Cover Image: The Matchbreaker Summer

The Matchbreaker Summer

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Member Reviews

The Matchbreaker Summer is Annie Rains venture into the YA realm and a wonderful venture it was!

Paisley Manning has spent nearly every summer of her life at Camp Starling given that it was her Dad's dream and he and her Mom made it happen. Sadly, she lost her Dad years earlier and this summer is going to be a bittersweet one given that her Mom has decided to sell the camp and move them to Wyoming to be with her new boyfriend. Paisley is devastated, but is bound and determined to make the most of her last summer at the camp.

With a strong group of friends, a boy who is a bit rough around the edges, but is intriguing to Paisley, along with the issues she has to work through with her Mom and her Mom's boyfriend, we are treated to a well-rounded story that shows us how Paisley works through the summer. Not everything is sunshine and roses, there are issues to deal with, people try to help but it may not be the best course of action and there are lessons to be learned. In the end, will everyone have the best summer ever? Or will it be a total bust?

I enjoyed all of the characters in this book and their summer experience. The vast array of characters and personalities made this book enjoyable from start to finish. I definitely suggest picking it up and giving it a try!

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

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This is a sweet book, perfect for middle/high school summer reading. I would have adored this book at that age. The writing was easy, the story has depth but is a good length for reluctant readers.

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I love books set over summer and with summer camps especially. The Matchbreaker Summer was a fun read.

Paisley Manning has been going to the summer camp her parents own ever since she can remember. But since her dad died, she has been helping her mum run the camp. Just before she returns to camp, this time as a counsellor, she is told the worst news she can imagine. Her mum is marrying her boyfriend Dave, they are moving far away, and selling the camp. This piece of information sets the course for the rest of the novel.

“I guess I’m kind of like that song sparrow. I don’t stand out.”
“You stand out to me.”

On the day before the campers arrive, Paisley finds Hayden, a boy from school, grafitting the cabins. Naturally, she gets upset and reports him to her mum. The following day, she is completely surprised to see Hayden decked out in the counsellor uniform. Paisley and Hayden end up working together to break up Paisley’s mum and Dave and show that Dave isn’t the right fit for her family. Paisley didn’t expect to get along with Hayden as well as she did, and she suddenly has to start thinking about her own feelings.

‘The first kiss was a sky full of stars. The second one was an entire universe.’

The relationship between Paisley and Hayden was so fun to see. I loved their development as they learned to trust each other. Their romance was quite a slow burn, but it was rather cute! Over the course of this novel, Paisley learns that change isn’t necessarily a bad thing (something I need to learn). Her character development was good to see, as she became more accepting by the end.

I would say this is a YA at the lower end, but I still enjoyed it regardless. It made me wish I had had the opportunity to go on summer camps like this!

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Thank you so much for Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the e-galley! All opinions are my own.

This book is perfect for the fans of Morgan Matson, Stephanie Perkins and Emma Lord!

The Matchbreaker Summer is indeed the most admirable and entertaining summer read — in a summer camp. Have you seen the movie Parents’ Trap? If you loved it I guarantee that you will enjoy this book as well. The only difference is that Paisley (the MC) and her partner in crime do not want to play matchmaker…instead they are about to break up Paisley’s mom and her boyfriend in order to save the camp from being sold, and to avoid the big move for Pais.

The story is complete with the depth of feelings of a 16 years old: figuring life out, friendships, arguments, crushes, first loves and all the fun in between. It also speaks of loss and grief in a beautiful way — honoring the memory of loved ones.

Paisley’s character arc is well-written, we see her grow from an obedient dutiful daughter into someone who can stand up for herself.

I really enjoy it (flew through the pages in a day) and if you are looking for something fun, filled with summer camp vibes and nature, birds, pranks and heart-breaks or heart-mending, pick this book up!

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The Matchbreaker Summer is such a pure, adorable little summer teen romantic comedy! Paisley and Hayden are a classic opposites-attract couple - Paisley is the principal’s daughter and a rule follower. Hayden is the withdrawn school troublemaker who likes to bend the rules. When Paisley finds him spray painting graffiti on the side of a cabin the first day of camp, he’s forced to attend to work off his punishment. What starts out as animosity between them turns into teamwork when Paisley confesses that her mom is selling the camp and moving them from North Carolina to Wyoming to be with her boyfriend Dave and his sick mom. They devise the Matchbreaker Summer plan to split her Mom and Dave and save the camp. As they spend time together scheming, Paisley realizes that she misjudged Hayden and maybe Dave isn’t so bad after all.

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I think this was a cute read. It would make a really fun summer read. This book read to me as a nice book for older middle grade readers that want to start reading some middle grade. I thought the "prank" elements to this story was fun. I also thought this book tackled topics that you see often in middle school like family, friendship and boy drama.I also thought the setting of a camp inspiredby birds was fun. It was super quick read but one that put my in a summer state of mind.

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Thanks so much PRH International and publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book made me realize that I have rarely read books set on camps and that I was definitely missing out because the way she wrote about the camp sounded so magical! This was such a heartwarming and feel-good romance book.

The characters were so complex! We get to hear all their side making it so hard to hate anyone. As we go through the book, we get to understand their point if view and where each of them are coming. Having said that, this made the book emotional for me too.

“I don’t know why you think your life is so upside down right now”, Simone says, “but I think it’s like that everyone”

I didn’t like Paisley at first, she was a goody-two shoes and I felt bad for how she treated her mom and Dave. Although as someone who also hates change, I understood her point too and my heart was mourning with her. And I’m so thankful for her character development. I love how she owned up to her mistakes and flaws, she learned how to listen to other people and how to welcome new people in her life. In the end, she definitely made up for hurting the people close to her and was able to genuinely show how much she cares for them.

Hayden is the carefree and rile-breaker character that I think is exactly what Paisley needed especially during this hard time in her life. He was a breath of fresh air for her, he made her calm and taught her how to just enjoy the moment.

The character who I truly love and admire is Dave for being the most patient and kindest person despite all the trouble he went through. Despite only seeing Paisley’s perspective, you can still genuinely see how much he cares and loves Paisley and her mom. It was so heartwarming to see him put his best effort to make Paisley love and accept him!

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Huge thanks PRH International, Underlined and Annie Rains for my e-ARC in exchange for the honest review.

The Matchbreaker was a sweet young adult novel. Paisley is the protagonist, and she adores her summer camp called Camp Starling. She learns that her mother is remarrying and going to sell the Camp that her father had owned and operated until his death. Paisley attempts to make the most of her last summer with Nora, her closest friend, and Hayden, a boy she's grown to love.

The Matchbreaker Summer is a lighthearted YA novel that was fun to read. I'm eager to find out if Paisley would get her happily ever after. Throughout the story, there were a lot of emotions. Her connection with Hayden is well-suited to her circumstances and serves the story effectively. I was also hoping for a happy ending for them. I enjoyed all the supporting characters, especially Nora, Paisley's best friend, and Hayden, whom I admired! I also love the mother-daughter talks at the end. They all played an important role in Paisley's development, first love, and how to forgive and trust in this novel. I appreciate how she learned and grew in this book. I liked the camp settings and the concept of creating enduring memories, and the story's match-breaking.

Overall, it was a great book. The Matchbreaker Summer is a great choice for YA readers.

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Huge thanks to PRH International as well as to the publisher for the e-ARC!

This book reminds me so much of Camp-Half Blood (minus the fantasy + tons of adventure) but Camp Seabrook has it's own perks too.

16 year old Paisley Manning loves nothing more than be in Camp Seabrook , which happens to be owned by her family. For two weeks she and other campers get to have a blast with lots of fun activities, food and experience life!

The problem is that, Dave, her mom's new boyfriend, plans to move back home but they get to tag along. Paisley is so against the idea of living far from home and not be able to meet her friends. She is not open to "change" atm & this idea made her dislike Dave even more.

This summer, Paisley along with her friends get to be Counselors and lead the other campers. Enter Hayden Bennet, the boy who likes to break the rules. He was caught red handed by Paisley as he doodled the cabins with spray paint! Much to Paisley's dismay, instead of punishing Hayden, her mom decided to recruit him as a Counselor too. For the time being, Paisley must forget about what Hayden did and instead befriend him.

What was suppose to be a summer full of fun, Paisley then found out that her mom is planning to sell the camp because they would soon be moving out. This then fuels her dislike for Dave & she never thought that Hayden would propose the Mission Matchbreaker.

This book is filled with fun, love, understanding, friendship, forgiveness, and accepting change. I totally loved it, as a 16 year old myself, I totally understand how Paisley's mind works and they way she acted out towards her mom & Dave's relationship. She just loves her dad so much and couldn't imagine how someone like Dave, who isn't much a camper himself, gets to change the course of the lives.

Along the way, Paisley learned from her mistakes & understood that sometimes, change is good. She finally accepted that her mom loves her as much as she loves Dave. Paisley sure learned it the hard way and felt the guilt along their mission but it the end, Hayden & her developed feelings for each other and to compensate for her mistakes, from Mission Matchbreaker to Mission Matchmaker.

This YA book is now one of my faves, as Paisley navigates through change, being in love, making amends with her friends & knowing that no matter what happens she will always have the Camp and her friends.

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This was such a cute romcom and I really enjoyed it. This book is something that I can very well recommend to people of any age group and I’m damn sure they would very well end up loving it. I can’t wait enough for it to be out and do the very same lol

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I liked this story. It was in a different setting and with main focus on a teen's inner thoughts and turmoils. This was about friendship, summer, dreams and what you call first love.

Paisley has been attending Camp Seabrook since she was a kid as it was ran by her parents. However after the death of her father it has been tough years and this time Paisley's mom falls in love with a guy and they want to move closer to his mom. This has caused Paisley to think and do things which causes trouble and are absolutely wrong.

I didn't warm upto her much, she was more into her thoughts which I agree anyone would have been given the scenario but it went far too much. I liked Hayden and instantly warmed upto him. He was a sweet guy and helping everyone in the best way.

This is about self growth, reflecting upon your actions and how it migh impact people who look upto you. The author has portrayed all this in a great manner. A good debut by the author and I would definitely read the next by her.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Children for opportunity to read this.

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Thank you PRH International, Underlined, NetGalley and Annie Rains for my e-ARC in exchange for the honest review.

They were best friends since third grade. Paisley was quiet and Nora was the noise’s one. I loved their friendship they were always there for each other. Nora was the sweetest person. She was always there for Paisley especially when she got bullied. There is some part that I don’t like in Nora’s personality. Like she’s insisting that Paisley and Jacob are cute together, like Paisley was into Jacob even though she’s not.

Paisley was so mad because of what Hayden did to the cabins. This camp was so important to her because her dad was the one who help to build this with his own hand. She’s also mad at Dave (her stepfather) because of him, Paisley and her mother are moving to Wyoming and her mother is going to sell the Camp Starling. She’s so mad because everything is changing because of Dave. She likes Hayden but Nora likes him too. She wants to undo her feelings because of her best friend. She knows that you shouldn’t like the same person.

Hayden was a guy who always breaks the rules. When Hayden discovered what Paisley’s going through he was willing to help her to break up her mother and Dave. He was so sweet and understanding. His always their for Paisley. When she’s really messed up because of what happened to Dave she was so guilty and want go make up things and that’s how Hayden help her again. He was so good at advising too even though he was much more of a troublemaker.

Reading this kind of book or even watch a movie. I always think that I hope I experience this kind of activity at camp. Overall, it was a great book. I really loved the story between the family, friendship and love ones.

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The Matchbreaker Summer is about a young girl who finds out her mom is getting remarried and selling the Camp that her Dad had owned and ran until he died. Paisley tries to make the best of the last summer with her best friend,Nora ands boy she realizes she likes, Hayden.
Annie Rains created a perfect beginning of summer read for young adults .

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This was a very cute coming-of-age story!

This book follows Paisley, a type A girl who always follows the rules and doesn't understand those who don't. Her father died 4 years ago, and it's been just her and her mom since. They own a summer camp, Starling Camp, where they have teenagers from 12-15 come and experience nature for two weeks to the fullest. This year for the summer camp, Paisley is a camp counselor along with her friends now that they are of age at sixteen. This is a bittersweet time for her since this may be the last time she gets to go to this camp or be with her friends because of her mom planning on moving away since Dave(her mom's boyfriend) entered the picture and started causing all these changes to occur in Paisley's life, including moving out of state. Which is why Hayden, a rebel/bad boy(or is he?) who Paisley would never even think about being around, suggests breaking them up. Thus, starts their tentative partnership and their plan, the Matchbreaker Plan.

This was such a cute story! It's a coming of age story, and deals with heartache and grief, it has drama that all teenagers experience in school and within their own family, and first love.

I found Paisley to be very relatable for me personally because I actually had to move to a new state when I was her exact age, and it was not easy moving to a new place, and having to find new friends. And so the way she reacts to that news and how she tries to stop it from happening, I get it, I felt the same way and wanted to do that too because that much change is hard. Plus, she was also still dealing with grief from her dad's death, and that's never easy on kids, even teenagers. We all handle it differently, and may take longer for some to move forward. I really appreciate how she learned and grew in this book. Yes, she made mistakes, but how else do we learn but from those mistakes? And learn she did, and in the end gained a lot too.

Aside from all the typical drama, I really liked all the side characters, like Nora who is Paisley's best friend, Hayden who I simply adored! And the other camp counselors, along with Dave and Paisley's mom Ellen. They all played key roles in this book, especially for Paisley's growth, first love, and learning about forgiveness and trust.

The romance is very cute and very sweet. For being a loner, Hayden had some smooth words. He knows a way to a girl's heart! My favorite quote from him is: "I think you're pretty in a classic, vanilla ice cream kind of way. A lot of people don't realize how great vanilla ice cream is because they're blinded by all the other flashy flavors and toppings. But those people are missing out, in my opinion". *SWOON*! Boy is he good! Plus, I totally agree with that and love that a boy like him who tends to get into trouble and prefers to do art rather than socialize knows the right thing to say, especially to someone like Paisley who really needed to hear something like that.

I highly recommend this book if you love super cute coming-of-age books with first loves. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and TBR Beyond Tours for the free digital copy to read.

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This YA summer camp romance is saccharine sweet as Paisley struggles to make the most of her last summer at Camp Starling. Two different romances, one teen and one adult, are at the heart of this story, which brings everything you want in a camp romance: ridiculous camp traditions, camp counselor romances and daring water rescues.

Paisley's parents built Camp Starling together, and every tradition is tied up in memories of her dad, who passed away a few years before. Now her mom is dating Dave, who struggles with everything outdoorsy and wants to move the family to his hometown in Wyoming. When Paisley learns that her mom plans to sell the camp and move to Wyoming, she feels like her world is falling apart.

Then she catches bad boy Hayden Bennett spray-painting dragons on the walls of the cabins, and as punishment, the adults make him serve as a counselor at Camp Starling. Paisley is livid until Hayden proposes a solution to all her troubles: he'll help her break up her mom and Dave. But the closer she gets to Hayden, the more Paisley falls for him as she learns he's struggling to deal with the death of a parent, too. And she begins to feel guilty for making things harder for perpetual nice guy Dave, especially after spreading honey in his sunblock gets him sent to the hospital due to an unknown bee allergy. Paisley must decide if she really wants to be the kind of person who bullies Dave out of her life.

Hayden's relatable as the bad boy with a heart of gold who's struggling to deal with his emotions in a healthy way. Paisley's a good girl turning bad due to her struggles to deal with all the changes her mom and Dave are introducing into her life. Together, they balance each other out and bring a lightness to each other's lives.

I also liked the discussion of best friendships through Paisley's rocky friendship with Nora, which is experiencing growing pains as Nora tries to control who all her friends "like" and date, selecting the best matches for them herself. In Nora's opinion, that's in no way, shape or form Hayden, so she does her best to split up him and Paisley. The two girls have to learn what it really means to be best friends as they face new challenges.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and TBR & Beyond Tours for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

For Paisley Manning, her summers have been spent at Camp Seabrook ever since she was a small child. Losing her father was hard for her, but the camp kept her going, even through her mother's new relationship with Dave. But learning that her mam plans on uprooting the family and moving them to Wyoming, selling the Camp in the meantime, Paisley needs a way to stop it. And when bad boy Hayden Bennett finds himself dumped at camp to make up for his graffiti, he and Paisley work together to show her mam that Dave isn't right for the family, and that she can't give up on Camp Seabrooke. Paisley went into the camp expecting it to be her last hurrah, but finding love was definitely not in the cards.

When I heard about this book, I knew it was one I needed to get my hands on, and I was more than right. The Matchbreaker Summer is the perfect read for someone who wants to escape to a summer camp, be completely engrossed in the story, and read about first love and family. Paisley has waited all this time for the summer she is 16, and can finally be a camp counsellor, rather than a camper. But's it's marred by the shock of her mam announcement, and the changes which have already began at her beloved Camp Seabrooke. Having to keep the truth from her friends, and deal with the unexpected arrival of Hayden, Paisley's almost at her wits ends, but after abruptly blurting out her problems to Hayden, they work together to try and make this camp the best they can. I liked how Paisley and Hayden were together, even though they tried to deny their true feelings for so long. Nora, Paisley's friend, sometimes got on my nerves, but nothing too major. All in all, a really nice YA debut from this author, though one probably in the lower age range.

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This book was a great summer camp romance. I enjoyed the way the characters were written, although it made me upset the way the main character reacted (even though I get where she’s coming from).

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The Matchbreaker Summer
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This was a really cute YA story about Paisley who loves her summer camp. But everything is different this year because her mom wants to sell the camp to move with her new boyfriend to Wyoming. When the class trouble maker shows up at camp, he has an interesting idea: just
break them up.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this story! I flew through the pages, wanting to know if Paisley could get her happy ending. There were a lot of feelings throughout the book. And not just because Paisley was a teenager. Paisley was struggling with her own problems before her mom threw the Wyoming curveball.
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I was fully invested in Paisley’s side of things but man were the other characters written so well! I felt for the best friends, the aunt, the trouble maker from school, and even Wyoming boyfriend at one point!
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I would definitely recommend this is YA books are your jam!

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I loved the story of Paisley and bad boy Hayden! Camp Starling is a great place for there first young crush. This camp is a place young teens would love to visit! I can see a series here! Great job on your first YA Annie Rains!

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It was a cute read but a little too predictable. Would definitely recommend to students looking for a quick read.

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