When Summer Ends, by Jessica Pennington
Goodreads ¦ Amazon
Series?: No
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: April 9, 2019
Length: 288 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating: 74/5
Olivia Henry’s summer plans included vacation with her long-time boyfriend and a killer internship at a local magazine. Instead, she gets dumped and finds herself working at River Depot, a local tourist trap renting canoes to vacationers. Not exactly what indoors-inclined Olivia had in mind for the summer. When Olivia’s flighty, estranged mother resurfaces with big news and a changed fate, Olivia decides to ditch plans and leave summer to chance. Soon she’s surprised just how much she enjoys River Depot, the great outdoors, and her new co-worker.
Aiden Emerson was Riverton’s star pitcher. Until the last day of junior year when he quit the team without explanation. Aiden isn’t looking forward to summer at his parents’ shop, but maybe something—or someone—new is exactly what he needs to figure out who he is without baseball. When things don’t go as planned, sometimes you have to let fate intervene.
Every summer adventure and stolen kiss is just a coin-flip away in this heartfelt journey to love and self-discovery from the author of Love Songs & Other Lies.
WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT JESSICA PENNINGTON BEFORE???
♥ I went into this thinking I was going to get a cute, summer romance where everything was okay and happy in the end and guys THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I GOT! IT WAS PERFECTION! I thought Aiden would be so angsty because of *tHe tHiNg* that makes him quit baseball, but he was honestly pretty chill about it. Like, not happy, but taking it in stride and figuring out who he was without baseball.
♥ Olivia has lived with her aunt for a good portion of her life because her mom is super flighty and irresponsible. She shows up again because of another *tHiNg*, and stays for the remainder of the summer, at first driving Olivia crazy but eventually things get better. I did think this part could have been a little better explored. I mean Olivia never even discusses *tHe tHiNg* with her mother, even after things have reached a cooling off point between them.
♥ I found it SO REFRESHING that the main conflict wasn’t Aiden’s *tHiNg*. As soon as it was revealed (it’s really early on guys, don’t worry. I just realized that even though the synopsis doesn’t say, the back cover does, so it’s his vision) that he’s losing his vision at 17, I was sure that it was going to be this whole thing of him trying to hide it from everyone and getting angry all the time, and pushing Olivia away when she finally learned the truth, etc etc. THAT IS TOTALLY NOT WHAT HAPPENED YAAAAAY! Instead there’s a whole new conflict I didn’t even expect, and it was so nice to be surprised!
♥ This romance was LOVELY! Olivia realizes that her long-time boyfriend was actually kind of a dick, Aiden realizes that Olivia and her long-time boyfriend have actually broken up and BAM!
But really the whole thing is just lovely, and sweet, and it’s the most wonderful summer romance.
Final Thoughts: After I finished this I raced to Goodreads to check the author’s backlist, sad to find that this was only her second book. But then I realized I have her debut on my shelves already SO GUESS WHAT I’M READING NEXT?
Favorite Quotes: “‘If someone rescues someone, the reader expects that one of three things will happen.’
‘What are the three things?’‘Right. Well, they can become best friends, they can fall in love, or…they’ll end up killing them.’
‘Which of the three do you think happens for us?’
‘We’ll have to wait and see I guess. But I’m really hoping I don’t kill you; I look horrible in orange.’”
All quotes are taken from an uncorrected proof of the book
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jessica Pennington is no stranger to the combination of love and drama. She’s a wedding planner, after all. A writer since the age of ten—when she sought publication for her poem about a tree—Jessica likes the challenge of finding the humor in a sad
situation or highlighting the awkwardness in a romantic one. She lives in a Michigan beach town suspiciously similar to the one in her novel, with her husband Josh and their son, Rory. Love Songs & Other Lies is her debut novel.WEBSITE: http://itsjess.com/
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15193340.Jessica_Pennington
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/authorjessicapennington
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jessicapennington/
Pages and Pugs 