Summer of Sloane

By: Erin L. Schneider
Published Year: 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 304

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Warm Hawaiian sun. Lazy beach days. Flirty texts with her boyfriend back in Seattle.

These are the things seventeen-year-old Sloane McIntyre pictured when she imagined the summer she’d be spending at her mom’s home in Hawaii with her twin brother, Penn. Instead, after learning an unthinkable secret about her boyfriend, Tyler, and best friend, Mick, all she has is a fractured hand and a completely shattered heart.

Once she arrives in Honolulu, though, Sloane hopes that Hawaii might just be the escape she needs. With beach bonfires, old friends, exotic food, and the wonders of a waterproof cast, there’s no reason Sloane shouldn’t enjoy her summer. And when she meets Finn McAllister, the handsome son of a hotel magnate who doesn’t always play by the rules, she knows he’s the perfect distraction from everything that’s so wrong back home.

But it turns out a measly ocean isn’t nearly enough to stop all the emails, texts, and voicemails from her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend, desperate to explain away their betrayal. And as her casual connection with Finn grows deeper, Sloane’s carefree summer might not be as easy to find as she’d hoped. Weighing years of history with Mick and Tyler against their deception, and the delicate possibility of new love, Sloane must decide when to forgive, and when to live for herself.

                                                                                    First Impressions

How beautifully summery is cover? It screams Hawaii and summer and definitely caught my eye. I also first read the summary on the Debut Author’s Challenge. While I liked the summary, I was definitely persuaded to read it because it would count toward the challenge.

                                                                                      What I thought

Right before summer starts Sloane finds out that her best friend/other half is pregnant. Not only is she pregnant at 17, but the baby’s father is Sloane’s boyfriend. Luckily, Sloane’s mom lives in Hawaii and every summer Sloan and her twin brother Penn spend the summer with her. While in Hawaii, Sloane decides to take this summer to heal herself after the betrayal of the two most important people in her life.

If you are looking for drama, you will find it in this book. It is very drama packed but I didn’t think it was overdone (with the exception of a few events at the end).

Sloane is pretty awesome as a female character. Yes she is heartbroken and falls apart, but she manages to pick herself and find happiness. I think some people will be annoyed that her healing and happiness does seem dependent on having a boyfriend, but at the age of 17 I feel like that is pretty typical. I also enjoyed that in addition to the boyfriend, she had a good relationship with her brother and at least one other friend besides the one who slept with her boyfriend.

While Sloane does “use” a boy to find her happiness, she never completely forgets what happened. I feel like often in YA novels a problem like this can be brushed aside and overcome easily. I liked that throughout the entire book she struggled with her feelings towards her ex-friends. They tried to apologize and she ignored them and every time she did anger would resurface. It felt to me, very realistic and unlike anything I have read in a YA book.

My biggest qualm in this book is that it did read a bit like a debut book. What I mean by that is that there were a lot of ideas that just needed to be trimmed back a bit. I feel like with a lot of debut books the author has so many thoughts and good intentions for storylines but then they get carried away with the story and original storylines get lost. Specifically for Summer of Sloane the beginning of the novel to me had a different feel from the end. I could definitely tell the book brought the story one way, but I wish that then the beginning had been tweaked just a little bit to have the same feel.

While I did have some issues with this story, I devoured this book! The pacing was wonderful and I found myself invested in Sloane and her story. I think that Schneider is going to get stronger and stronger as an author and I am looking forward to reading more from her! If you enjoy dramatic summer romances, pick up this book! Even though it is no longer summer, you will still enjoy it.