Name: britt's review of Summer's Edge by Dana Mele
Item: Summer's Edge
Rating: 2
Author: britt

Dana Mele

I Know What You Did Last Summer meets The Haunting of Hill House in this atmospheric, eerie teen thriller following an estranged group of friends being haunted by their friend who died last summer. Emily Joiner was once part of an inseparable group—she was a sister, a best friend, a lover, and a rival. Summers without Emily were unthinkable. Until the fire burned the lake house to ashes with her inside. A year later, it’s in Emily’s honor that Chelsea and her four friends decide to return. The house awaits them, meticulously rebuilt. Only, Chelsea is haunted by ghostly visions. Loner Ryan stirs up old hurts and forces golden boy Chase to play peacemaker. Which has perfect hostess Kennedy on edge as eerie events culminate in a stunning accusation: Emily’s death wasn’t an accident. And all the clues needed to find the person responsible are right here. As old betrayals rise to the surface, Chelsea and her friends have one night to unravel a mystery spanning three summers before a killer among them exacts their revenge.

Summer's Edge

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

britt

not a single likeable character in this whole book other than mila. the first 100 pages really made me close to dnfing it, but then it got interesting.

My brain is spinning, I'm shook to the core, there's not a hero and a villain so much as a group of flawed individuals. Absolutely riveting, jaw dropping, twisty, turny, and hard to put down.

Holly

Kendall Deranek

I won’t give too much of a synopsis of this book because I think going into it blind is definitely the way to go, or at least only reading the synopsis on the dust jacket. Anyway, Summer’s Edge is about a group of friends who are seniors in high school that go to one of the girl’s lake house to spend time together over during the summer. The story begins a year after another girl in the group, Emily, died. 

Overall, this book was alright. I was hooked pretty much right away but that faded as I kept reading, especially once I got closer to the last quarter of the book. I think that’s because some of the details got confusing and could’ve been explained better to tie everything up. I still don’t understand how the timeline/ghost world works in this book. I don’t understand how Ryan, who is the dripping man, is the same dripping man that pushed Kennedy when she was 3. Do the ghosts exist in a separate timeline/universe? How can a ghost of someone exist before they’ve died? It doesn’t make sense to me. Unless there’s something I missed. I did think the twist of Ryan, Chase, Kennedy, Chelsea, and Mila being the ghosts that Kennedy saw was a good one. When Ryan was revealed as the dripping man I was shocked. At the point, I had already assumed they were all dead but didn’t think they were the ghosts that were there.

I thought the writing was a little weak because there were moments where I would be reading and not understand what was happening. One minute one thing was happening or being said and the next something else was happening. I would have to go back and reread some of the details to try and understand, but sometimes I couldn’t. It’s also definitely written like a late middle school/early high school book. Which is fine, it is YA after all. 

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this arc and e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Summer’s Edge

Author: Dana Mele

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: Queer character and MC

Recommended For...: young adult readers, thriller, mystery, LGBT, paranormal, horror

Publication Date: May 31, 2022

Genre: YA Thriller Mystery

Age Relevance: 14+ (language, death, grief, involuntary committal, underage alcohol consumption, arson, murder, romance, animal death, animal gore, PTSD, suicidal ideation, sexual content, gore, drowning, violence, drugging)

Explanation of Above: The book contains some slight cursing and shows of death, arson, murder, drowning, and drugging. There is some slight blood gore and violence with fights. There is grief, PTSD, and involuntary committal shown and mentioned in the book. There is a lot of underage alcohol consumption. There is slight romance and slight mention of suicidal ideation. There is one scene that shows an animal death and blood animal gore, both to a rabbit.

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 325

Synopsis: Emily Joiner was once part of an inseparable group—she was a sister, a best friend, a lover, and a rival. Summers without Emily were unthinkable. Until the fire burned the lake house to ashes with her inside.

A year later, it’s in Emily’s honor that Chelsea and her four friends decide to return. The house awaits them, meticulously rebuilt. Only, Chelsea is haunted by ghostly visions. Loner Ryan stirs up old hurts and forces golden boy Chase to play peacemaker. Which has perfect hostess Kennedy on edge as eerie events culminate in a stunning accusation: Emily’s death wasn’t an accident. And all the clues needed to find the person responsible are right here.

As old betrayals rise to the surface, Chelsea and her friends have one night to unravel a mystery spanning three summers before a killer among them exacts their revenge.

Review: For the most part the book was pretty thrilling. The book reminded me a lot of Until Dawn and I Know What You Did Last Summer, but with a more horrific twist. The book had a lot of good twists and turns and for the most part it had a great premise. The world building was fairly well done and the book is definitely one that will keep you intrigued throughout.

However, I felt like the character development was very poor. The book didn’t explain everyone’s motives well and they just weren’t well formed. I also thought the book was confusing, which I think can be a good plot device, but wasn’t well executed in this book. While I know now about this friend group, in the beginning there are just too many things off about the group and it can deter readers from continuing the book. I think if the twist was shown earlier in the novel and then played with a bit more, than it wouldn’t have been so off-putting in the beginning. The book also had a great deal of an info dump at the end and I didn’t like that. I think if the flashbacks were scattered more throughout the book then it would have worked better.

Verdict: It was ok.


Zoe Smolen

HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK!

Listen, quite frankly, I was super excited for Dana Mele's first book and gave it two stars. This book though, this book deserves all five of the stars I'm giving and frankly I would give it like 200 stars if I could. 

This is a "trust the process" book. You're gonna think you know what's going on then get confused, but when it all comes together it is glorious. You may have a moment where you think you've figured it out - I know I did - but you probably only figured out a small piece of the puzzle. 

The atmosphere is immaculate. This book made me so uneasy. The characters are so perfectly flawed, and the friendships are messy in the way only teenage friendships can be. 

This is perfect for fans of: 90s teen horror, haunted cabin stories, and Tiffany D. Jackson level twists.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Summer's Edge by Dana Mele

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Summer's Edge by Dana Mele