The Summer I Found You

The Summer I Found YouTitle : The Summer I Found You
Author : Jolene Perry
Rating : 4 Stars!!!

Hardcover240 pagesPublished March 1st 2014 by Albert Whitman & Company
ISBN : 0807583693 (ISBN13: 9780807583692)
Source Copy : NetGalley

All they have in common is that they're less than perfect. And all they're looking for is the perfect distraction.

Kate's dream boyfriend has just broken up with her and she's still reeling from her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Aidan planned on being a lifer in the army and went to Afghanistan straight out of high school. Now he's a disabled young veteran struggling to embrace his new life. When Kate and Aidan find each other neither one wants to get attached. But could they be right for each other after all?

Source: Goodreads


"I like you, and I sort of lose my head when we're together, and I expected too much of you, and jumped in too fast, but I really really like you"
-Kate

The Summer I Found You is about a story of a boy and girl struggling to see how their life might change in the way they wanted to be. Both Aidan and Kate are “damaged”. Not literally damaged, emotionally damaged with the situations that are evidently inevitable upon their lives.

Aidan, as the retired soldier, a teenager who suddenly lost his right arm because of the war and Kate, the girl who is slowly moving on after her break-up and who happened to have diabetes that she can never escape. Both of them have different dilemma in life, but still, their feeling intertwined and fallen in love in unexpected ways.

It was really wonderful from the start to read about the realities of a relationship, the breaking-up and moving on moments of every girl. Of course as a teenager, all of it felt so wrong and unfair given that she had never done anything that will arrive on breaking up. Jolene Perry already stated that common things that truly pops up in every broken relationship of teenagers and I liked it that way. Because it is really real.

Aidan, on the other hand is completely different. The most matured character in the story. I am totally in love with this one-armed guy. It gives me pain everytime I read his thoughts how he can’t help to flashback the events that happened to him during the war. The explosions, screams, and dying soldiers in front of him totally devastates me. Because Aidan clearly states how war can suddenly changes people insights of life even at a young age. And that’s what I truly admire on Jolene’s writing; it’s her transparent words that easily struck somebody’s heart about the obvious truths in life.

As these two characters grow to fall in love, I enjoy it watching/reading them as their hearts turn to realize how their feelings are not for distraction only. I loved their bold words to describe how they unexpectedly foresee their relationship to dig deeper. It even adds more essence when both of them see how important trust can be in a relationship. I admire their honesty to say that both of them were wrong and they still accept it anyway.

At the end, The Summer I Found You will lead its readers with the significance of trust and love. It gives the readers a pang of sadness and fear to see how the characters can mold themselves to become a better person for the people they love. It is undeniably wonderful. I recommend this to the people who are afraid to fall in love, because at the end of it, you’ll see who will accept you as who you are no matter what the circumstances are.


Share:

0 comments