Just for the Summer
Ratings221
Average rating4.4
4/5 - The drama and the trauma in this book were a lot, however, I enjoyed the book. EVERYONE needed therapy. The FMC (Emma) had issues from her childhood that she needed to work out through therapy while she was younger, not as a full-fledged adult. But better late than never. I related to her process of going “small” to the point you isolate yourself from everyone when in despair. I enjoyed the MMC (Justin) as he came off very sweet and caring. Shout out to him for stepping into the role of caretaker for his family while his mother was “away”. Deciding to be a caretaker is a huge life change that is not for the weak, so I 100% identified to what he was going through. Emma's mother = TRASH. Nothing about her was worth Emma making excuses for and I was able to make the connection with her from the “Part of Your World” book early on, but watching how it unfolded was nasty work. Also, what is up with all the men having dogs in each book in the series? Are they ESAs? LOL
A few missed opportunities I noted that would have completed the story:
1. Emma should've open hand slapped her mother, Amber. The unnecessary trauma she inflicted on Emma was disgusting. Clearly the mother had issues and should've been sent to a mental institution for help, so that was a missed plot.
2. I would've appreciated a deeper conversation between Justin and his mother to understand her mindset as to why she chose to do what she did knowing the possible consequences. Her decision impacted her family tremendously. While the baby raccoon story was cute, that could've been replaced with a serious conversation.
3. A conversation with Emma and her foster parents was needed. They seemed to love her very deeply and did what they could to make life easier for her. It almost felt like Emma didn't appreciate what they did for her.
Lastly, shout out to Doug!! He was constantly getting rejected when he pulled out his guitar to sing to the women at the bar, but it finally worked! Good for him and Maddy. It would've been cute to get a quick epilogue on those two.