Aimee Friedman

From NYT bestselling author Aimee Friedman comes an inventive novel about fate, family secrets, and new love, told in split narrative. In this absorbing new novel, Summer makes a choice that changes the whole course of the season ahead of her. When her story divides, Summer finds herself alternately face to face with a longtime crush and worlds away. She is both living amid secrets and kept from them. But what matters more -- the choices she makes or the experiences that shape her? Set in both the south of France and stateside, the twisting, atmospheric Two Summers explores questions of fate, self-determination, and whether or not the journey matters more than the destination.

Two Summers

Maria

This summer, Summer's saying goodbye to her best friend, her secret crush and her single mom and is off on a trip of a lifetime to visit her estranged artist father in France. But right before she's about to board, her phone rings. Should she answer it? Either way, it's going to be a summer Summer will never forget.

Dorian Avers

This was a simple YA. A girl gets to live/imagine what her summer would've been like if she had stayed in her hometown and then if she had gone to France and stayed at her father's house. It's exactly what you would expect it to be. It is kind of a bummer though because even though both stories are different, the outcome is still the same. Like she ends the summer the same exact way.

Hoopla. Unabridged. 10 hours. 2016.
Narrated by Frankie Corzo.
Published by Scholastic.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

When Summer’s phone rings seconds before she’s ready to board a plane to spend the summer in France with her father, it all comes down to whether she answers it or not. This story is based on that split-second decision. We get to see both sides of Summer’s decision. On the one hand, she answers the phone… on the other, she ignores it. Fun, right? It sure is!

I really enjoy parallel universe stories, especially when they’re contemporary reads. I’m not a huge sci-fi fan, but having this interesting aspect to an otherwise realistic story is definitely my jam. I thoroughly enjoyed Summer’s two different paths leading her to completely different conclusions.

There was a lot addressed in this story, mainly family and friendships. I really wasn’t a fan of Summer’s BFF in this story. She kind of rubbed me the wrong way more than once. I think her “mean” feelings and actions toward Summer are somewhat realistic though, so I was able to look the other way and even accept where she was coming from… but she didn’t didn’t go about it the right way. I did, however, love the family parts of this story. People aren’t perfect, and I liked how the horrible mistakes people make can change their life, as well as their family’s, in more ways than one. People make mistakes, some times pretty bad ones… but it’s life, and life goes on. Dealing with those mistakes isn’t always easy, but sometimes you’re forced to deal whether you want to or not. Summer had a few different things she was forced to deal with, one major thing above all others, and the inner growth and understanding needed to overcome these obstacles was impressive.

I would definitely recommend this to readers looking for a light, fun, entertaining read. With the travel aspects mixed with the young summer romance scenes, this is sure to be the perfect beach read for this summer. Travel, summer, sun, some real-life teenage drama, and a whole lot of laughs. This read has it all!

(Thanks to Point for the review copy!)

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Two Summers

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