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sparklelys's review
4.0
"We are made up of the people we love and the people who love us in return."
Andrea surrounds herself with people who get her. People who both emotionally and literally support her, who let her lean on them when she tires (she has cerebral palsy), and who do it even without her having to ask out loud.
So when old divisions and new coverups crop up and threaten the group's easy unity (and their plans for the best summer ever), each needs to figure out what lays at the heart of the issue and, ultimately, apologize and communicate. And maybe friends can be more than friends after all. It felt like a soft book because sometimes that's what you need, for the most important people in your life to know you and love you for you.
Andrea surrounds herself with people who get her. People who both emotionally and literally support her, who let her lean on them when she tires (she has cerebral palsy), and who do it even without her having to ask out loud.
So when old divisions and new coverups crop up and threaten the group's easy unity (and their plans for the best summer ever), each needs to figure out what lays at the heart of the issue and, ultimately, apologize and communicate. And maybe friends can be more than friends after all. It felt like a soft book because sometimes that's what you need, for the most important people in your life to know you and love you for you.
bamarante's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
whatnolareads's review
4.0
Review: The Secret Summer Promise ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Author: Keah Brown
Publication Date: 06 June 2023
Publisher: Levine Querido
LGBTQIAP+ | Romance | Teens & YA
I received this book from Keah Brown and Levine Querido, as an advanced eArc for my honest review any opinions that come from this review are my own. Thank you to both the Author and the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.
First off I want to say that I loved the diversity in this book, this was a coming-of-age story that celebrated self-discovery, friendship, and what it’s like to truly accept and embrace yourself for who you are. It read a little immature for me but I pushed through and I am so glad I did. This story moved my little heart, it was comforting, beautiful, and full of diversity which I loved. It was a wonderful lighthearted romance book and I really enjoyed it.
Author: Keah Brown
Publication Date: 06 June 2023
Publisher: Levine Querido
LGBTQIAP+ | Romance | Teens & YA
I received this book from Keah Brown and Levine Querido, as an advanced eArc for my honest review any opinions that come from this review are my own. Thank you to both the Author and the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.
First off I want to say that I loved the diversity in this book, this was a coming-of-age story that celebrated self-discovery, friendship, and what it’s like to truly accept and embrace yourself for who you are. It read a little immature for me but I pushed through and I am so glad I did. This story moved my little heart, it was comforting, beautiful, and full of diversity which I loved. It was a wonderful lighthearted romance book and I really enjoyed it.
coralcrab77's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
arinbarth's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
kebyrne2's review
3.0
This was such a cute book. It is a great summer read.
The main character learned about first love and heartbreak, that friendships can go through ups and downs, and how to be confident in who you are.
The characters are 17 and the book felt a little young. I jumped around (didn’t read about 50 pages in the middle) and don’t think I missed anything important. It was hard to get into as it felt slow.
Overall the message is so cute and the fact that the author had different LGBTQ characters which wasn’t forced in was amazing! I would recommend this for younger audiences esp if they need confidence in finding their courage.
The main character learned about first love and heartbreak, that friendships can go through ups and downs, and how to be confident in who you are.
The characters are 17 and the book felt a little young. I jumped around (didn’t read about 50 pages in the middle) and don’t think I missed anything important. It was hard to get into as it felt slow.
Overall the message is so cute and the fact that the author had different LGBTQ characters which wasn’t forced in was amazing! I would recommend this for younger audiences esp if they need confidence in finding their courage.
smalltownbookmom's review
4.0
3.5 rounded up.
This YA debut from the creator of the hashtag #disabledandcute was a good ownvoices story about a bisexual teen girl with cerebral palsy who is determined to have a fun, adventurous summer after recovering from a surgery related to her CP.
While I liked the cast of diverse characters and thought the disability rep was great, I thought the friendship/romance relationships were a bit messy and I wasn't particularly rooting for any one couple. More a coming of age story than a romance for me but still good!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!
This YA debut from the creator of the hashtag #disabledandcute was a good ownvoices story about a bisexual teen girl with cerebral palsy who is determined to have a fun, adventurous summer after recovering from a surgery related to her CP.
While I liked the cast of diverse characters and thought the disability rep was great, I thought the friendship/romance relationships were a bit messy and I wasn't particularly rooting for any one couple. More a coming of age story than a romance for me but still good!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!
pushingdessy's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a diverse friends-to-lovers romance with disability representation. I discovered it through a rec list of books with main characters with cerebral palsy. Since I haven’t read many books with disability rep written by own voices and this had a cute premise, I picked it as one of my summer reads.
📝 The MC is Andrea Williams, a 17-year-old girl planning The Best Summer Ever with her BFF Hailee after spending the previous summer recovering from surgery. But there’s a secret item in their list: Andrea must fall out of love with Hailee, as their friendship is too important to mess up.
🙌 The good: This is really a very diverse book, featuring Black, Chinese-American and Latine characters, a wide spectrum of queerness, and disability. Most of the parents (and the other adults, too) are depicted as close-knit, loving and supportive of their kids. I appreciated the resolution of Andrea and Olivia’s relationship. Most of all, I loved reading a story from the POV of a teenager with a disability and how that impacts the way she moves in the world, and I loved that she had a tight support system to help with what she needed, when she needed it.
😐 The eh: The characters are supposed to be 17, but they sounded and acted a lot younger. For some reason, everybody burst into singing in the middle of conversations. The miscommunication was exaggerated imo, and the narration sometimes went step by step with what the characters were doing, unnecessarily. Overall, the writing
📝 The MC is Andrea Williams, a 17-year-old girl planning The Best Summer Ever with her BFF Hailee after spending the previous summer recovering from surgery. But there’s a secret item in their list: Andrea must fall out of love with Hailee, as their friendship is too important to mess up.
🙌 The good: This is really a very diverse book, featuring Black, Chinese-American and Latine characters, a wide spectrum of queerness, and disability. Most of the parents (and the other adults, too) are depicted as close-knit, loving and supportive of their kids. I appreciated the resolution of Andrea and Olivia’s relationship. Most of all, I loved reading a story from the POV of a teenager with a disability and how that impacts the way she moves in the world, and I loved that she had a tight support system to help with what she needed, when she needed it.
😐 The eh: The characters are supposed to be 17, but they sounded and acted a lot younger. For some reason, everybody burst into singing in the middle of conversations. The miscommunication was exaggerated imo, and the narration sometimes went step by step with what the characters were doing, unnecessarily. Overall, the writing
emhenlvr's review
2.0
Thank you to Netgalley for this arc!
I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me :( I usually really enjoy YA books but my main issue with this one was the fact that it felt too young. The main characters were supposed to be 17 but I felt as though I was reading about 12/13 year olds; the way they spoke and acted was very juvenile. I also felt as though the conflict and the following resolutions were quite rushed and never properly addressed - the problems were just brushed off and easily forgotten.
I think the story overall was very sweet with some important messages about sexuality and disabilities, and younger audiences would really enjoy it. But I personally found that it fell a bit flat :(
Merged review:
Thank you to Netgalley for this arc!
I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me :( I usually really enjoy YA books but my main issue with this one was the fact that it felt too young. The main characters were supposed to be 17 but I felt as though I was reading about 12/13 year olds; the way they spoke and acted was very juvenile. I also felt as though the conflict and the following resolutions were quite rushed and never properly addressed - the problems were just brushed off and easily forgotten.
I think the story overall was very sweet with some important messages about sexuality and disabilities, and younger audiences would really enjoy it. But I personally found that it fell a bit flat :(
I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me :( I usually really enjoy YA books but my main issue with this one was the fact that it felt too young. The main characters were supposed to be 17 but I felt as though I was reading about 12/13 year olds; the way they spoke and acted was very juvenile. I also felt as though the conflict and the following resolutions were quite rushed and never properly addressed - the problems were just brushed off and easily forgotten.
I think the story overall was very sweet with some important messages about sexuality and disabilities, and younger audiences would really enjoy it. But I personally found that it fell a bit flat :(
Merged review:
Thank you to Netgalley for this arc!
I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me :( I usually really enjoy YA books but my main issue with this one was the fact that it felt too young. The main characters were supposed to be 17 but I felt as though I was reading about 12/13 year olds; the way they spoke and acted was very juvenile. I also felt as though the conflict and the following resolutions were quite rushed and never properly addressed - the problems were just brushed off and easily forgotten.
I think the story overall was very sweet with some important messages about sexuality and disabilities, and younger audiences would really enjoy it. But I personally found that it fell a bit flat :(
josephinebean's review
2.0
rated: 2 stars
this book was not for me. the synopsis really drew me into it because it had a bunch of tropes i liked and was going to touch on issues that i have personally dealt with, but i really felt it missed the mark.
the redeeming factor of this book was that the structure was good. the plot was solid and the idea of where the story would go flowed nicely, and occasionally the characters made decisions that i felt were really realistic. however, my main gripe with this book was how it was written. it felt so juvenile, written in the and then i did this, and then i did that sort of style. the characters felt like they were 13-14 instead of the almost adults that they were, but in saying that they were seriously lacking in some of the immaturity that you come to expect reading books about people that age. the only people that made minorly immature decisions was the main love triangle. i would have expected that the friend group would have fought, or had a deeper exploration of the varying degrees of closeness amongst them, but i felt that that was only lightly touched on and for not so good of a reason.
all of the side cast felt like extreme caricatures - the parents especially. it was never really touched on how famous the mother really was or how that affected our mc's life overall. they were only there to provide exactly the right life advice in the most soothing of manners at exactly the right time, and anything that made them feel like they had a bit of a personality was glossed over in favour of the mc using that for herself. the problem with the side cast feeling like caricatures is that the deep inclusion of diversity there at times felt forced. every side character that we met got a full introduction, everything from race to sexuality included, even if they were only on that page and never mentioned again. it just didn't feel genuine or realistic, and a little bit like they were all there for brownie points to tick a box.
finally, the main conflict was solved way too quickly after all this miscommunication buildup. i think it would have been nicer to stretch that conclusion out a little, and deal with the repercussions of that miscommunication in a more elongated way, instead of just whoop we resolved it now everything will go back to the way it was + a little extra.
i do think that this book is for someone out there, and i don't discourage anyone from picking it up. it just wasn't for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book.
this book was not for me. the synopsis really drew me into it because it had a bunch of tropes i liked and was going to touch on issues that i have personally dealt with, but i really felt it missed the mark.
the redeeming factor of this book was that the structure was good. the plot was solid and the idea of where the story would go flowed nicely, and occasionally the characters made decisions that i felt were really realistic. however, my main gripe with this book was how it was written. it felt so juvenile, written in the and then i did this, and then i did that sort of style. the characters felt like they were 13-14 instead of the almost adults that they were, but in saying that they were seriously lacking in some of the immaturity that you come to expect reading books about people that age. the only people that made minorly immature decisions was the main love triangle. i would have expected that the friend group would have fought, or had a deeper exploration of the varying degrees of closeness amongst them, but i felt that that was only lightly touched on and for not so good of a reason.
all of the side cast felt like extreme caricatures - the parents especially. it was never really touched on how famous the mother really was or how that affected our mc's life overall. they were only there to provide exactly the right life advice in the most soothing of manners at exactly the right time, and anything that made them feel like they had a bit of a personality was glossed over in favour of the mc using that for herself. the problem with the side cast feeling like caricatures is that the deep inclusion of diversity there at times felt forced. every side character that we met got a full introduction, everything from race to sexuality included, even if they were only on that page and never mentioned again. it just didn't feel genuine or realistic, and a little bit like they were all there for brownie points to tick a box.
finally, the main conflict was solved way too quickly after all this miscommunication buildup. i think it would have been nicer to stretch that conclusion out a little, and deal with the repercussions of that miscommunication in a more elongated way, instead of just whoop we resolved it now everything will go back to the way it was + a little extra.
i do think that this book is for someone out there, and i don't discourage anyone from picking it up. it just wasn't for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book.