Not Our Summer

A wonderful, heart-felt read that will transport you to the days we could travel and experience adventure outside our own home, to the days we could hug our loved-ones. If you're in need of an escape, I highly recommend completing this bucket list adventure with K.J and Becka.

This was such a fun book with a really sweet (but not sappy or sentimental!) core. I loved that this was a cousins story, which set it apart from other "friends" road trip or "bucket list" stories I've read. Both K.J. and Becka were believable and each had a unique voice that gave a lot of flavor to their respective chapters. The different adventures they have together were exciting to read about, and I loved how each one changed their relationship. The change in their feelings toward one another was slow and incremental, and very believable. One step forward....two steps back., just like repairing a seriously damaged relationship in real life. There's a twist at the end that I didn't see coming at all, but once it was out there, it made everything make so much more sense. Very well handled by the author.! I'd highly recommend this is a fun summer read about family, friendship, forgiveness, and the healing power of a good road trip.

Casie Bazay’s NOT OUR SUMMER ticks so many boxes for me. I love voicey novels, and Becka’s and K.J.’s voices sing. I’m a sucker for road trip stories – check, again. And I’m a big fan of National Parks, so the scenes in places like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are just icing on the cake. Told in alternating points of view, including letters from the girls’ recently deceased grandfather, NOT OUR SUMMER brought tears to my eyes as Becka and K.J. are reminded, again and again, of the importance of family and of making it count while you still have the time. Thank you to NetGalley and to Running Press/Hachette for the eARC.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I rarely read contemporary YA stories, but I was intrigued by the premise (two cousins who hate each other, trying to finish their grandfather's bucket list in order to earn their inheritance - so original!). I found myself completely hooked from the first page ("grasshopper-green death box" had me literally CACKLING out loud!) and I swallowed this entire thing in one great gulp. FANTASTIC voice, compelling characters, smooth pace - and a really interesting family dynamic. This story has so much *heart* - it's about forgiveness, moving forward, forging new relationships even if they're built on the pieces of broken foundations. It's about mistakes and second chances - but there's a solid core of truth here, too. No one gets an easy pass. This is about friendship, sisterhood, adventure, and choosing how you step into the future. I *loved* it. Highly recommended.