Unfortunately, I fell very middle of the road on this book. On one hand, I was able to flow through the narration relatively painlessly as far as readability--but I just didn't connect with the characters as much as I'd hoped I would have. I'm definitely interested in more from this author, but for now I'm leaving this with three stars and a bit of disappointment. Thank you for the ARC!

This was possible one of my favorite reads of this year. An adult summer camp sets the stage for this adorable beach read that packs just the right amount of angst and love. Not only that, but its queer! Which that in itself makes it top tier. I've never been one for the found family trope, but this is the second one this year that I have fallen in love with. Garland doesn't go to this camp to find love, but to find herself. After recently going through a divorce from her husband, she is just trying to figure out just in fact who she is. Thats when Stevie steps in. The two bond and become friends all while Garland is falling in love with her. This gave me all those wonderful butterflies in the stomach moments and the heart skipping. It hit all the right spots.

https://lesbrary.com/that-summer-feeling-by-bridget-morrissey/

That Summer Feeling delivers exactly that. A beach read set at an adult summer camp, this read is low angst and very wholesome. The beginning of the book starts out with a bit of chaos: a flashback to the past, a bit of family history to set the stage, and a frantic rush through the airport to catch a flight—not to mention a vision (there’s a light helping of woo in the beginning, but the book doesn’t involve much magical realism). But the pace slows considerably after the prologue, as the rest of the book spans the course of only seven days.

Our main character Garland requires a bit of patience—she’s 32 years old with zero sense of self identity, though the thing she’s got going for her is the awareness of that flaw. It’s one of the reasons she’s at this camp. Garland is licking her wounds from a recent divorce (to a man; this a toaster oven situation) but is also sort of letting the divorce define her in the same way that the relationship defined her. She was Married—now she’s Divorced. And she might just be done with romance, unless of course her fella decides to take her back. She’s hoping this summer camp will lead to a new start.

On paper, Garland is the sort of character that should really annoy me. She might really annoy you. But I found her to be so obtuse about her own feelings that it was actually kind of hilarious. When she meets Stevie, her roommate at camp, she’s immediately fascinated by her, and the two form a “camp alliance.” Despite enjoying her new friend’s company more than is typical of a platonic relationship, Garland takes a while to come around to realizing her queerness. It’s not for a lack of having queer friends or exposure to the idea of sexuality being fluid, she’s just been so caught up in a heteronormative idea of things like marriage as a measure of success she’s never paused to consider her sexuality.

Vague spoilers: Once she realizes her feelings for Stevie are romantic, it opens the floodgates for her Big Moment of Self Realization. For those who hate the instalove trope, you’ll likely not love Insta I Just Figured My Shit Out either, so you’ve been warned! It does make for a refreshing third act when our main character, in a situation where a main character usually does something monumentally stupid, instead shows her growth as a person. It’s tough to pull off that kind of low angst read yet still maintain tension through the end of the book, but That Summer Feeling gets it right.

There are also some solid themes of found family, not needing others to define your worth, and the difficulty developing adult friendships. With the addition of tropes that keep things light and help make this a pretty fluffy book overall, this is perfect for a relaxing day at camp.

that summer feeling by Bridget Morrissey hits all those feelings of summer camp, marshmallows, campfires, finding love during the summer, and finding your home. I adored this so much; it reminded me of my childhood. I was a camper kid. This rekindled my spark for how much joy camping and making new friends can bring, plus it's queer, which makes it even better. That Summer Feeling is out everywhere now, buy, request at your library, or borrow from a friend. This is one you'll want to add to your Tbr

- Found Family
- Friends to Lovers
- Summer Camp Romance
- Queer Romance

I was gifted a copy by Berkley Romance but since have purchased two copies of my own. All thoughts are my own.

I am a camp person, I am a person still figuring out myself, and I always love a good story and all those things came together to make this such a wonderful book. I really enjoyed reading it and I found that I was caught up in everything that was happening throughout the story.

THAT SUMMER FEELING was such a nostalgic nod to being at Summer Camp, but in this case it’s for a recently divorced woman who goes to Adult Summer Camp.

🎧I read the ebook with the audiobook and loved the narration and tone. This felt like the perfect summer read!

WHAT TO EXPECT
-sapphic love story
-found family
-self discovery

*many thanks to Berkley and PRH Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Oops, I did it again, I fell for a pretty cover and instantly regretted it. I loved the sound of it, the camp setting and the queer romance, but it was not executed well at all. The characters fell flat, lacked development, and were forgettable. The side characters were just there, like props. They were so one dimensional. I'm sorry, but the instalove in this one was one of the most extreme I've read. I just couldn't vibe with Garland and Stevie's relationship. There was no development, not even a spark. I felt the author was constantly telling me rather than showing me. I swear I was confused reading this. I kept thinking it was YA because of the way the story was written and how childish the characters were. It felt more like a YA romance, especially with how extreme the instalove was. The other thing that really bothered me was the way Garland's sexuality was portrayed. Her being queer literally happened over night without any prior mention of her even feeling that way. This made me angry not only because of the way it happened, but also because she kept expressing how much she wanted her husband back and that she wasn't going to be with anyone romantically. Yet she is in love with someone by the 3rd/4th day of camp. Ugh, this was so disappointing. I still can't wrap my head around why I didn't DNF it. I'm more upset by that anything. I wouldn't recommend this one.

Sapphic rom-com set in an adults only summer camp, I had very high expectations! Morrissey exceeded every single one of them! The story was practically perfect!

✨ Review ✨ That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey

Read this if you like:
⭕️ queer found family stories
⭕️ adult sleepaway camp
⭕️ pushing your comfort zone

This book follows Garland to Camp Carl Cove, a sleepaway camp for adults, after a failed marriage, a year living with her sister Dara (who also comes to camp), and an encounter with the new camp owners while working as a rideshare driver.

In a chance encounter in the airport on a way to her honeymoon earlier in the book, Garland bumped into a man who returned something she dropped, and in that instant, she had a vision of her as part of her family. She's shocked when she realizes Mason is at the camp with her along with two of his brothers, and his sister Stevie, Garland's roommate.

The book is one of love and self-discovery and pushing one's boundaries. There are nighttime dances, camp competitions and scavenger hunts, swims and hikes, and all the things we love (or love to hate) about camps.

This was a fun, lovely read full of found family and celebration of queerness. Definitely would make for a fabulous summer read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: queer romance
Setting: adult summer camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Reminds me of: queer adult version of the parent trap
Pub Date: out now!

Thanks to Berkley, PRHAudio, and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey is a sapphic adult romance novel that tells the story of Garland, a recently divorced woman in her early 30s. When she decides to attend an adult summer camp with her sister, she has a chance encounter with a man from her past—while rooming with his charming, outdoorsy, ray of sunshine sister Stevie.

Was this novel a little—okay, a lot—cheesy? Sure. But did I have a good time with it from start to finish? Also yeah.

People who were camp kids, or, like me, who wanted to be camp kids but never got the opportunity, will find a lot to love about this book. It captures the magic of how quickly bonds form when tucked away in nature with only your fellow campers for company. This book was laugh out loud funny at points; I was honk-snorting until I cried at several scenes. There’s also a loveable, well-developed cast of secondary characters that add to the overall texture and charm of the book. Garland’s character journey in particular as someone coming into her queerness later in life was very relatable, especially as a queer woman, and her journey will resonate a lot with some readers.

The romance between Garland and Stevie is incredibly gentle with a touch of magic, which is perfect if you’re looking for a sweet escapist fantasy. In reality, it’s incredibly insta-love, and I couldn’t quite suspend my disbelief at some of the events of the novel given that they knew each other for a grand total of six days. It’s also pretty much closed door, which happens a great deal in sapphic romances and is not my personal cup of tea.

Overall, if the idea of a funny, bright, sweet summer camp romance appeals to you and you don’t mind the insta-love setup, That Summer Feeling will take you on a vibrant journey and leave you a little lighter of heart.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was super light and quick, and I loved how it mixed a sweet summer sapphic romance with the setting of a summer camp. Throw in some family dynamics and self discovery and it's a whale of a time!

I did not finish this one, unfortunately. However, I will definitely recommend it to other readers! This is definitely a case of it simply not being for me at the time that I tried it. The writing style seemed a bit young and I wasn't vibing with it. And writing style is super important for me in a book - I need to love the writing style to love the book. But I know that some of my friends or people I work with would love this book, and I think it wouldn't be a great beginner romance read for people just getting started in that genre. We need more Sapphic romances! And the camp vibes were so much fun.

can we make this adult summer camp real?
this was the perfect summer read, making me wish I could go to summer camp with stevie & garland and the rest of the crew.
the found family & finding yourself through the people who show you love was so major and lovely to read.
I don’t think there’s anything that could have made me love this one more.

i adored this book!!! such a sweet sapphic summer romance. i am obsessed with the summer camp setting as well.

So darn cute and sweet.

The amazing characters overshadow the plot, if that's not your kind of thing, then this book may fall short for you. I'm a huge fan of character driven stories and this book has that. Even though the development of their relationship is rather quick (about a week), it is done so well that I do not care about how quickly it happened. Also, they're roommates so I feel like the timeline works.

Garland and her sister, Dara, never had a chance to experience summer camp as kids. Growing up with parents who seemed to resent their presence they had always wanted to escape their home life, even if just for a little while. Garland, still reeling from her divorce, and Dara can't wait for their week in the wilderness.

Considering Garland goes through a major awakening I felt like this book/plot was way too fluffy and light-hearted, and the insta-love didn't have any chemistry behind it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really cute summer romance with lots of great banter. While I’ll admit that the story felt like it moved really fast in some parts (I get it; adults can’t take more than a week off of work), I felt like the scenes could have been packed with more details. I truly enjoyed this though. Now I want to go to summer camp!

All the feelzzz✨✨✨💖💖💖


Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

A summer camp for adults? Yes, please. Garland had a plan. Her plan did not include getting a divorce but when she attends an adult only summer camp with her sister she thinks everything happened for a reason when she reconnects with a man from her past. What she doesn’t expect was to fall for his sister.
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This is a story of finding yourself, nostalgia, fate and how sometimes carefully made plans are meant to be broken. Plus, this is adult summer camp is just pure fun!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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For awhile, I really thought this was going to be my next 5 star read but unfortunately, the latter 15% went downhill for me. There were declarations of love made to each other after they'd known each other for 5-6 days which just completely ripped me out of the story. The author was self aware and so the characters made Uhaul jokes but still. Just not believable for me personally. I would still highly recommend this read though. It was so nice to read about a woman in her early 30's coming out for the first time. It totally resonated with me. The romance just wasn't my favorite. It definitely felt like a contemporary fiction following our main character's journey with a secondary character who is solely there to be a love interest so our MC will realize she's bisexual. But again, not bad. I literally laughed out loud while reading this. It was a great book just not what I was entirely looking for.