3.5 Stars

Tropes / Tags:

• Martha’s Vineyard / beach getaway read
• Opposites Attract
• Dyslexia / Neurodivergent Rep

Summer Reading is a light-hearted, easy to read romance book – perfect for a little escape or beach read. The book follows Samantha Gale who has come home to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer to housesit and chaperone her teenage half-brother, Tyler, while her parents take a summer getaway. Sam is a chef, recently passed over for a merited promotion, and currently at loose ends as she tries to figure out what is next in her career and her life. The summer will lead in some interesting directions for her as she gets the opportunity to really get to know her much younger half sibling, reconnect with an old friend, and meet an intriguing love interest in the library’s interim director… an interesting twist for Sam, who has dyslexia, and has long struggled with her relationship with books and the written word.

Initially I was drawn to Summer Reading because it had an adorable cover (love a good cover aesthetic), the genre and the author (I’ve read and enjoyed others from her). When I read the blurb, it was definitely a compelling premise – I was intrigued by the chance to see some representation for dyslexia (not something I often come across), as well as the chance to explore a sibling connection.

Some highlights for me:

• Sam and Tyler’s evolving relationship – one of the best parts of the story for me, was seeing the siblings get to know one another and bond. It was an unexpected and sweet highlight. I really liked the age gap between siblings (14 years), I feel like we don’t often see this in books and as someone with a large sibling gap I found it refreshing to see this reflected on the page.

• Neurodivergent Representation / Dyslexia Representation – I love to see different experiences played out in books, representation matters – getting a glimpse into an experience of neurodivergence/dyslexia was eye-opening.

• Ben’s search for his father – it may have been more of a side storyline, but I was intrigued to see what would come of it.

Overall I thought it was a cute, sweet read. The first half went very quickly for me, although I did find a slight lull in the second half of the book – I think mainly because on the romance front it was sweet, but did not have a lot of build up. One I will recommend to others and offer as a suggestion for a fun, easy summer / beach read.

Thank you to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy! All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and freely offered.

I loved Wait for It so I was really looking forward to Summer Reading. Unfortunately, Summer Reading was just not the book for me.

I think what bothered me the most is how easy Sam and Ben's relationship was. There was no enemies to lovers or second chance romance. They just found each other and fell in love right away. There was a small conflict at the end when Ben was being an idiot but overall their relationship didn't have many points of contention.

I do think the education about having a learning disability was very eye opening. It made me appreciate my ability to read even more. Sometimes I take it for granted so this made me realize how truly grateful I am that it comes so easy to me.

This was a quick read so if you're looking for a short romance to finish in an afternoon then this may be for you.