great love story. The characters were cute and lovable, while still having flaws. It gave me the HEA I was after so I loved it! 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Jessica Pennington has become a staple on my shelves. I was drawn to her because Love Songs and Other Lies features music (plus, her adorable guitar pick incentive) and fell even further for her words with When Summer Ends. To say I am excited for Meet Me at Midnight is an understatement. Check out why I loved When Summer Ends below and enter to win a copy of Meet Me at Midnight below.

Jessica Pennington’s books are full of feels and depth and just total swoon. I loved When Summer Ends because…

Dual POV. I love that we get the story through Aiden and Olivia.
Summer romance. What is it about slow burn summer romances that make them so fun?
River Depot. Jessica’s worldbuilding for this charming community is so fun, and added to with her postcard preorder gift!
Feels feels and more feels. Not just about the romance, either. There were family dynamics and concerns about passions and just overall small angsty moments.
Completely drawn in. I did not want to leave these characters!

Cute summer romance. I'm usually not a fan of YA contemporary books but there's something about Jessica's writing that makes me wish I had a hammock to lie in while I read all her stories. If you're looking for sweet romances to share with the teens in your life, then grab this.

When Summer Ends is the sweet and comfy YA contemporary romance readers are always looking for. 
Yes, it had serious issues like parental abandonment, breakups and medical conditions but it’s not full of fake angst and drama. 
Olivia is a sweet and relatable main character and Aidan doesn’t turn out to be a mean spirited bully even though he’s a jock and going through a lot of turmoil. 
I recommend this to anyone searching for that feel good YA contemporary romance that will give them that “beach read” feeling all year round!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I have read plenty of young adult romance and was getting kind of burned out on teenage angst so I was hesitant to pick this one up. But I was pleased to read a lovely, wholesome story! I will definitely recommend this title!

I really enjoyed this book about Aiden and Olivia, it was a light, fun read. Definitely read it in the summer, or if you just want it to be summer, I was dreaming of warm weather! The supporting characters were fun and really well written, they come in at the perfect times in the story, I'd definitely recommend this read!

Definitely not the cliche young adult romance I was expecting when I requested this book. I felt like this relationship was so wholesome and just a joy to read, the characters looked out for each other and cared for each other and even though there was some angsty drama regarding exs and Aiden's health I felt like they were fit into the story very well.

When Summer Ends is one of the most heart warming contemporary romance books I've read this year. With having both Olivia and Aiden's perspectives, you really got a more in depth view of the characters compared to the normal girl meets boy point of view. 
Olivia really hit close to home with how close her and her aunt were. A big thing for Olivia in this book was the relationships she had with the people her life. I think the relationship with her mom could've shown a little more, but that ending brought tears to my eyes. 
Aiden's vision loss was dealt in a way that make you connect with and just feel for. At first I thought that baseball was going to be a major thing and take over his perspective in the story, but I was glad when Aiden's passion for art was equally as present. 
The romance between them was swoon worthy. You could tell as they were getting closer, they genuinely cared for each other and wanted each other to be happy.

This book is among my top ten favorite summer reads and Pennington has become an auto buy author for sure! 

I adore the story here but so much more Pennington gets the feelings and makes you feel like you’re right there with these characters!

I meant to read this one over the summer for a light summery book but never got to it during all my summer madness! However, it was a little fitting that I read it as summer was ending, right?

My Thoughts:

This was a really cute summery book! Olivia had her summer plans turned upside down when she breaks up with her boyfriend and her summer job doesn’t pan out. She gets a new job at the River Depot where she meets Aiden — baseball superstar who just unexpectedly quit the team at the end of the school year. Unknown to everyone at school, Aiden is having vision issues preventing him from playing. Thrown together, both Olivia and Aiden realize they enjoy each other’s company and Olivia decides to take a chance and use the summer to see just where fate takes her.

I loved Aiden. He is such a good guy and full of excitement for art and life. And he shares the things he loves with Olivia and I loved how he takes her out of her normal comfort zone. He’s a genuine person who is pretty much an open book and in contrast, Olivia keeps a lot of her thoughts and feelings to herself. It was a little frustrating especially as I found myself firmly on Aiden’s side, ha.

I thought that the storyline about Olivia’s mom could’ve been explored further. It was a big issue and a huge part in how Olivia views life and yet, it seemed to get resolved rather quickly and easily. I think I just expected a bit more conversation between her and her mom about their past and what their future would look like but it really didn’t play a huge part in the overall plot.

In Short…

A quick, cute story that is great to pick up over the summer or even outside the season like I did! Aiden will definitely make you smile and their dates are so adorable.

Based on the premise this book sounded great. I liked the idea of it but the story didn't work for me. The beginning had a great set up. It was interesting but the pacing felt slow so it felt like things weren't happening for a while but at the same time, the problems that happened never really felt like problems because they got resolved so quickly. I liked the main characters and I liked how they started to rely on each other. I liked the representation. I think this book a nice summer read for teens.

I thought the beginning was a little slow and probably enjoyed Love Songs & Other Lies more, but thought the chemistry of WHEN SUMMER ENDS between Olivia and Aidan is really cute and worth waiting around for.

Loved this sweet, summer romance! Aiden and Olivia's story is the perfect beach read! They have the teen romance you'll wish you had. Such a fun book :)

When Summer Ends is a sweet young adult romance.

Olivia's life plans are upended when she's told she has to move before her senior year. To make things worse, her boyfriend, who's family she is a large part of, breaks up with her. Oh, and she didn't get the job she wanted. 

Soon she finds herself working alongside her ex's mysterious teammate.

Their story is a touching coming of age story.

The author wonderfully illustrates that love can be idealized, and one might not be aware of this until meeting someone else.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

So, I am super behind with my reading and reviewing so almost 6 months after publication I am just now getting to this title -- whoops. I read Jessica Pennington's first novel when it came out and I really liked it. There is something about summer YA romances that just make me so happy, and this book is no exception. 

Olivia is expecting the best summer ever until she learns that her aunt who she lives with is moving across the country for her new job, meaning Olivia is going to have to move as well -- right before senior year. Add on to this her long-term boyfriend dumping her and losing her dream summer job and her summer has quickly turned awful. 

Aiden, the love interest, meanwhile is also having a rough go of things -- after getting hit in the face by a line drive he decided to quit the baseball team with no explanation to his teammates or coaches all because he is losing his vision. 

The two end up working together and sparks fly, both learn about themselves and of course there are romantic roadblocks to their burgeoning relationship.

This was another enjoyable fast read by Jessica Pennington. She has such a way with writing fun, realistic characters. 

The duel perspectives added an extra element to the story that I really enjoyed and hadn’t fully expected. By having this duel perspective, we learned a little more about Aiden and Olivia that I felt we wouldn’t have learned if it was from just one or the other. 

Jessica brought in some nice representation for the visually impaired. I know little about those with visual impairments and it was interesting to get a glimpse into one type.

Overall, I really loved this story. It was a fun summer read that had you wondering what you would do if you were at that age and your plans just fell through or your life was upended. There are many things in this book that I loved that I didn’t talk about here – mainly because of spoilers! I was invested in Olivia and Aiden – I wanted a happy ending for them, both together and apart.

Oh, I really enjoyed this? Definitely on the quieter end of the YA spectrum, and I really wish we had seen so much more of the heroine and mother's relationship, but overall, I enjoyed its lazy wade through summer and beginning of school (though not necessarily realistic) jolt of optimism.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed and ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. *
3.5 stars

This book is sweet, cute, and perfect for summer. Since heat tends to kill my brain cells, anything easy to read and understand are good summer books for me, and this one fit the bill. Unfortunately, I also never felt really invested into the book. 

I did like the main characters for the most part. They are thrown into a whirlwind of change and are trying to figure out what that will mean, while also trying to figure out who they are. Add to that their building attraction to each other and there is definitely some drama. Yet, none of the drama really seemed huge or drastic because it was overcome well. There is one that I thought would be a huge issue and it annoyed me that it wasn't brought up because hiding things from someone you are in a relationship with annoys the heck out of me. 

With Olivia's mom coming back into the picture too, I thought there would be some drama or more scenes about their reconciliation or... something, but it was just... there were a few interactions, but nothing I was expecting, I suppose. 

I would recommend this to someone needing a beach read or something easy and not too emotional-- a cute romance and some good coming of age scenes.