After a meet-cute that involved a book being thrown overboard a ferry, this cute summertime romance is just as charming as it is funny. Summer Reading follows Sam, an ambitious chef who has returned to her hometown of Martha's Vineyard to look after her half-brother for the summer. While being back and connecting with her sibling is rewarding, it also brings back bitter memories of her feeling left out due to her dyslexia. This is where Ben comes in, the new boss of the town's library, and the book owner Sam mistakenly throws overboard. After that awkward encounter and their constant running into each other, Sam and Ben begin to form a bond in which they help each other and catch feelings along the way.

I thought this was so adorable! The relationship between Sam and Ben can be described as pure. They have so much love and mutual respect from the beginning, making their love story even more enjoyable. While I would have liked to see a little more romance and a little less side plot of their personal lives, I still thought this was a swoon and binge-worthy romance perfect for summer.

Samantha goes back to Martha's vineyard, after being gone for 10 years, to watch her teenage brother while their dad and mom go on a trip to Europe. Sam thought she would be spending her summer on the beach. She had not counted on building a relationship with her brother or falling in love.
I loved this book! The chemistry between Samantha and Ben is so hot! I love how Ben is not judgmental of Samantha's disability, rather he helps her through it. I also enjoyed watching the sister and brother relationship that gets built between Sam and Tyler. Just an all around wholesome story.

When Samantha’s father and step mom ask her to come to the Vineyard for the summer and watch her 14 year old step brother for the summer while they take a European vacation, Samantha jumps at the chance. Being that she is now unemployed, she could use a place to stay, and how hard can watching a 14 year old be? When she meets Ben, sparks immediately fly, but how could a bookworm like Ben want a dyslexic like her?

Being such a big reader, it is so hard to imagine how hard reading can be for some people. I truly loved that McKinlay included so much about dyslexia in this book. The authors note in the front of the book was really beautiful and I loved everything done to make this book easier for everyone to read. I also adored Ben and Sam’s relationship and how supportive they were of each other throughout the story. plus the side characters of Em and Tyler were fabulous as well. Overall I found this book super enjoyable but also informative!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️.75

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆:
- Opposites Attract
- Lovable Characters
- Sibiling Bonding
- Dyslexia/Neurodivergent Rep
- Yummy Portuguese Food

It might be Spring but reading these felt a warm summer day on the beach. The story of Samantha and Ben was very cute and had me smiling (and blushing). I mean, what is hotter than Ben (a librarian) having Sam sit in his lap while he reads her a romance novel? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

McKinlay does a wonderful job of representing dyslexia and how Samantha has had to compensate and try to hide it her whole life. I've never understood just how hard it was for those with dyslexia and this book really opened my eyes to their struggles.

I gave this a 4 because there is a side story of Sam and her best friends health that kind of went nowhere and I would have much rather had those pages spent with Sam and Ben diving more into the journey of finding out who Ben's dad is.

I would've loved to just see more Ben and Sam overall because while their romance is cute and steamy, the best part of the book for me was how Sam's relationship with her younger brother blossomed and they were able to overcome their past differences.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced ecopy of this book in exchanged for a fair and honest review.

While I enjoyed Summer Reading - let's be honest what's not to love about a book where the hot male lead is a librarian!?!?!? - I felt that it was far too repetitive in its writing. I felt that it didn't really dive into the emotional aspect of the story and everything was just too surface level. I ended up skimming the last 25% of the book just to see how it ended, but I was fairly close to DNFing this one.

Jenn McKinlay has firmly cemented herself as one of my favorite authors. I have yet to find a series or story I did not enjoy and Summer Reading is no exception.

When a chef comes home to Martha's vineyard to regroup and spend time with her family she is not expecting the local library director to upend her whole world and we are so glad he does. I am not sure if I enjoyed the story of sam bonding with her half brother or the tenderness of the bidding romance more here.

When you are ready for a feel good read with lots of heart, Summer Reading will be waiting and ready to fill your order.

Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay is a delightful romantic comedy that will leave you with a smile on your face. The story revolves around Samantha Gale, a chef who finds herself spending the summer on Martha's Vineyard with her half-brother Tyler. Sam is dyslexic and dislikes libraries, which poses a problem when Tyler spends his summer there participating in a robotics competition. Things get complicated when Sam meets Bennett Reynolds, the interim director of the library, who happens to be a bookworm, and whose book she accidentally destroyed on the ferry ride to the island.

The chemistry between Sam and Ben is immediate and palpable, and their banter is both witty and charming. As they work together to create the cookbook Sam has always dreamed of and help Ben find his father, their relationship deepens, and they realize they may have found something more significant than a summer fling.

The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the story is full of humor, heart, and a little bit of mystery. The descriptions of Martha's Vineyard are vivid and transport the reader to this idyllic location, making it the perfect summer read.

Summer Reading is a perfect blend of romance, humor, and mystery, making it an enjoyable read for fans of all genres. Jenn McKinlay's writing is engaging, and the plot is well-crafted, making this book hard to put down. If you're looking for a lighthearted and entertaining romantic comedy to read this summer, then Summer Reading is the book for you. Highly recommended!

Summer Reading is the perfect title. This will be the perfect vacation read for people looking for a light, easy to read romance.

I think those going in hoping for a book centered around a romantic filled summer, will be slightly disappointed. While this is a wonderful book, it’s not really a romance, it’s more of women's fiction with romance as a secondary plot line. There are moments where the romance is front and centered, but overall this book felt like the protagonist's journey to self discovery.

Overall this book was a great read. The theme resonated with me and the relationships kept this book fresh. The writing felt vivid to where the pages would jump from the pages and I would easily get myself lost in the book. This was a quick and heartwarming read that makes this perfect “summer reading”. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC

A nice forced-proximity romance to while away summer hours. Our two main characters are stuck on a tiny island for the season, one babysitting and the other trying to discover family secrets. As they get to know each other more they can't help but get closer. The question is, can this new found romance make it past the summer?

Nice escapist reading.

3.5 stars
This cover is amazing! It’s perfect for a read at the book on a hot day. I do appreciate the author bringing awareness to dyslexia and writing in a friendly format. A++ for that! I think for the most part this was a quick read but I feel like it was slow at times and I would lose grasp with it. I was itching for more romance between Sam and Ben. It felt half done. Loved the rest of the characters and the setting!

A super light hearted summer read. I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend to others who are looking for a good beach read.

This was such a cute read with an opposites attract trope! What drew me in initially was the colorful cover, but when I found out it was set in Martha's Vineyard and featured a chef and librarians, I was all in. The author's note explains how the book was printed specifically for those with dyslexia (e.g., bolded words instead of italics for emphasis) and features a neurodivergent protagonist to make rom-coms more inclusive. When the protagonist falls in love with the interim library director (who is obviously a big reader), McKinlay expertly proves that libraries can support those who struggle with reading in unexpected ways. I loved it and I wish that more books were as inclusive as this one.

"For Samantha Gale, a summer on Martha's Vineyard at her family's tiny cottage was supposed to be about resurrecting her career as a chef, until she's tasked with chaperoning her half-brother, Tyler. The teenage brainiac is spending his summer at the local library in a robotics competition, and there's no place Sam, who's dyslexic, likes less than the library. But when an irresistible attraction blossoms when Ben, acting library director, inspires Sam to create the cookbook she's always dreamed about, they realize their summer fling may heat up into a happily ever after."

Sweet and Inclusive, this was full of Loveable characters!

Thanks to Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

Hot librarian meets sexy chef who doesn't read. That's the high level plot summary but it leaves out the best parts of the story. Samantha Gale is summering in Martha's Vineyard to chaperone her 14 year old stepbrother while her father and stepmother go on a trip of a lifetime. It's a good chance to figure things out after quitting her job after being passed over for promotion. Interestingly we learn about dyslexia, how it manifests, the prejudice against those who have it and the coping skills used to overcome it. Another plus are the Interesting two-dimensional characters. I especially loved the family dynamics where Samantha loves her stepmother and her mother. No villains here. The relationship between Samantha and jot librarian, Ben, heats up quickly without relying on too familiar tropes. The only reason I rounded down to 4.5 stars is the plot contrivance keeping our lovers apart towards the end of the book. It rang a little false to me. Overall this is an engaging and sexy read with surprising depth.

This book was so cute!! I’ve been wanting to read some of Jenn’s work for a while and this was the perfect book to start with. I fell in love with Sam and Ben and I loved seeing their relationship develop. Sam had me cracking up at every turn and Ben had me swooning over his thoughtfulness when it came to Sam. I loved seeing the sibling relationship between Tyler and Sam, too! I can’t wait to read Em’s book.

Not your average book lover-book hater romance.

Jenn McKinlay has taken the traditional trope, inverted it, and sprinkled in neurodivergences. Representation across literature has been on the rise, and here is dyslexia getting its spotlight.

Samantha Gale would rather do anything else than read. She masked her dyslexia for years, fearing discrimination and ridicule. After leaving her chef job in the city, Samantha revisits her family home in Martha's Vineyard. her task is to babysit her fifteen year old brother while their parents are traveling across Europe.

Struggling with being an older sister and trying to figure out what to do with her career, Samantha has caught the eye of the library's director, Ben. Samantha is doubtful that this relationship can work with the book obsessed librarian and her dyslexic brain.

McKinlay has written a beautiful book that highlights the positives of being dyslexic. It's not a disability, it's a gift that allows those to view and navigate the world in a different way. And the book is published to be friendly to those with dyslexia and other reading disorders.

Just couldn't get into this one, about halfway through I put it down and haven't been able to pick it back up. Maybe it's because I'm a librarian myself but the love interest just felt incredibly shallow, it was like he had a token career that would be easy to write about. Loved the inclusion of dyslexia but otherwise just couldn't get into the characters.

This is the perfect beach read for this summer. It is an utter delight! It's fun, witty and flirty and takes place on Martha's Vineyard. I had a smile on my face the whole time I read it.

Sam is a chef that is on a ferry on her way home to the Vineyard to look after her teenage half brother, while her dad and step mom go to Europe for a month. This is when after the cutest of meet cutes she meets hot librarian Ben. Sam and Ben are oposites. Sam is an extrovert, Ben is and extrovert. Sam has dyslexia and Ben is a voracious reader. It's wonderful to see opposites attract. Sam's relationship with her 14 year half brother is really great too. the rapport was wonderful, and hilarious.

I appreciated the respresentation of a neurodiverse character, and I learned a lot about dsylexia.

Fans of Jenn McKinlay will enjoy a couple of fun easter eggs in the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkely Publishing group for the ARC.

Sam is back at Martha's Vineyard after being passed over for a promotion at the restaurant she worked at. She's nervous about spending the Summer taking care of her younger stepbrother. On the ferry to the island, she has a run in with an attractive guy reading a book and somehow his book ends up in the ocean. Sam might hate reading because of her dyslexia, but she doesn't want to litter! When she goes to visit her friend, Em, at the library where Em works, Sam is shocked to discover that "hot book guy" is actually the director of the library, Ben, and they definitely have a spark.

While Sam is an interesting character, and the dyslexia representation is good, some areas of this novel fall short. The writing is at times repetitive and seems more suited to a teen audience than an adult audience. Sam and Ben's relationship is ok, but lacks some development. The best part of this novel for me was Sam's relationship with her younger brother and the way in which they were able to heal their relationship to become friends.

Summer Reading is a brilliant contemporary novel with relatable characters, great writing, and a really memorable romance. I ended up loving Sam and Ben so much more than I thought I would, and I was pretty sad when I got to the last chapter. Lucky for me it seems there’s going to be another book in the series following a different character, and that’s already firmly on my wish list!

Sam is a complicated character, late twenties and at a kind of crossroads in her life, and she’s also dyslexic. I admit I didn’t know a huge amount about dyslexia before reading this, but I now know an awful lot more, which I’m grateful for. The author does a good job of explaining and educating, and the book will even be published with dyslexic readers in mind — there’ll be the right fonts and bold letters used instead of italics, which I think is a fantastic thing to do, and I hope more publishers jump on board.

Alongside Sam, chef extraordinaire, and Ben, who works at the local library, Summer Reading’s supporting characters are all well-written too. I particularly liked Sam’s half brother Tyler, and her best friend Em. Both were well realised, and provided humour and drama in equal measure. Sam and Ben, though… sigh. They’re the stars of the show, as they should be, and their story had me so invested in their lives. I wish Sam hadn’t been quite so self-deprecating all the time; it got a little repetitive, and I just wanted her to stop putting herself down. It was realistic though, as I know how hard it can be to escape from your own negative thoughts and feelings.

Summer Reading is a thoroughly enjoyable book, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an addictive summer read. It’s set on Martha’s Vineyard, has many Jaws references, and a romance that’ll stay with you for days after you finish the final page. I’m now going to seek out Jenn McKinlay’s other contemporary fiction in the hope that it’s as good as this… fingers crossed it is!