wow. wow. wow.

I devoured this in one day! There is so much to love about this book. First off, the cover is adorable. The plot? adorable. The spice? hot, hot, hot! Sam and Ben were such a delight from the very beginning. This book also covers topics of dyslexia and being neurodiverse with such care. The author really wrote a beautiful story around inclusivity and visibility that I really cherished. I do want to take time to note that I also really loved the Portuguese background and culture in this story. My boyfriend is Portuguese so I was salivating at all of the different dishes and it really had me missing his VoVo and her home cooked meals!

This had so many elements to love and probably should be on everyone's summer reading/beach reads list!

Read if you like:
-Single POV
-He's a librarian & she's dyslexic
-Complicated families
-FOOD, calling all foodies
-Audiobooks!! We all know its the elite way to read
-The sexiest scene while he's reading to her (YEP)
-Sibling bonding
-Martha's Vineyard summer vibes

Disclaimer/Spoiler(y): there IS a third act break up, which we don't really get a deep dive into (which is probably my only complaint) but don't worry there is an HEA. This is why I would give it about a 4.5 star rating!

Thank you Netgalley, Berkley Romance and Jenn McKinlay for an eARC of this book. I adoredddd it!

I really great romance featuring a neurodivergent lead, a hot librarian, and a sizzling New England summer. I really enjoyed this story, the main character is awkward, flawed and real. Her relationship with both her brother and romantic interest grow in a really beautiful and realistic way. The whole story is full of scenery that makes you feel like you’re spending a summer on the island and all of the characters are wonderful.

3.75 stars

Jenn McKinlay concocted a really fun summer beach read. Summer Reading follows Samantha who hates anything to do with reading mainly because of her dyslexia. She falls for a bookish librarian named Bennett. I swoon over a main male character who is bookish! I wish this book was dual POV because Bennett was an absolute delight, and I would have loved to read his POV.

On to the atmosphere, if the book is set in Martha's Vineyard (which Summer Reading is), I am absolutely sold on that setting alone! The perfect summer beach read vibes!

Sam also has a younger half-brother who she is chaperoning, and I have to give Jenn McKinlay credit for writing this teen character very well. Sometimes kids are not portrayed realistically, but Jenn nailed it! I love that in watching him and teaching him Samantha was also able to get some insight from her younger bro and that experience with him helped her character grow because she needed it!

Which brings me to the part of the book I did not like, and it was a big part considering Sam is the narrator of the story. I found her to be a little too self-depreciating and had no sense of self awareness of the queen that she is. With that being said, it leaves plenty of room for character development, so if that is your jam then you might enjoy this book more than I did.

I recommend this book for people who are looking for a beach read/summer vibes, opposites attract, a bookish boyfriend, and dyslexia and neurodivergent representation.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Berkley, and Jenn McKinlay for the ARC.

Summer Reading is available for purchase right now!

The attraction between Ben and Sam is irresistible - which McKinley writes perfectly. The scenes are sizzling and the sexual tension exquisite. What I loved about this novel is the inclusion of a neuro divergent character with dyslexia. Sam's character is written with empathy and in a realistic way. I enjoyed reading what is inside her head and the reason for her choices.

I wanted to love this book so badly and I enjoyed it, but didn't love. What I loved was the scene, Martha's Vineyard in the summer, a budding romance between a librarian and a chef, and a chance for more family bonds to grow between siblings. I loved the focus on dislexia and ADHD and a real glimpse into someone's experience of how it affects their every day life because that is a disability that is frequently downplayed.

However the romance fell flat; so many generalizations about "Readers" and the characters just didn't feel well developed or multidimensional over the course of the book.

This was a great summer read. Our main character Sam has dyslexia and I thought the representation for that in the book was awesome. The whole book is about Sam spending the summer in Martha's Vineyard watching after her 14 year old brother and trying to find a new chef position.
We also have some romance between her and Ben, a library director and book lover. I did like how the male was the book lover in this read as it's usually the female, that was a fun twist.
Overall enjoyed this read. It was fun, romantic and dealt with some tough topics. do feel like it was trying to do to many things though. It was a little scattered for me if that makes sense.

I had abandoned a few books by the time I picked up Summer Reading, at the urging of my mother (who loved it), which I had been putting it off for a ridiculously long time prepublication. I think it was because I was saving it, knowing that I love Jenn McKinlay’s stories, for the perfect moment. And then I was just annoyed that I had put it off so long, because it’s great.

What I Loved:
- It’s a thoughtful and sensitive story about a woman with dyslexia. AND the author advocated for it to be printed in dyslexic-friendly font and format!
- Therefore we also have a, rare, leading lady who isn’t a bookworm. BUT she discovers new appreciations and avenues to prose with a little help, but never pity.
- The sibling story is a source of humor, delight, and a little heartache.
- All the foodie boxes are checked!
- A romantic interest seems like a total opposite, but the way they grow together and discover how compatible they are is deftly done.

What I didn’t like:
- The “sleuthing” (biological dad search) was a bit half-assed and didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
- The parental relationships and dysfunction are a major part of the main characters’ issues but I don’t think they get enough resolution.

Overall, though, I loved this book and devoured it in two days. The emotional layers had me glued to the pages and the connections, along with great secondary characters, created a rich and fulfilling story. (And I’m so excited Em will get her own book)

Summer Reading is the story of Ben and Sam. Sam is a chef who comes back to her home town to chaperone her younger brother while her parents go on a vacation. Ben is the interim library director. While they both find instant attraction to each other, they also have their own challenges to sort through while there. I enjoyed that they coupled up so quickly and that we got so much time with them together on page. I loved watching Sam grow into herself and into her family and also watching her find her place with Ben. It was a fast easy read, but had some depth to it as well.

I am sorry but this just wasn’t my favorite read. I didn’t dislike it but also didn’t love it. The writing was okay. The cover was cute at least. Literally no other thoughts.

DNF at 32%. Okay after literally sleeping on it and reading a few reviews this morning, I'm quitting this one. I have a lot to say about it but will try to keep it brief. I adored the cover, have enjoyed McKinlay in the past, and love Martha's Vineyard. I wanted a great beach read with some bookish elements, family feels, and a cute relationship. There was honestly a lot going on here, which I usually enjoy. I like when the side characters (friends, love interest, family members, etc.) feel well-developed and fleshed out. However, the beginnings of dramatic side plots for Ben and Em were looking like too much for me in a romance (and kind of out of place). I read a few spoilers in reviews to confirm this choice and oh boy did it solidify my decision to quit. Just not necessary. The MC is neurodivergent and has dyslexia. I liked this and was intrigued to know more about something I'm fairly unfamiliar with. I don't think it was well done and she brought it up constantly throughout the story. Yes, I TOTALLY understand why this would be the case and perhaps it's good representation! I don't personally know. But it felt like it was the ONLY thing about her instead of just one part of who she was as a person. There were some utterly cringey moments, like the dancing??? and the fact that Jessica felt so juvenile. The writing was too. It was just reaaally weird and so cheesy! I loved the MV setting, the culinary aspects, and the family feels that I experienced in the first third of the book. Truly did! It's why it took me a while to decide to quit this one. If the book focused more on those and eliminated one or two of the side plots, I think it would have gone down to a reasonable length (it's over 400 pages, almost 500!??).

Sam quit her job after being passed over for a promotion as head chef she suspects is due to her dyslexia. Now she’s spending the summer at Martha’s Vineyard to watch her younger half-brother, Tyler, while her parents are off on a European vacation. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. She can figure out what her next move will be while getting to know her younger brother.

On the ferry ride out she has an unfortunate accident with Ben, who she finds out is the library director. A man she’ll be seeing daily thanks to the Tyler’s robotics program taking place at the library where Ben works. There are sparks of attraction, but Sam wonders how a relationship would ever work when she has such issues with reading and Ben’s so very bookish. They end up thrown together over and over, and Sam offers to help Ben with his search for his father, and while Ben helps Sam write a cookbook with all the recipes her beloved grandmother shared with her.

Summer Reading was an easy romance to settle into and enjoy. I didn’t realize the hurdles some with dyslexia have to navigate and I appreciated learning about it through Sam’s story. My heart went out to her and the insecurities she struggled with because of it. I loved how Ben helped her realize how talented and smart she was and how wonderfully she coped with her disability. He was a sweetheart and a bookish hottie! Hard to resist!

Besides that, Sam was a spunky extrovert and a lot of fun! I enjoyed seeing her get to know her younger brother more, bond bring him out of some of his teenage angst. I really liked Em, Sam’s best friend, and enjoyed seeing them reconnect. Em’s story is next, and it sounds like a good one! Set in Ireland at a bookstore, I’m so there!

I DNF'd this book at 30%. And I rarely DNF books.

I liked the idea of this book as well as the cover art and thought that it would be a great summer romcom read. In practice, however, I found the main character to be unlikeable and immature for a late 20-something who is supposed to be chaperoning a teenage boy. Additionally, I found myself physically cringing at my Kindle when she began a public dance-off with a stranger following her catering event. And then her teen brother was "so impressed" by her amazing moves he immediately went home to practice them? This felt corny and unrealistic even within the confines of the genre.

It didn't feel like a book written for adults as much as the script of a television show written for tweens in the early aughts.

5 stars = Outstanding!

I loved everything about this one - the characters, the setting, the set up, the dyslexia pieces, the family pieces, the romance - all of it was exactly what I was in the mood to read. Highly recommend (Language, sex)

I'm giving this summer romance novel 3.5 stars!

Synopsis: Very simply, a sexy chef with dyslexia bumps into a dreamy librarian on a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. Samantha, the sexy chef, is traveling to her family home for the summer to watch her younger sibling while their parents go on vacation - the timing works perfectly as she recently left her chef job after being passed up for a promotion. On the ferry to the Vineyard, Sam meets a hot, bookish guy and begins a transformative summer she could have never predicted.

An important part of this novel is that Sam, the main character, has dyslexia. I dated someone with dyslexia, so I have experience being in a relationship with someone who struggles with reading. Still, there's always more to learn about supporting the neurodivergent people in our lives. It's important to note that "Summer Reading" intentionally made it easier for those with dyslexia to read the book with dyslexia-friendly font, margins, and bolding - great to see representation in a book but also putting words into action.

All of the characters in this book are so warm and lovely (outside of Ben's mother, ew), every character was so likable, and I was rooting for all of them. I loved the banter between Sam and Ben; it was so lovely to read the blossoming half-sibling relationship between Sam and her brother Tyler, the sweet best friendship between Sam and Em, and even the short bit of dialogue readers got between Sam's father and his children when he and his wife arrive home from vacation. Yes, this book was a romance, but so many intertwining stories and relationships made it even more wholesome and gave it a lot of depth for a "summer read."

However, some plots weren't necessary that, in the end, lengthened the book too much. The story with Ben and his mother, the only unlikeable character in the book, and him trying to find his father...I don't know. It just didn't feel necessary, and it didn't move the story along, and gah, reading any interaction between Ben/his mother or even Sam made me want to stop reading. There's a certain length that a summer read should be...and this book surpassed that length.

However, I want to give Jenn McKinlay's other novels a chance, especially after reading a little excerpt of Em's story!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I knew I was going to love Summer Reading from the very first pages, which are actually a note from the author. McKinlay shared that she did a lot of research on dyslexia and other learning disabilities to carefully portray the heroine in this story. In doing so, she learned many things about how she could ask the publisher to change the printing of the actual book to make it more dyslexic friendly. It was nice to see this being addressed both by the character on the page and in the actual printing of the book itself. I hope other books will be printed with these things in mind going forward. Small changes can make books more accessible for everyone to enjoy!

That being said, the story itself was just a warm, wonderful read. I loved Samantha and Ben – they were both easy to connect with. Sam had a lot stacked against her at the beginning of the story and it was fun to see her stretch herself outside of her comfort zone to achieve things she wasn’t sure she was capable of. I’m a big fan of Jenn McKinlay and this story is one more example of why!

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Summer Reading is a relaxing, feel-good contemporary romance perfect for a beach day. Samantha, a neurodivergent professional chef between jobs, is relieved when her father invites her to stay at their family home on Martha’s Vineyard to “chaperone” her fourteen year old half-brother for the summer. Her plans for a quiet, uneventful summer are tossed aside entirely when she meets Ben-the-hot-librarian on the ferry over. As Sam forges a relationship with her brother, Tyler, and reconnects with her oldest friend, Em, Ben falls easily into step beside her, helping her to recognize and appreciate her brain for all of the impressive things that it can do rather than feel ashamed of her learning disability.

I loved the role reversal that Jenn McKinlay developed here. In my experience, the charming bookish protagonist is almost always a woman, while characters in the culinary arts are typically more masculine. Not only did I love to see the representation of neurodivergence (as well as hypochondria, which I expect to see more of in book #2.) I also really appreciated McKinlay’s efforts to accommodate neurodivergent readers by selecting a dyslexia-friendly typeface and format. Books like this are the reason why I will always argue that no genre is more inclusive than romance. Lastly, I absolutely adored the sibling rivalry turned affinity between Tyler and Sam.

I really enjoyed this fun and flirty summer romance! The bookworm MMC and the woman who would rather do anything than read was a nice twist on the usual female bookworm characters. Also, I really appreciated the FMC's struggle with dyslexia - I haven't encountered that challenge in many other stories and I thought it was really well done as part of the character development in this book.

The supporting characters in this book were well done - the MMC's quest to find out who his father is felt a little out of place at times, but overall the storyline was enjoyable. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced copy to read and review!

This was a really sweet romance with a hint of steam and intriguing characters. Sam is a neurodiverse chef and Ben is a librarian that loves to read. I thought the author did a great job with a sensitive subject and also created a delightful chemistry between all the characters and I loved the family vibes. The audiobook is fantastic and I enjoyed every moment lost in this book.

I have been waiting for this book ever since Berkley promoted it on Instagram in the past few weeks. And I have some mixed feelings about it.
Let me first say that I truly enjoyed the different representation that Summer Reading represented. We have dyslexia and neurodivergence representation, which is a true joy to read in Summer Reading. It gives us an understanding of the characters' behaviors in the book.
Second, I have a problem with the characters' chemistry with each other. They started off rough in the beginning, so I could really picture them together. It wasn’t until the middle that I felt something for them as a couple, which is a bit too late in my opinion. I need to read about their chemistry or attraction for each other from the beginning or leading into the middle.
Third, I love the summer vibes that this book gives off. It made me excited for the summer to come. And I think it’s truly a perfect read for the summer season or the pool season as well. Its setting is around Martha's Vineyard, which is the perfect summer destination.
Fourth, I wish this book was marketed as a fiction read or a women's fiction read rather than a romance read. The romance part wasn’t really the main focus of this book. It was truly about the two characters' journeys in life rather than their romance with each other. They have bigger issues to deal with.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about this book. But I can say that I did enjoy reading it as a whole. I just wish certain parts were different.
If you enjoy reading fiction centered around the characters' life journey rather than the romance aspect, then you will enjoy reading Summer Reading.

Unfortunately, I just did not buy the chemistry in this one. I did like Samantha and Bennett overall as a characters, but their romance just never clicked for me. I am not turned off by this author though and see potential for a favorite in the future.