Thursday, October 4, 2012

Review: Summer in the City by Elizabeth Chandler



CONTEMPORARY TEEN ROMANCE

He took her hand and she sighed with happiness and they watched the sunset, holding each other tightly.

Lacrosse camp: 9 a.m.-noon (can't be late! "Coach" Josh will freak out.)
Basketball camp 1:00-4:00 (so many screaming kids...)
Shopping with Mona: 4:30 (finally a break!)
Date with Andrew 7:30 (he's so perfect...isn't he?)

Jamie Carvelli is visiting her divorced mother to get away from her dad's lover. Little does she know, Mom is tied up with a stud-like Swede named Viktor.

Then she meets Ted, who's just next door, and his roommate, Andrew. She finds a friend in Ted, who's more than willing to talk about sports and stuff with Jamie, but Andrew is something else. His sexy smile, that great bod...Jamie is NOT looking at him the way she's seeing Ted.

She signs up for a lacrosse camp and also coaches third graders. At the lacrosse camp and the coaching sessions, she meets Monalisa Devine, who becomes one of her close friends, and her coach, Josh--who's actually kind of cute...

This was an adorable book. Like I said before, I'm not one for cutesy, oh-can't-we-all-be-friends? type of books. But I'm always up for a teen romance, especially if it's a contemporary one, so I took one look at the summary and checked this book out from the library.

I'll start with the things I didn't really like much. First up is the vocabulary used in this book. I get that she's an older teenager, not in the fourteen, fifteen, sixteen crowd, but her vocabulary is better than that of some of the adults in the U.S. in general, not just book characters. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with that. In fact, protagonists with an expert grasp on words are way better than dumb blondes. But the word choice here messed with the storyline. I was really getting into one scene, and then I come across some weird word that only English Language Arts professors would use. That bothered me a lot, and I wished this had been written in a more teen-like voice. The authenticity of the main character was really...eh.

Another thing I didn't like was how the book was a little predictable. I mean, I got from the pink and purple cover and cute title that this probably will not be the most intense and wildly thrilling books I've ever read. And sometimes, that's what books are for--just for a cute little sliver of entertainment. And I respect that. But here, I was just like...yep, this happens, then this is going to happen, and oh: this is totally going to end this way, without any major drama in between. And that's pretty much how it happened.

Next are the things I did enjoy! First of all, Summer in the City was simply adorable. The romance here was SO cute, and the ending was the kind that you sigh at and wish you'd found love like that in the city. The setting here was also a big factor in making this that feel-good type of book, the bustling city. As the cover of the book claims, "Nothing's more romantic than a city full of boys to choose from." I totally agree with that! The way Josh and Jamie fell in love was so happy and gooey and gushy that I'm ready for another frothy romance soon.

I think I already mentioned this, but the ending was so romantic, so sweet, that I almost felt tears welling at the back of my eyes. (Yeah, I'm a sap at heart--no need to be judgmental.) Josh and Jamie are perfect for each other, and it's only when they get together that the readers realize that. I mean, I was rooting for Jamie finding true love the whole way--but it's at the end when I realize that she's definitely cut out for this guy.

A really cute book with some screwed up word-choice, but still. Summer in the City gets three stars!

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