Cover Image: Summer Sons

Summer Sons

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Member Reviews

This was a solid slow-burn haunting. I enjoyed the rich atmosphere and the contrast between these highly educated law school students and the meddling-in-the-dark-arts shenanigans. The unease of Andrew surrounded by this other circle of friends was also quite interesting as you don't know if you should really trust their intentions.
The writing style was solid and the plot and the characters well well developed. The setting was dark, humid, and uneasy. The love triangle was a bit much but did add another layer of complication to the whole thing. Someone coming to terms with who they really are and understanding themselves was also a bit of an unexpected underlying theme through this darkness.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I thought the quality of the audiobook was pretty good. Easy to listen to.

As for the story itself, I thought it was okay. It's about a college kid who is trying to figure out the reason behind his friend's death. There's a lot of mystery, some supernatural elements and all the queerness--which is everything I loved most about this story. At moments I forgot that this was even a mystery and it read more erotic (I wasn't mad about, just caught off guard). I felt like there was more background to the main characters life story and his relationships that I wanted to know more about.

There were bits of street racing stuff, that I just didn't care about at all and found a bit boring. I was also a bit confused about the politics involving all of it and just found myself skimming through those parts. The ending was also a little over my head but the reveal was cool.

Overall, I thought this was okay. I think I went into it with too high of expectations.

2/5

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Initially, this absolutely arresting cover is what caught my eye. The spooky premise only added to my interest, so I was thrilled to dive into the audio. Andrew and Eddie are the best of friends that though raised as adopted brothers for a time, are truly even closer than that. But, when the book opens, the pair has been separated by post-graduate school for six months. By the time Andrew goes to join Eddie at Vanderbilt, Eddie is dead of an apparent suicide. Andrew refuses to believe it and starts investigating on his own - surprised by the academic turn that Eddie took. Eddie looked into the occult and local oral folktales of the region that harkens back to the spooky occurrences that bonded Andrew and Eddie in their younger days.

Andrew inherits not only Eddie's belongings but also his group of friends - a mixture of academic and a wilder crowd with a love of booze, drugs, racing cars and plenty of flexibility in the bedroom. I must admit, there are a few more graphic scenes that made me wish that I didn't have this on audio - while well-performed, I am always paranoid about sex scenes blaring to life the moment I have a passenger driving with me in my car! But, mostly, I wished that Andrew was more likable. He pushes away so many people in his grief and it makes it hard for the reader/listener to connect with him as well. The plot moves a bit slowly - particularly in the beginning, but despite the summery title, this is a good Fall listen!

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This book didn't hold my attention. Despite a very good audiobook narrator and this absolutely gorgeous cover, I found myself bored and kinda zoning out. I didn't care about the fast cars and drug scene (especially because they honestly weren't that important? Or at least they aren't dug into enough to make them important). Where this book really shines is in those spooky scenes where it's just Andrew and the revenant. But there weren't very many of those.

I would have loved to dig more into the old plantation families and their curses. We get to know the Fulton curse but we know by the end that other old families also dug into the occult but we don't actually know what that means? It's just conveniently tossed in there as an explanation for other stuff going down.

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I really wanted to love this story. Southern Gothic five, queer representation, ghost stories? What is there not to love? I felt as though I was wanting more, not really sure of what more character development, more intrigue? Solid three stars, would read this author again.

Thank you to net galley for this advanced listeners coffee.

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I found Summer Sons to be a well-written Southern gothic novel center on a queer cast of characters finding their way after one of their own commits suicide. I liked the character development but overall, the story was just not for me.

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I’m so bummed by this one. I really wanted to love it more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, the southern gothic vibes and the whole queer questioning and identity was great, but I really wasn’t interested in the fast cars and fast life aspect of this story.

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This haunting and tragic story about loss, identity, and inheritance was much deeper than I was expecting when I first picked it up. There are plenty of skin prickling moments, but the greater focus is on Andrew’s personal journey as he deals with the tragedy of losing his best friend. The paranormal activity he experiences is violent and creepy, but also personal to Andrew in ways he has difficulty coping with. While the story is slow to unfold, it is also a dark and beautifully written character piece that will stick with me for a long time.

The story begins with Andrew picking up Eddie’s car and arriving in Nashville just a few weeks after his best friend’s death. Though everyone seems to believe that Eddie had committed suicide, Andrew knows there was something more sinister at work. However, with his only evidence being Eddie’s revenant, it is hard to get anyone else to agree. Convinced he is the only one who can uncover the truth, Andrew goes to Nashville to find the answers he is looking for.

Immediately, Andrew comes off as both an angry and impulsive character driven by grief. He distances himself from others and is quick to anger at any mention of Eddie. Without any solid leads, Andrew is also aimless with both his feelings and his investigation. All of this makes him one of the most realistic grieving characters I have read, but also difficult to like. Andrew’s destructive spiral and lack of direction make it hard for both him and the plot to move forward. Even when things do begin to come together and he becomes more open with his feelings, there are still frequent ‘relapses’ into old patterns that can be repetitive and frustrating. My reactions to this experience are mixed. I can’t honestly say I enjoyed the slog, but the experience so closely resembles reality for people like Andrew that I appreciate both the skill and risk in creating this character. Though I personally did not connect with Andrew, I can see this being a very important representation for others.

In addition to his grief, Andrew is made to do some soul searching about who Eddie was to him. From the start, he claims that they were more than just best friends. However, he also hesitates to label them as ‘brothers’. Meanwhile, everyone else refers to Andrew as “Eddie’s”. Unfortunately, with Eddie dead, Andrew is left to figure out what it all means on his own. So much of Andrew’s world growing up centered on Eddie that in addition to trying to define their relationship, Andrew must also re-discover himself. Andrew’s attempts to re-discover both his personal and sexual identity is intriguing and his chemistry with Sam adds some great tension.

Surrounding Andrew’s personal journey is a Southern gothic tale with a scholastic twist. Inheritance and old blood is at the heart of the greater mystery. However, there are a few twists on who inherits, what they inherit, and why that introduces new and interesting questions around this theme. Themes of both ‘classic’ and institutionalized racism are also skillfully woven into the narrative. Though a lot of these ideas are rich and intriguing, I felt more time could have been spent developing them a little more. Digging deeper would not necessarily be in Andrew’s character, but I was left wanting more and felt it would have helped the pieces come together in a more satisfying way.

Overall, Summer Sons is a wonderful but heavy read. It has everything you could want from a paranormal gothic horror and then some. However, most of the characters are unlikeable and a lot of time is spent on them trying to manage their emotional baggage. It is heavy, but worth it if character focused stories are your jam. If you are looking for a mind bending mystery or something that gets into the deeper history of the region, you may want to skip this one. I experienced this book as an audiobook and felt it was excellently narrated. Trigger warnings for this book include: Drug use, graphic violence, loss of a loved one, suicide, depression/mental health, racism and terminal illness.

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Eddie and Andrew are childhood friends that have an unbreakable bond. They do everything together up until Eddie leaves to start his graduate program. After 6 months Andrew is notified that Eddie has committed suicide and has left him a home with an unknown roommate and more questions than answers. He cannot accept Eddie's death as a suicide and begins to retrace his steps by spending time partying with his friends and looking into the research project he was working on. Andrew's life begins to unravel as a mysterious entity with slashed wrists starts to appear.

I really liked the concept and the setting of the story. It had some really creepy elements and the repressed feelings that Andrew had were also an interesting part of the story. The ending felt a little flat to me. I was hoping for a little more.

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I couldn't get into this one. I really wanted to and the narrator was great but the story just didn't appeal to me like I had hoped it would. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC.

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I think I am in the minority of people who did not enjoy this book. I can't quite put my finger on what didn't work for me, something about the writing style and setting never clicked for me. I felt disconnected from the story, even though I tend to love ghost stories. I was invested in the mystery but overall I just couldn't get into this, but I think it was a me problem not a book problem.

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Listening to this book, I couldn't help but think of how many people have already loved this story and wonder what was wrong with me that I could not connect with it the same way. Not every book is for every reader though. To me, I just did not connect with the characters at all. They were self-destructive and I didn't detect any character growth. I also felt like the plot was a bit repetitive (possibly because I have zero interest in cars or racing). The writing was good, but I had trouble in the beginning getting into the groove. Since this was an audiobook advanced copy, it is possible that I just didn't connect with the narrator. I don't actually know EXACTLY what it was that felt missing for me with this book. I only know that I didn't connect with it the way that I expected to and I feel a little disappointed. I didn't DISLIKE the book, but I didn't connect with it either. I am confident that I am in the minority with this review though and I am happy for all the readers who loved this book as much as they expected to.

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I gave this book 3.5 rounded up to 4. It was a little harder to get into than I was expecting, but the narrator of the audio book helped a lot. I really felt like he embodied the main character and narrator. This did give me the southern gothic vibes I was hoping for. I think part of what made it drag is that I didn’t really like the characters and had a hard time empathizing with them. That being said we meet Andrew at a low point, he has just lost his best friend Eddie to what appears to be suicide. Andrew is selfish and focused on finding out what really happened to Eddie which causes him to hurt some of the people he has met and who try to help him on his way. Otherwise the story had everything you could want from a southern gothic: a creepy haunt, family curse, and mystical occurrences.

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Rating 3.5 but rounding down to three as it’s closer to a 3 for me, bumped up the half point because of the first half of the book.

I really enjoyed the first 50-60% of this novel, there was a lot more of the creepiness factor and was a bit faster paced. The second half seemed to drag on. Normally I finish my audiobooks in a day but this one took me several to finish the second half because it would lose my attention.

Also, I didn’t particularly care about the academia side of things because I felt like half the time it was just like a footnote until it could be used more. (IE it would just be referenced every now and again only to say he was skipping and he only ever went to school whenever their just happened to be important info to be discovered) I’d rather it either been more centered around the academia world or more of the racing world instead of a little of each

With that said, the writing itself was beautifully done and so great at painting a picture and creating atmosphere.

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Because this review is specifically for the audiobook, I will just say that Will Damron did an absolutely phenomenal job. This is a book that is so deeply affected by its location that his accent and cadence were hyper important in delivering the story in an authentic way and Macmillan Audio really nailed their casting on this one.

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I don't normally give out a five star rating for a book unless its both technically perfect AND hits some key points/feelings that are often indescribable for me personally. The fifth star, for me, is something that is deeply personal and so I never argue when another reader and I are on the 4/5 split. So I struggled a bit with what to give this one. It is a technically perfect work of art. Stunning prose; full characters who feel like real, breathing people; rich, complex relationships; and a story that manages to be beautifully atmospheric while not sacrificing pace all come together with a tight, fitting ending.

This book is everything it promises to be and more and I genuinely cannot recommend it enough. It is a rare book indeed where, just 100 pages in, I was telling people "you need to preorder this right now."

But, for me, I know a book hits that "indescribable" point when I want to turn it over and start again the moment I read the last few words. Here, the first time through, the book felt so nostalgic (growing up in the same area, having several similar life experiences) that finishing it for the first time felt like reading a beloved tale for the nth time. That's something I don't think I've ever been able to say about a book before, but the way Mandelo captures the utter southerness of their location, there feels like no other way to describe it. The characters felt like people so real they were about to walk of the page and the location was just as palpable.

This book has a LOT of praise points (I honestly tried to think of something nitpicky I could say about it - came up empty). but how Mandelo manages to write the early 20s/LGBTQ experience in a way that feels deeply ordinary and familiar while also weaving in an incredibly unique ghost story that manages to feel fresh AND timeless at the same time?

That is just unquestionable talent.

I don't think I've ever been so excited to see what a debut author does next.

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Eh. I wasn't really feeling this book. I really wanted to get into it. I thought it had some good potential, but I just couldn't. It was really hard for me to finish, and I hadn't been reading it for Netgalley, I probably would have stopped and not finished it.

It was like the book was confused; it couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Horror? Sci fi? Paranormal romance? LGBT erotica?

I think the author just overreached and instead of getting something cohesive and great, he got something subpar and all frazzled and uninteresting. The plot just didn't hold my interest, and the "big twist" was super predictable.

Plus, none of the characters were particularly likable, and they all seemed like ridiculous stereotypes.

I also didn't love the narrator's voice. AT times, he sounded genuinely southern, and at other times, he sounded like he was desperately TRYING to sound southern. Overall, this one just wasn't for me.

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I ended up physically reading this book, I could not get the app to stop distorting the audio quality when I wore headphones and listened at higher speeds. So this is not a review for the quality of the audiobook but for the book itself.

This book was the definition of a slow burn investment for me. At first I wasn't sure how I would feel because the pacing is pretty slow as Andrew gets acclimated to his new setting and grieving over the loss of his best friend but as the story progressed I found this slow start really allowed me to connect to these characters in a way I wouldn't have been able to if it were a more traditionally fast paced mystery dark academia book. I was pleasantly surprised by the fast and furious vibes and the relationship developments between characters and was always itching to read it when I wasn't. In general I think the setting was not my favorite to be in, since as a reader I am not generally drawn to this dark, toxic settings but besides that personal preference I am really glad I picked this one up and would recommend it to anyone looking for a new dark academia that focuses on toxic masculinity, and queer identity with southern gothic vibes.

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Well. Well. Well. This book was an interesting one! I felt like The Fast and the Furious was combined with Flatliners and Call Me By Your Name. And I mean this in all of the best ways. I felt that the haunts and scary bits in this book were almost second hand. I was so pulled in by the characters and their relationships with one another and the hunt for answers about Eddie's research and death that I would breeze through a scary part and have to go back because I felt like I didn't fully appreciate it. I'm all for the scares but when you add some interesting character building AND a budding romance I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT! The descriptions made me feel like I could feel what the main character was going through too.

There were a few things that didn't feel complete to me and some things that I wish Mandelo would have gone in more depth with. However, I felt that, overall, the story was great. Very entertaining! The subtle but visible issues that are highlighted was also something that I liked but wished there was more on them. I recommend this for fans of Horror, LGBTQIA+, and Thrillers. This was a Audio listen for me and LOVED the narrator.

TW:Violence, Death, Suicide, Racism, Homophobia, Drug & Alcohol use

*Thank you to Netgalley and McMillan Audio for the audio ARC for an honest review.

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A week has gone by, and I'm still thinking about this book. The narration immediately sucked me in, and the scope of the story kept me hooked the whole way. I was emotionally invested in the characters and the mystery that slowly unraveled. A book that kept coming to mind was The Good House during this read- not quite similar in plot but in feel. Horror fans who enjoy rich character development and a strong story will have a great time with Summer Sons.

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This was good but not as good as I hoped. The pacing was slow and confusing at the beginning, and it wasn't a pleasant reading experience for me. I wasn't a fan of the car racing sections, but that is a personal preference. I loved the Southern Gothic tone of the book as well as the folk lore elements. While this wasn't a new favorite, I would read more work by this author.

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