Loving Summer by Kailin Gow

 

Welcome to my stop on the Loving Summer Blog Tour! I've been wanting to read this for ages so I am super excited to be part of the blog tour!

Summer has always looked forward to spending her summers at her Aunt's beach house with the Donovans. To her, summers at Aunt Sookie's beach house was magical, especially getting to spend time with the Donovans - her best friend Rachel and Rachel's brothers Nathaniel, and Drew. Here at Aunt Sookie's beach house, they can be anyone and anything they dreamed. For Summer, she had always wished to become as pretty as Rachel and for her brothers to think of her as more than Rachel's friend. For Nat and Drew, summers at Aunt Sookie's beach house meant fun and escape, a place where they go to with their mom and sister for the summer, away from city life. They never thought this summer would be different. They never thought things would change as much as they did...and it all began with them falling for and loving Summer.

 It was much better than I'd expected! I've seen a lot of people comparing this to the Summer trilogy but I couldn't make it through the first book whereas I devoured Loving Summer!

 

What I loved:

• Drew-  I loved Drew! He was so witty and sneaky when it came to Summer and Astor! I loved when he interrupted their Disneyworld date. I also felt sorry for him as he was clearly deeper than anyone really thought and was so used to being second or even third best that he wasn't even surprised.. Excited to see more of him
• Sookie- l loved how much she had impacted the lives of Summer, Rachael, Drew and Nat with her acting classes, games and advice! She was so good with each of them, knowing what they needed and what they wanted- brilliant summer guardian!
• Summer- I did like her but she annoyed me- Nat, Drew  and Astor blew hot and cold but she seemed to lack any passionate feelings for any of them and even when she picked one she didn't strongly discourage the others. I loved her work at the acting school and her determination to be a good friend and niece.
• Viewpoints- I always mention how much I love different viewpoints and Loving Summer ticked the box for me! I loved how the prologue was from Rachel's pov and then how Drew got two chapters from his viewpoint - it really added insight and made the different characters more relatable.

What I didn't love as much:

• Rachel- My main issue was I wished I could have seen more of her! As Summer's best friend, she really was not around much and she seemed to get into a relationship very quickly.....
• Astor- I found Astor to be a bit too much too fast. He seemed a nice enough guy but it seemed like the added competition of Drew and Nat enhance his efforts. Nat on the other hand seemed to be a mix and disinterested and inappropriately jealous!
• Ending- It was such a tease of an ending! It hinted at where Summer was and how the competition was still on!

I really enjoyed this, it was so much deeper than I'd expected with a few surprising twists!
 
Have you read any of Kailin Gow's books?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxxx
 

Tour organised by

November Feature!

 
 
I declare November the month of Contemporary Young Adult and New Adult fiction on Above Average Below Special!

Why?

I've been on a slight contemporary book binge recently and I had a few contemporary blog tours scheduled for November so I thought why not devote a month  to contemporary reviews and features?

 

What will this month include?

 
Blog Tours!

Reviews!

 
 
Features

• A discussion of genres in Young Adult/New Adult!-  The banner says Young Adult and New Adult but I will be discussing the boundaries and implications of these genres!
• Cover discussion post!
• *Possibility* A revamp of my Series vs Stand Alones Discussion post- Revamped to be solely related to contemporary books and will include related series.
• Top Ten Contemporary Reads of 2012!
• Friday Fab Five- Five older Contemporaries that remain firm favourites!

 
Are you excited for this feature?
Any Recommendations?
Much love!
Lettie
Xxx

October Round Up!

Monthly Feature- rounds up all the books I've read, progress on challenges and reviews my blogging!

It is kind of an expansion (?) of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey!

 
Quick update! I've been taken ill by some random flu as well as being a good daughter/granddaughter painting, decorating and taking apart kitchens so sorry for the lack of blogging!

October in numbers!

Total posts= 16

Books read= 6  

Reviews Posted= 4

Meme Posts= 4
Other Posts= 8

 

What I read in October!

 I think I've been busy decorating and reading non fiction books on careers etc to read as much as I would of liked!
 
What I Reviewed!
Thomas and January by Fisher Amelie.
Easy by Tammara Webber.
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi.
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
 
Not too bad on the reviewing front not as great as I'd hoped though! 

What I Posted!
Challenge Motivation!- This one should go live tomorrow!  
Top Ten Minor Characters!- If you've read my reviews you know I love minor characters so this Top Ten was hard to narrow down!
Bloggiesta Wrap Up!- Sums up my Bloggiesta experience and accomplishments!
Blog Tours
Forbidden Mind Blog Tour
Book Promo
6 Seconds of Life Blitz- Touring this blog next month!
Move by Brina Courtney 
Don't Panic by Lindsay Paige

 Did I achieve my goals?
To blog to a schedule.-
Almost! I kept to my planned schedule quite well for half of October however my blog plans for November and surprise real life schedule changes hindered me! I did find planning a schedule made me much more organised and aware of how I was blogging- scheduling is now my top blogging tool!
To make progress on my challenges.
I didn't make much progress on this one! I did only read five books though so I'm not too surprised! More on this on below!
To post two non meme/review posts.
I did post alot more book promo style posts and my challenge update post however my planned posts got moved to November... So this is half successful
To tweet every blog post.
Thanks to Tanya  who pointed out that I could link my Blog to my Twitter = goal achieved! Yay!

What I hope to achieve in November!

• To successfully host my feature month!- I've got a contemporary themed month planned and a detailed schedule planned out so I want to keep to it better than I did in October.
• To make progress on my challenges!- I'm posting a challenge update post tomorrow so I can layout exactly what I need to read to complete my challenges! Posting my goals and plans on this blog will make me feel more accountable!
• To update my blog pages!- I want to put all the books I've rated under the relevant rating on the rating page. Update my about me page. Blogkeeping really!

How's your October/week been?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Monday Round Up!

One of my favourite memes hosted by the lovely Shelia over at Book Journey!

What do you think of the new header? I've been playing around with doing my own recently! :)
 
My week has been kind of fractured. I went to a Graduate Careers fair which was actually really helpful and caught up with my friend who's still at University! I worked 3 days and went shopping for my Godson's first birthday!
 
Reviews!
Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi- 5 Hearts!
 
Read!

 
I was so pleased I got approved on Netgalley for this one! I read it on the train to and from the careers fair. It wasn't what I expected but I enjoyed it! No review for awhile though as it doesn't get released until next year!
 
Reading!

This will be touring my blog next month! I've wanted to read it for awhile and so far I'm liking it :)
 
What's Next!

Again this one! It wont sync properly with my kindle app so I have to read it on my computer and with my travelling working week my phone was my reading device!

Upcoming Posts!
Cover post- Needs a catchy title! But this will be a showcase of international covers of a favourite book and their first look impressions!
 
Upcoming Reviews!
The Hangman in the Mirror by Kate Cayley or The Lost Son By Tamra Torero and Preston Norton!

How's your week been?
Any catchy titles for my Cover post?

Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx