This book surprised me in the best way! I liked, but didn’t love Kristin Rockaway’s How to Hack a Heartbreak, but this one really did it for me! The first few pages didn’t really grab my attention, but the plot moves quickly and I was soon hooked! Loved all the characters, great chemistry, authentic feelings. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Smart Girl Summer is not OMG super great but it does have some redeeming qualities. It is a relatively quick read as the words flow easily. This would definitely be a great beach read where you don't have to obsess about technicalities in the story. There are some great characters including our illustrious billionaire who is not at all how he is portrayed to be. There was SOME chemistry although I didn't see it at first...that connection (only the assistant and daughter kind of pushing for it). All in all, a cute, fun summer read. 3.5 stars rounded up because now I want to go to the Mediterranean.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Abby is a 4th year graduate student and has had her PhD research stolen by her advisor. They also won't give her a summer teaching position. Flustered, she looks for more tutoring work and finds a perfect job: 6th grade math, four hours a day, five days a week, on a yacht in the Mediterranean. No catch - but her new student's billionaire dad is way more attractive than she expected, and did we mention it's a summer in the Mediterranean?

This story really is sweet. The main characters and supporting characters are incredible, and so many wonderful things happen. If you want a happy romance with other aspects to the story that aren't about the romance, featuring a strong female lead, a cool 12-year-old, a man willing to change for the better, and people you want to root for, this is the book for you.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WHAT I LIKED
- I'm wild about this cover and title!
- The descriptions of life on the yacht and Abby's sightseeing adventures were fun. The author did a wonderful job of making those scenes feel immersive.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK FOR ME
- The writing felt juvenile and unpolished, with too many thought monologues. I lost count of how many times the author described the male character as "wounded," and I cringed through a scene where the main characters watch Titanic and compare each other to Jack and Rose.

Read this if you liked The Cheat Sheet or Shipped.

Smart Girl Summer is a Young Adult novel that advertises itself as a romance, but really is a realistic rendition of a young woman growing up and discovering the mundane and oft times slow-paced experiences that life has to offer. It’s slow unfurling story may turn off some readers, but sometimes it’s nice to take a realistic peak into someone’s normal life. It’s a nice reminder that one person’s “boring” is another person’s “bucolic peace”.

Abby needs a job and Richard needs a tutor for his 12 year old daughter Bijou, who failed math. Oh, and he's a billionaire who has rented a yacht. This is a quick, entertaining, albeit troope-y read which is buoyed by the characters. Abby's casting about for something after her Phd has gone off the rails and tutoring, which below her skills, fills the bill, especially since Richard has them cruising European waters. Richard is a bit cardboard but Bijou makes up for it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

2.75/5 Stars

So, this was a light read, but I'm sorry to say it was just average for me. I'm gonna be honest and say that I was hoping for more romance from this novel, instead I got a lukewarm relationship with no spark whatsoever, which was a bit of a bummer.
The glamorous lifestyle and summer vibes were lovely to read about, but that's about it, it didn't go any further than that unfortunately.
Overall this book just wasn't it for me, it just wasn't anything memorable and I will probably forget its story pretty soon.

While there's nothing wrong with the writing, I just cannot give this book more than two stars. My primary issue is with the male romantic lead - I think we're supposed to be swooning because gosh, he's just so normal for a billionaire, but I was really uncomfortable through most of the book. Abby is in a vulnerable position; her academic career is up in the air after her research was stolen by her advisor, and she's left tutoring for the summer while she figures out whether she wants to continue to pursue her PhD if it means having to start from scratch. Enter the billionaire: Richard needs someone to tutor his daughter in math, from the comfort of their private yacht (which is supposed to be okay because he rented it, instead of buying it outright, I guess? and he isn't overly extravagant! he's just a normal billionaire! But I digress).

There are sparks between Abby and Richard (HER BOSS), but she tries to resist them, because she knows it will jeopardize her tutoring job (because it is literally in her contract not to fraternize with her tutoring students' parents). She ends up being unable to resist Richard's smoldering looks and they fall into a secret affair, and then embrace their relationship when his daughter says she's fine with it (because the 12 year old's opinion should override ethical and contractual agreements!) When paparazzi catch Abby and Richard leaving a hotel after a night together, Abby's name is dragged through the mud... and Richard tells her it's the price of dating him and to just get used to it. She loses her contract with the tutoring agency in the process.

While Richard does eventually see the error of his ways, there's really too much here that gave me major icks around this guy. It's 2022... the "falling for a wealthy bachelor despite his flaws because you can save him!!!" trope doesn't hold any appeal for me, sorry.

This is a light and easy read with a bit of so heavier topics (the struggles of women in STEM and academic fraud, the privacy and gossip of celebrity etc). The story mentions many lovely places the characters visit with gorgeous settings and has some adventurous tourist activities mentioned in it. There is some romance to it but no spicy moments involved.

Enjoyable, breezy, light summer romance. Grad student Abby takes a job tutoring a billionaire's daughter as they sail around the Mediterranean on a yacht for the summer. Great location descriptions and interesting, developed characters. Perfect beach/vacation read!

I have enjoyed other work but this author but really struggled to find anything redeeming about his book. Save your money

I’m going to be brutally honest and just say this was not good. The writing quality is particularly bad, the characters lack substance, and everything felt inauthentic.

For a book about spending a summer on a yacht in Europe, I didn’t get any cute travel vibes or feel like I was there. I could romanticize my kitchen better than this author could with Spain, France, and Italy. Additionally, this felt like reading a YA novel, despite being about a twenty something year old who falls for a billionaire. Unbelievably childish and the romance was laughable.

I’m usually not this harsh, but this was just a waste of time.

1.5⭐️

This was a quick fun read - perfect for beach season! I loved Abby as our narrator; her questioning grad school and her path came across as super relatable. The surrounding characters were also fun; I’d say my least favorite of them was Richard himself. He came across a bit 1 dimensional at times and while I enjoyed their connection I didn’t feel chemistry. I especially loved the connection with Bijou (albeit her poor name choice).

I’m looking forward to Rockaway’s next. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I snagged this on Netgalley when it was available as ‘Read Now’ without knowing too much about it. After a quick read of the synopsis, I assumed it would be a single-dad billionaire romance with an idyllic Mediterranean yacht setting. I was pretty much right and, for the most part, I enjoyed it! It was a very easy read and interesting enough to hold my attention. I found myself more interested in the first half than the second half though. Abby, a 4th year Physics PhD who was just wronged by her academic advisor, was a likable main character, and I’m always drawn to STEM heroines. She takes a tutoring job and falls for her student’s hot, high profile father. Bonus points for him being a hot nerd who unwinds with a good fantasy book! I really loved Abby and Richard’s pining over each other and thought they had decent chemistry but it just completely fizzled out for me once they actually got around to dating. They mostly bonded over Richard’s relationship with his daughter which was all well and good but didn’t really scream romance. I really loved how Abby encouraged Richard though and helped him be a better father. Despite being a romance, I think the romance was actually my least favorite part of the book. I was most intrigued by the academic scandal and felt the conclusion to that was a bit underwhelming. Aside from some kissing, the romance in this book is closed door. I would classify this more as Women’s fiction. Overall, a decent read but not an entirely memorable one.

Easy read! A bit more predictable than maybe I wanted but it was okay.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

Short and quick summer read about a woman who is ready for the change in her life. The big change is that she starts to work for a billionaire and they quickly fell in love without showing any affection for each other. Then they broke up after the media destroys Abby’s carrier and the outcome is predictable.
I’m not saying it’s a bad book. I’ve had some fun reading it, but I expected more under the title ‘smart girl summer’.
But if someone looking for an easy joyful read, this book is the right pick.

Ok, this was a good try!! Picked up this romance set on a super yacht because of my obsession with Below Deck and that aspect of it did not disappoint. Here, we have a PhD student looking to set her life back on track and make some money over the summer by being a tutor for a billionaire's kid as they yacht around Europe over 6 weeks. First of all, how lucky can you possibly BE to get that as a grad school summer job. Right away, my eyes want to start rolling, but I stuck it through.

So, of course, the tutor and the billionaire (who is a playboy in the tabloids?! But he's not really at all!?) start to make eyes at each other. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a fun call back, but every time they are in a scene together, it starts with him saying her name and her saying "the small hairs on the back of my neck stood up." EVERY. TIME. I don't know why that stuck out to me, but unfortunately it does sum up what I felt about this book - it was not anything special and it felt like elementary writing. It just seemed outdated and obvious, but I enjoyed traipsing through Europe on a yacht through the eyes of this naive woman.

There are few things better than easy, breezy billionaire romances you can read in a weekend, and Smart Girl Summer has it all: academia, foreign backdrops you can get lost in, a hot older man who's rich and also just a great guy. Basically, three things every girl wants in her own life but will settle with reading about in literature. This book was a lot of fun! While I wasn't super drawn in by the writing style, I still enjoyed this book as a fun escape into the glamorous world of billionaire living. I definitely felt FOMO as Abby traveled across Europe in a luxury yacht (when will it be MY TURN), and her relationship with Bijou (the girl she's hired to tutor for the summer) was very sweet. All in all, the perfect dose of escapism we're all searching for!

I had such a fun time reading Smart Girl Summer 😍 Kristin writes such wonderfully complex characters - reading their journeys was so enjoyable!!

There's nothing like picking up a romance read that pulls you right in, and I'll tell you what friends ~ Smart Girl Summer does just that!

It was so amazingly atmospheric, I especially loved all the travel descriptions!! I'd definitely recommend, if you're looking for a fun, easy romance read perfect for the summer! 🥳