I have not had the bandwidth to write reviews for the past month and a half, so please enjoy these two short reviews based on what I remember of the last two books I read for the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Summer Romance Book Bingo, and a quick recap on that challenge.
That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey
The main thing I will always remember about That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey is how the city girl main character was super impressed when the love interest successfully identified a Northern Cardinal. You know, the bright red bird that is the only species of its kind in North America, and which adorns tons of holiday decorations and serves as the mascot for a number of sports teams?
The other thing I’ll remember is how the main character had this really annoying habit of projecting thoughts and ideas onto other characters, as if she could read their minds.
The other other thing is how a lot of the characters in this book just did not act like normal human beings, but like aliens who maybe got their idea of how humans act by reading/watching too many romcoms. Also, I personally found the level of teasing that characters engaged in shortly after meeting each other to be way too much and way too personal, but I recognize that I have a very low tolerance for teasing and what seems mean-spirited to me might feel like cute, flirty banter to others.
There were also things that took enormous suspension of disbelief, such as the idea that anyone would travel across the country to share a single meal with their friend or family member who is attending summer camp.
In short, I didn’t really enjoy this book and I don’t recommend it, which is a shame because I do like to see stories in which a character has a late-breaking realization about their sexuality or gender (it’s never too late to embrace a new idea of who you are!).
Source and Format: I borrowed an ebook from Seattle Public Library.
SBTB Prompt: The Great Outdoors. This entire book takes place at a summer camp for adults and involves outdoorsy things like rope courses and lakes and stuff.
Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa
I remember even less about Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa, because since I didn’t hate it, it didn’t lodge itself in my brain. This book was perfectly fine. I felt like I wasn’t the target audience, which makes sense since this is an M/M YA romance, and I am a grown adult woman. There are reasons why I usually avoid YA romance, but I was having a hard time finding a book that:
- Fit the specific prompt
- Seemed remotely interesting to me
- Was immediately available from the library (the most important, time was running short)
And while this book wasn’t entirely for me, I’m glad I gave it a chance. It fit the Retelling square really well, wasn’t as melodramatic as some YA romance can be, and it was more towards the sweet, smoochy end of things, not spicy, so I didn’t have to feel like a creepy old woman reading it.
I suspect that people who enjoy M/M romance, YA romance, and/or Pride and Prejudice retellings could really enjoy this book. I felt like the writing was very competent and it did a good job of incorporating both situations from the original book, and scenes of Oliver Bennet (our trans man main character, incorrectly identified as Elizabeth by most of society) sneaking out to experience life as a boy.
Readers should be aware that Oliver spends significant parts of this book being deadnamed and misgendered in the highly gendered world of Regency England. He does have people who know his true identity and support him. I recognize this content could be extremely triggering for some readers. That said, I also think there’s a lot of value in having books about trans teens who feel like they can’t safely come out to their family/society at large (yet or ever), but who still find love, support, and ways to be happy and authentic to themselves. Each reader knows best what their heart can handle. I appreciate the author for including a really clear content warning at the beginning so people can make an informed choice.
Source and Format: I borrowed an ebook from Seattle Public Library.
SBTB Prompt: Retelling. This is part of the Remixed Classics series, in which various marginalized YA authors reimagine the classic cannon to be more diverse and inclusive.
SBTB Book Bingo Recap
With these two books, I was able to complete two Bingos on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Summer Romance Book Bingo challenge. I didn’t set out to get a blackout on this particular challenge, as I didn’t have enough time to find and read 24 romance novels on top of the remaining books I needed to read for the SAL/SPL challenge. Plus there were a couple of squares I would have found really challenging, such as Published in 2000 or Earlier.
I really enjoyed this challenge. It gave me some direction for my fiction reading after I’d finished all my SAL/SPL fiction books. It gave me an excuse to review more of the romance books I was reading this summer. And, perhaps best of all, I even won a prize! I received a box full of romance novels and SBTB-themed stickers. None of the novels were any I had read yet, and while they’re mostly in sub-genres I don’t normally gravitate towards, I’m looking forward to giving them a try. Plus if I don’t like them, I can just leave a spicy surprise in a Little Free Library for some other reader whose tastes do run in that direction.
I will say, I was really surprise I didn’t manage to fill the Only One Bed square because it’s such a popular trope… but while two of the books I read for the challenge had an Only One Bed scene, they both did so little with it that it felt more like a tease than a real trope.
Anyway, I would definitely do another SBTB challenge. I feel like they had a really good mix of prompts that gave readers a lot of flexibility on how to interpret them.