Review : Endless Summer

Posted by on April 10, 2012 6:02 am in 3 stars reads | 4 comments

Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols
Pages : 587
Genre : YA, Romance
Stand Alone
My Rating :

What it’s about :

Ever since she was a kid, Lori has been friends with the boys next door, three brothers who share her passion for wakeboarding. As far as she can remember, she also has always been in love with Sean.

This summer Lori will turns sixteen, and she has decided the time has come for her and Sean to be together. And if updating her wardrobe and adding a little makeup isn’t enough to get noticed, Lori has another plan : pretend to be in love with Adam, the youngest of the three boys, to get Sean a little jealous. Surely this plan can’t go wrong… right?

My Thoughts :

Endless Summer is a volume grouping The Boys Next Door, previously published in 2007, and Endless Summer, its sequel. My summary describes mostly what happens in the first half, although the second book follows a very similar path.

I will be upfront and say that yes, I found Lori’s plan a little silly. Even her narration is at times so naive that I sometimes just wanted to sigh, roll my eyes and close the book.

Fortunately Lori is, despite her young age, a fun character to follow. I loved that she had a passion for wakeboarding, and that she refused to purposefully fail at it just to get a guy’s attention! Even though she did try to change who she was to please him, she didn’t completely erase her personality. I also appreciated her brother and father, who were reasonably protective of her.

The romance also was totally adorable. It was clear very early on that Lori’s plan had some flaws. It was also obvious enough how and why her plans would or wouldn’t fail. Still, the author managed to make the story fun, cute and charming and I didn’t get bored. The Boys Next Door was perfect as a light, adorable romance and I could see why the fans asked for more.

Sadly, I do think the story should have ended there. While the second part of the book had a few nice moments, the games between Lori and the boys felt over-the-top silly, and it totally killed the romance for me. It started to feel more like an insane, negative relationship. Plus, why the dual narration? It wasn’t necessary to have someone other than Lori’s point of view, not at all. I really didn’t enjoy it much, to be honest.

Overall, Endless Summer was a cute summer romance with a strong beginning. It reads easily and makes you wish it was summer already. And it definitely had me watching some wakeboarding videos on youtube!

4 Comments

  1. It does seem a little silly to pretend to like one brother just to get the other’s attention, and I am not sure if that would turn me off of the book. I think this might be something that my daughter would enjoy, but I am not sure if it’s for me. I did really appreciate your thoughtful review of the book though, and liked your candor in discussing what did and didn’t work for you. Very thoughtful and interesting review today. I enjoyed it!

  2. Reblogged this on Knickyiana.

  3. This sounds like a good book for the beach.

  4. ‘sometimes just wanted to sigh, roll my eyes and close the book’ Haha! I can see why this killed the romance for you, but I might look into the first one: The Boys Next Door, since I am a sucker for a romance!

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