Title

The title did a good job depicting exactly what it wanted to say, that this is a romance set during the summer. Which is great, since romance is always great! However, I can't say that I was that all captivated by the title. Though I do respect the genre and all its virtues and flaws, the title still seemed very cliche. I have read one too many summer romances since my Quotev days and I have to say, I was slightly put off.

Perhaps it was due to the slight lack of creativity of the title. While I am not saying that you are uncreative, the title simply failed to reel me into the narrative.

Despite this, I have to say, your title did well in preparing me for what to expect and helped me settle into the mindset that I am reading a book about a summer romance. I believe this allowed me to enjoy the book even if romance is a genre not typically suited to my tastes.

Blurb

The blurb was rather interesting and, though, once again, it felt like a typical romance story, I have to admit, I was intrigued as to what exactly the relationship between these two friends and the brothers is. Admittedly, I am a sucker for a good love triangle, so that added to the overall general interest.

This blurb is one of those better blurbs that I have seen on Wattpad. The feelings and the mystery really is captivating and it is rather fun to think about all the possibilities that this story could offer. All the storylines and the dialogues that will either move me to tears or reduce me to laughter

In addition, you offered us the theme of memories. To every person on earth, memories often serve one of two things: a source of hindrance and melancholy; or a source of happiness and inspiration. By offering the reader the theme of memories, you are in turn, offering us many emotions. You are basically saying: Expect a lot of feels. That is extremely valuable and I highly commend you for it.

Cover

The cover did not necessarily encapsulate my mind or astound me to a magical degree. Yes, as cheesy as the last line may have seemed, I am not lying when I say that I rather like it. I adore the simplicity of the cover and the obvious reflection of the themes.

I think that the beach was a great addition. I don't really know who the characters on the cover are, but they certainly look sweet together so I'm not going to bother ruining their happiness.

Perhaps the only thing that I suggest you tweak is the placement of the fonts. It isn't the easiest on the eyes and I suggest you enlarge it more. Alternatively, you may prefer to choose a more lucid colour, something that is more clear to the eyes. Other than those issues mentioned, I really don't have anything else to point out. The cover seems well done and I would certainly hate to ruin it.

The First Pages

You have presented us with a cast list, which is honestly a good way to show the reader how exactly you picture the characters. But keep in mind, that is how you view the characters and not as how the reader imagines them. Sometimes, it is much more immersive to allow the reader that chance at visualisation and imagination.

You can do that by applying much more description to your chapters. Describing your characters being one of the more effective ways to immerse the reader. There is nothing better than an immersing book and that is why I would like to point that out.

Personally, I felt a little bit overwhelmed by the cast list as there were a lot of faces that I had to remember. Pictures may be great, but the mind does not do well under the pressure of too many pictures and that can sometimes impact your story in a negative way, though not always. My main suggestion to you is either provide only one pic for each individual character or completely cut the pictures from the opening pages and put them at the back.

In that way, your readers are less likely to feel stressed.

First Chapter

Not quite the best, it is still rather good so I commend you for trying. You mentioned that you are a new writer and, thus, I completely understand. The first chapter was good, it had theme and emotion to it, yet I wasn't very captivated. There was so much going on and I couldn't quite catch up. Perhaps it may have something to do with the fact that my mind works terribly under narrative chaos (that is a word now and yes I invented it) and thus, that may have caused my confusion.

Nevertheless, in order to give this book a fair review, I made sure to go ahead and re-read the chapter when my mind was clearer and the environment quieter. The confusion did dwindle somewhat, but I was still confused by a lot of the names that were thrown around and I have to say that it was a hectic read.

The present tense that was used for the book gave it the feeling of immediacy, which honestly didn't quite fit the tone of the story, as I understand it. First of all, you established that this book would have something to do with remembering the past and being with the people who were once a part of your past. In this kind of setting, a present-tense just doesn't sit right as it removes that sense of reminiscence from the narrative.

Yet other than that, you were able to introduce the characters and establish their relationships. I especially enjoyed the ending scenes. I think they were quite funny and you were able to establish even their parents as their own characters.

The Chapters That Follow

I found the moment shared between Aaron and Emery during the party to be very sweet and adorable. I need to say this, I do not like romance, yet I was eating this one up because I thought that it was just so well done. For one thing, you established a reason as to why they like each other and why they are fond of each other. Though both are pretty and well-built models of the human race (laugh if wished, I made that joke specifically because I am slightly high on sci-fi), their real bond stems from the fact that they faced adversity together. In the face of problems, they stood by each others sides and they comforted each other in times of desperate need.

When we write romances, it is important to give a clear and believable reason as to why they should be romancing each other, to begin with; both sides need to have initiative and both sides must consent to the relationship. Though I admit that I am heavily biased with the romance in this book, considering the fact that I am already a strong and firm shipper of Aanery (Aaron x Emery), this is a good thought for all writers out there who seek to write a believable and healthy romance.

Grammar

There were moments when you missed a comma. In addition, I couldn't help but notice it when the tenses suddenly shifted from past to present, causing friction between the words that negatively impacts the flow of the words. In a sense, it ruins the smooth transition between the lines. It dries up the metaphorical bones of the narrative and causes it to crack.

I also noticed that there were times when you used 'in' instead of 'on'. It is important to remember where these prepositions should be used and when they shouldn't be used, or else, the entire meaning of the line changes and may cause some confusion amongst the readers. On first glance, this kind of error is not so easily found, yet on a second pass, they become more and more apparent to the point where you simply cannot ignore them.

In addition, some of your sentences didn't really make sense. An example would be this sentence: "He'd have seen right through me had I anyhow." This line has been bothering me for a while now and found myself asking during the night, "What is the author trying to convey?"

If a phrase, a sentence, or a word causes redundancy, I highly suggest cutting it as it improves the overall quality of the work. I am no good with this, I suffer from being redundant as well and I am constantly trying to improve. At the same time, I also want to help others out there who have the same trouble.

Characters

Emery and Alice are simply adorable and I absolutely love their relationship. It is very obvious that they both see each other as sisters and in more ways than one, they are sisters. In every sense of the word, they are sisters from birth till death. I cannot even start to talk about how much I simply love these kinds of platonic relationships. The theme of sisterhood and brotherhood has always been a personal favourite of mine. I am very happy for Emery and Alice and I may or may not have shed a few tears as the story progressed.

Alice was an interesting character. I found Emery to be equally interesting. They each had flaws and virtues; they totally cared for each other; I totally ship Emerice!! *crickets* *clears throat* Moving on!

She wasn't the typical best friend that I often see in fiction everywhere. She was her own full-fledged character with a story of her own. You made it obvious that though she and Emery share one world, her world does not simply revolve around Emery. She has a life of her own and she was not blindly devoted. I have to say this, Alice has to be one of the best characters that I have read about so far. I just like her a lot!

As for Emery, I am yet to decide on my feelings about her. I am still not very sure if I like her as much as I like Alice. However, Emery is also another interesting character that I have been rooting for since chapter one. Mostly I've been rooting for her and Aaron to get together (Aanery, please happen!). But that is because I found her to be very sympathetic. There is a kindness to her, a kindness that she extended to someone who used to be an arse to her. Kind characters are often seen as weak, especially female characters.

There has been this stigma where people say that a female character needs to be weak if she wants to be kind. So, are you telling me that kindness is a weakness? Absolutely not! Emery is a perfectly strong female protagonist who is kind and forgiving. Yet her kindness does not stop her from being the badarse that she is, nor does it affect the strength of her character. If anything, it simply serves as a way to further solidify her character and establish her place in my heart.

So, Aaron, I am most definitely rooting for him out of all the other men in this story. I am very sorry, I have no idea if there are actually going to get together in the end, but still, Aanery shall forever stay as the ship of my heart.

But in all seriousness, I like Aaron's character because of how casual he is with Emery, yet not too casual to the point where he gets too overly cocky. Unlike the other boys in the story, I found him less trope-y and much less bad boy-y than the rest. To me, he seems to just be a really nice lad who went through a lot of deep shiz in the past. I am not the biggest fan of tragic male characters, but Aaron is sure turning me into a fan of the tragic backstory.

Narrative-wise, his service to the story is more than just another love interest. He is a friend To Emery. A friend a potential lover to her, a lad who had much more character than the rest despite his relatively low screen time.

As for the brothers... Well, the sexual tension made me laugh in all honesty. I was staring at my screen, laughing my arse off. So they have good body structure, lovely and delicious ;)

Okay, but in all seriousness, I do find them intriguing and the sexual tension is very evident. It seems to me that their focus is mostly on Emery and not on Alice. Honestly, I am not quite sure how I feel about this nor what I should say about this. I am a sucker for hot characters, don't get me wrong, however, there were several occasions where I felt that their hotness was too overemphasized in place of actual character growth. Their hotness were almost used as some kind of excuse to pass off their lack of character depth. In addition, I was rather freaked out when Alex stepped inside the bathroom on purpose while Emery was bathing. Not cool dude, not cool. You may have seen her body as a child, but still, it is no excuse to waltz into the bathroom unannounced.

Overview

The style of this story is very direct and straight. Though I am aware that each author writes according to their own tastes, I would like to bring to your attention the reasons as to why being too straight might affect the narrative. First of all, metaphors, similes, personification, etc are all there to serve as tools to more effectively draw your readers into your book. Dramatic prose and vivid descriptions often allow the readers to paint an even clearer picture of the vents in their heads. This allows them to become more immersed in the story and heightens their enjoyment.

With that said, I would also like to refer back to that part in the section on characters when I talked about Alex walking on Emery while she was bathing. I have to be honest, there were one too many times in the story where I felt as if Emery was being sexualised. In addition, I don't agree with the statement that it's only sexual harassment if you don't like it. All the sexual innuendos that they make about her makes it seem as if they see her as a sexual object and not a person. I just don't understand how a man can claim that he respects a woman when he simply grabs her arse without her permission. This simply put me off and I thought that I needed to note that observation here in the overview.

Other than the abovementioned, I liked the story because I had fun making up terrible ship names and I had my share of laughing at the tension before I realised what was actually happening. I admit with my whole heart that I found the story to be humorous and funny, but when I started to realise what was going on, my attention noticeably grew weaker until I stopped reading altogether.

If you are the type of person who likes romantic comedy, I would recommend this book to you. If you're someone looking for a quick laugh, then I would also recommend this book to you. With all that said, best of luck for future endeavours and do keep in mind the above mentioned points that we have discussed. I believe that they will help you greatly.

Reviewed By: Lyssa