Book Title: Summer Of Yesterday
Author: Gaby Triana
Release Date: July 8th, 2014
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Genre: YA
Standalone
Book Link: Goodreads
Pre-Order Link: Amazon
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Back to the Future meets Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Haley’s summer vacation takes a turn for the retro in this totally rad romantic fantasy.
Summer officially sucks. Thanks to a stupid seizure she had a few months earlier, Haley’s stuck going on vacation with her dad and his new family to Disney’s Fort Wilderness instead of enjoying the last session of summer camp back home with her friends. Fort Wilderness holds lots of childhood memories for her father, but surely nothing for Haley. But then a new seizure triggers something she’s never before experienced—time travel—and she ends up in River Country, the campground’s long-abandoned water park, during its heyday.
The year? 1982.
And there—with its amusing fashion, “oldies” music, and primitive technology—she runs into familiar faces: teenage Dad and Mom before they’d even met. Somehow, Haley must find her way back to the twenty-first century before her present-day parents anguish over her disappearance, a difficult feat now that she’s met Jason, one of the park’s summer residents and employees, who takes the strangely dressed stowaway under his wing.
Seizures aside, Haley’s used to controlling her life, and she has no idea how to deal with this dilemma. How can she be falling for a boy whose future she can’t share?
Summer officially sucks. Thanks to a stupid seizure she had a few months earlier, Haley’s stuck going on vacation with her dad and his new family to Disney’s Fort Wilderness instead of enjoying the last session of summer camp back home with her friends. Fort Wilderness holds lots of childhood memories for her father, but surely nothing for Haley. But then a new seizure triggers something she’s never before experienced—time travel—and she ends up in River Country, the campground’s long-abandoned water park, during its heyday.
The year? 1982.
And there—with its amusing fashion, “oldies” music, and primitive technology—she runs into familiar faces: teenage Dad and Mom before they’d even met. Somehow, Haley must find her way back to the twenty-first century before her present-day parents anguish over her disappearance, a difficult feat now that she’s met Jason, one of the park’s summer residents and employees, who takes the strangely dressed stowaway under his wing.
Seizures aside, Haley’s used to controlling her life, and she has no idea how to deal with this dilemma. How can she be falling for a boy whose future she can’t share?
Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Simon Pulse via Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.
Review:
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I love a good time traveling story and it’s even better when it’s a YA time travel story. Initially Haley bothered me. A lot. Her attitude was terrible and I felt sympathy for her dad & stepmom who had to deal with her. Seizures are a big deal and while I can understand Haley’s reluctance, I can also understand how her dad wants to keep a close eye on her.
When she travels back in time, everything is different. All the things that she has grown up with don’t even exist. There is no Google, no iPhone or any of the technology that she has always known. Stranger yet, she meets her parents the summer they fell in love. But it’s cutie Jason who makes the most impact on her. He takes her under his wing,and doesn’t label her crazy when she drops a bombshell on him.
Yet, I didn’t feel the chemistry between Jason and Haley. Their kisses didn’t make my Kindle sizzle like I was hoping they would. Maybe it’s because I never completely warmed up to Haley. I ended up liking her a little bit, but I didn’t love her. I think more character development for Haley would have helped.
The plot was jerky. In some places it was slower than a turtle and in others, it zoomed by like a racehorse. I think a little extra time to work out the pacing would definitely have been beneficial to the story.
The ending was confusing too. I don’t think the author was really committed to the end of the story as it felt rushed and unfinished.There was one last bombshell at the end that surprised me, but didn’t shock me or fill me with feels.
So I’m kinda iffy on this one. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. Between an underdeveloped protagonist and a rough ending & a jerky paced plot, I’m giving this book 3 stars. Maybe someone else will like it, it just wasn’t one of my favorites.
When she travels back in time, everything is different. All the things that she has grown up with don’t even exist. There is no Google, no iPhone or any of the technology that she has always known. Stranger yet, she meets her parents the summer they fell in love. But it’s cutie Jason who makes the most impact on her. He takes her under his wing,and doesn’t label her crazy when she drops a bombshell on him.
Yet, I didn’t feel the chemistry between Jason and Haley. Their kisses didn’t make my Kindle sizzle like I was hoping they would. Maybe it’s because I never completely warmed up to Haley. I ended up liking her a little bit, but I didn’t love her. I think more character development for Haley would have helped.
The plot was jerky. In some places it was slower than a turtle and in others, it zoomed by like a racehorse. I think a little extra time to work out the pacing would definitely have been beneficial to the story.
The ending was confusing too. I don’t think the author was really committed to the end of the story as it felt rushed and unfinished.There was one last bombshell at the end that surprised me, but didn’t shock me or fill me with feels.
So I’m kinda iffy on this one. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. Between an underdeveloped protagonist and a rough ending & a jerky paced plot, I’m giving this book 3 stars. Maybe someone else will like it, it just wasn’t one of my favorites.
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