Summer at Squee

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group for letting me read an ARC of this book through NetGalley!

Summer at Squee
Overall Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (3/5) or 6.28/10 overall

Characters - 6
Since this book had a large cast, many of the characters felt more one-note and less relatable as a result. However, having so many characters made it more interesting to see the different experiences that they had and how people can reflect on and embrace their Chinese heritage in various ways.

Atmosphere - 7
The atmosphere in this book was fine. I think it could have been enhanced if the pacing was better, but you have that trade off of the more rushed feel at the end coinciding with the nerves and panic that Phee felt as she raced to put together the final Showcase event.

Writing - 6
The writing in this book was decent. I don't have much to say about it otherwise because nothing particularly amazing or terrible stood out to me.

Plot - 6
I have a few gripes with the plot (see final thoughts below), but mainly this had a unique premise/background with the rest of the story being rather simplistic and predictable.

Intrigue - 7
Despite some of the parts that irritated me, I found myself enjoying the majority of the story and intrigued as to how it would end.

Logic - 6
This book was reasonably logical. Nothing really struck me as wrong with it, but the logic did seem a bit flawed at points.

Enjoyment - 6
I enjoyed aspects of this book. I particularly liked the way that Group 13 tied everything they learned into their final Showcase performance. The chats they had about fitting in and finding their place in the world were enjoyable as well.

Final Thoughts:
My biggest gripe with this book is that the main character, Phee, could have cleared up a lot of confusion earlier if she just communicated with the other characters more. She build up this crazy love triangle in her head based on very little evidence, which was easily solved when she just had one conversation with McKenna. Otherwise, I found a lot of the plot predictable and fairly unoriginal. Aside from the reveal of the what their performance would be and a few conversations between characters, most of the storyline was easily predicted and that made it much less intriguing overall.