This book showed the coming of age of Emily who was dealing with family and relationship issues but discovering a unique relationship with Mrs. Granucci that added another layer to this book.

Thank you Random House Children's Books and the publicist for this arc.

What a gorgeous cover! But at the halfway point, I'm putting this one down. I just feel as if I'm slowly slogging along through knee-high molasses hearing the same stuff over and over. And it's boring me. There's so much telling and it feels as if I'm being held at a distance by it. Yay for the POC rep but there isn't much more here that makes me want to keep reading. DNF

“And well, I’ve spent a whole heck of a lot of time thinking about Mrs. G—in all kinds of ways: worrying about her, delighting in her, feeling seen by her. Which means I must really care about Mrs. G. And she needs me.”

When her dreadful report card is opened by her parents, Emily Chen-Sanchez has already come to terms with her fate—one that involves being grounded for the rest of the summer. With the desire to escape the constant competition from her perfectionist sister and all the boy troubles chasing her, Emily begins a job hunt which leads her to the doorsteps of Mrs. Granucci. As she cares for her new companion, she finds herself growing more entangled in new stressors ranging from her childhood best friend’s love life to her mother’s new diagnosis. But, amidst everything, Emily has found her safe haven in the Granucci residence, which remains her final thread as her beloved Mrs. Granucci begins to slowly lose herself to dementia. What had once been a “simple job” no longer has the same meaning as Emily continues to explore where she best fits.

From the beginning, Emily’s character and personal struggles were clear. Much of her identity revolved around the pressures she received from her immigrant family and being a constant source of comparison to her sister, Tessa, which I could relate to through my own personal experiences. Emily’s desire to feel understood and seen in her life is a theme that is common to the teenage experience, and I can see how her challenges could resonate with a lot of young readers. Additionally, Morse did an amazing job of highlighting the ways in which Emily embraced her multi-cultural background given that her mother is Taiwanese and her father is Spanish. There were many moments in the Chen-Sanchez household that managed to both anger me and help me develop a soft spot for Emily’s family members and their individual issues, especially Emily’s sister Tessa during their mother’s cancer journey. While Morse’s writing drew me into all of Emily’s relationships, I felt disconnected from her journey as I found some of her day-to-day problems to be rather shallow. The pacing and transition between different scenes also felt slightly unnatural, as I found myself wanting more from her interactions such as the ones involving Mrs. Granucci. There were scenes involving Emily and Matt, her childhood best friend, that I also wished were expanded on as I felt that I didn’t have a great sense of their past together. If fixed, this could have added more depth to their dynamic after Matt gets involved in a new romantic relationship. However, I do think Morse’s strongest points in this novel are the strength, realistic qualities, and relatability of each of the characters. Overall, The Summer I Remembered Everything is a perfect read for anyone wanting to dig into a good slice-of-life that captures the struggle of a young girl in finding a true sense of belonging.

Here is a summer job that can make you grow up in a hurry. Testing your fortitude, courage and morality is a lot to do when working a summer job. To be the companion of a person with dementia can be scary and upsetting but it is even worse when you don't realize what is really going on - at least at first.
I loved how the author mixed in a boy-girl romance, a sibling rivalry, and discrimination to make this story very real. It gave the story depth and an honesty that was fun to read. I especially liked the sibling rivalry. It rang true.
Enjoy!

This story centers on Emily, who gets a summer job as the companion/helper to an elderly lady in her neighborhood. Desperate to spend time away from her house, where her critical parents and perfect sister are, Emily is really excited about spending the summer with Mrs. G,, who asks her to remember things for her. There are some side stories here: Emily's mom is diagnosed with cancer, the boy she likes starts dating the "too nice' girl that Emily doesn't care for, and her best friend Heather is overseas for the summer. A sweet story that discusses friendship, crushes, and bigger topics like dementia and the elderly.

This was a coming-of-age story featuring Emily who gets a job being a companion to an elderly lady over the course of the summer. Emily's family is also supporting her mom as she has a nodule on her thyroid and will undergo a FNA to see if the nodule is cancerous. I'm a thyca survivor and appreciate the thyroid cancer representation, though it wasn't written correctly which is misleading to readers. There were lots of consistency errors in the book like Mrs. Granucci having different first names (Leila and Lydia) and Emily telling readers that her mom has thyroid cancer before a FNA is conducted but then a few pages later saying her mom doesn't have cancer. There was also so much telling instead of showing which made me feel like I was reading a long diary entry, but I did appreciate the dementia and thyca aspects to the story. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC.