Book Review: Summer Days & Summer Nights

“What is life, it comes to me, without the occasional risk of pizza?”

Rating: 9/10

Synopsis:

As everyone knows, summer is the perfect time to fall in love. This book focuses on all the classic scenes of summer: beaches, county fairs, zombie-infested movie theaters – you know, stuff like that. No matter what mood you’re in on these sweltering, sunny days it’s guaranteed that you’ll find at least one of these twelve love stories written by popular YA authors to match.

Read If You Liked: My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

My Thoughts:

Being the fan of anthologies and short stories that I am, I could not wait to read this book when I first discovered it. It features big names in Young Adult fiction such as Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows), Veronica Roth (Divergent), and Cassandra Clare (The Shadowhunter Chronicles). Some of my favorite YA authors like Nina LaCour, whose work I have reviewed before, and Stephanie Perkins, the editor herself, also have stories featured.

Since this is my first time reviewing an anthology, I have decided to say a little bit about each story. Feel free to skip around and read which reviews you're most interested in! Enjoy!

"Heads, Scales, Tongue, and Tail" by Leigh Bardugo – Two teenagers work together to solve the mystery of a local sea monster. This is probably the story I liked the least. It started off very cute and I got into it easily, but it lost me in the end. I know a lot of people will like this story but it just involved too many fantasy elements for my taste.

"End of Love" by Nina LaCour – A spontaneous camping trip finally gives the main character a chance to connect with her long-time crush. This, again, was not my favorite story. It was sweet and I always enjoy seeing bi representation, but it fell a little flat and, honestly, I expected more from LaCour.

"Last Night at the Cinegore" by Libba Bray – The last shift at horror movie-centric Cinegore Theater is exactly the push Kevin needs to ask out his co-worker. This story was insanely clever and unique, which is what I love about Bray’s writing. I don’t have much more to say about it other than it was cute, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

"Sick Pleasure" by Francesca Lia Block – A & U have a brief but passionate relationship and U reflects on her regrets. I finally realized this book was as good as I expected it to be when I read this story. I loved it; it was well-written, romantic, nostalgic, and beautifully melancholy – all the makings of a great love story.

"In Ninety Minutes, Turn North" by Stephanie Perkins – Once again, we are thrown into the lives of Marigold and, everyone’s favorite Christmas tree farmer, North to see how spring has affected their relationship. I loved that Perkins made this story a continuation of her contribution from her last anthology. It was my favorite in My True Love Gave to Me and this one was no different! However, for those who have not read the first anthology, this story may feel a bit confusing.

"Souvenirs" by Tim Federle – It’s officially Breakup Day for a couple who works together at a local amusement park and one of them isn’t quite ready to let go. I didn’t care for this one very much as I found it difficult to connect to the main characters (plus one of them was kind of terrible, to be honest). It is hard to root for characters you don't feel a connection to, or even dislike.

"Inertia" by Veronica Roth – Two friends realize how important they are to each other as they share memories in a hospital room. This was one of the most emotional stories in the book. It made me laugh and cry and was focused on a unique, sci-fi style concept that Roth executed perfectly.

"Love is the Last Resort" by Jon Skovron – Three stereotypical couples at a country club realize they’re in love with each other. I really liked this story, but I actually enjoyed the love stories of the side characters more than that of the two main characters. The other relationships just seemed more established to me, whereas the main love story seemed to completely come out of nowhere.

"Good Luck and Farewell" by Brandy Colbert – A girl who keeps losing members of her family and a boy who’s never really had a family fall in love. While it wasn’t the most exciting or romantic story in the book, I think this story was one of the most important - both in representation and subject matter.

"Brand New Attraction" by Cassandra Clare – A “dark” carnival falls into the wrong hands. This story was really fun and came with a lot of surprises that are not usually seen in love stories. It was nice to see Clare put her classic supernatural twist on a love story.

"A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong" by Jennifer E. Smith – A boy and a girl fall in love at a summer camp. ~ SPOILER ~ After finishing this story, I realized that I had never read a love story involving a character on the autism spectrum which is absolutely terrible. I think this story represented it in a respectful and very sweet way and it was just really refreshing to see. ~ OK SPOILER OVER ~ Overall it’s a heartwarming, fuzzy feelings-inducing story.

"The Map of Tiny Perfect Things" by Lev Grossman – Two strangers become stuck in a time loop together and have to figure out how to cope with it. This was definitely one of my favorite stories, despite the fact that I normally hate the “Groundhog’s Day” – trope. It was sweet and sad and just absolutely perfect from beginning to end. It also actually made me appreciate my own life a lot more.

Ok guys, that was a long one! If you stuck through the whole thing, I applaud and thank you. This is a great anthology that has a little something for everyone. Whether you're interested in the supernatural or family dramas or sickly sweet love stories, I guarantee you'll find at least one story in this book that you like!