It’s no secret that I love Jane Harvey-Berrick. It’s one of my favorite things to sit down with my Kindle and dive into a new Jane novel, because you’re never sure what emotions she’s going to pull out of you. Is it going to be emotional and make you cry? Yeah, there’s a pretty good chance of that. Hot with lots of sexy scenes? Of course, it IS Jane after all. But every Jane novel is so different from any before it. That’s absolutely 100% the case with Summer of Seventeen. It’s unlike anything else she has written, and she did a gorgeous job telling the story of one young man’s summer.
What I loved most about this book is that it’s not ONLY a romance novel. It is. You see what he goes through with his first girlfriend, losing his virginity, etc. But Nick’s story is so much bigger than that. This isn’t just about love. It’s about life. It’s about loss. It’s about learning what’s important and how it feels to grow up. There’s so much packed into the pages of this novel, and Jane wrote it perfectly. You’ll follow along with all of the many ups and downs that Nick encounters, from first love to heartbreak, death and the grief he feels, learning who he is and growing into that man. It’s such an easy read because you’ll be swept away in Nick’s world for a while.
I also love love loved how it was written. If you know Jane, you know she’s a pro at pulling you into any scenario in her other books. In Summer of Seventeen, she nails how it might feel to live in a 17 year old male’s body. His thoughts, his feelings, his nerves and angst. Obviously I’m NOT a 17 year old guy, but it sure felt like you could have been in the mind of Nick. You can also tell that she’s very knowledgeable in surfing, because she tosses phrases out that even as a non-surfer, I understood. It kinda makes me want to learn to surf, if I’m being honest. That’s probably gonna be an issue being in Oklahoma huh? :-\
Overall, I loved this book as much as I hoped to, plus some. With Jane’s brilliant writing, character development, and her “way” of grabbing you by the heart, you’ll fall in love with this story. It’s romantic and quite heartbreaking, but more than anything, it’s inspiring and hopeful. It was such an easy read, and I wasn’t ready to put it down on that last page. Jane has done it yet again, and now I'll impatiently sit here waiting for the next. ;)
<3 Erin
What I loved most about this book is that it’s not ONLY a romance novel. It is. You see what he goes through with his first girlfriend, losing his virginity, etc. But Nick’s story is so much bigger than that. This isn’t just about love. It’s about life. It’s about loss. It’s about learning what’s important and how it feels to grow up. There’s so much packed into the pages of this novel, and Jane wrote it perfectly. You’ll follow along with all of the many ups and downs that Nick encounters, from first love to heartbreak, death and the grief he feels, learning who he is and growing into that man. It’s such an easy read because you’ll be swept away in Nick’s world for a while.
I also love love loved how it was written. If you know Jane, you know she’s a pro at pulling you into any scenario in her other books. In Summer of Seventeen, she nails how it might feel to live in a 17 year old male’s body. His thoughts, his feelings, his nerves and angst. Obviously I’m NOT a 17 year old guy, but it sure felt like you could have been in the mind of Nick. You can also tell that she’s very knowledgeable in surfing, because she tosses phrases out that even as a non-surfer, I understood. It kinda makes me want to learn to surf, if I’m being honest. That’s probably gonna be an issue being in Oklahoma huh? :-\
Overall, I loved this book as much as I hoped to, plus some. With Jane’s brilliant writing, character development, and her “way” of grabbing you by the heart, you’ll fall in love with this story. It’s romantic and quite heartbreaking, but more than anything, it’s inspiring and hopeful. It was such an easy read, and I wasn’t ready to put it down on that last page. Jane has done it yet again, and now I'll impatiently sit here waiting for the next. ;)
<3 Erin