Summer By Summer

“But I think we can only count on ourselves. No more waiting for a place. When it comes, great. But until then, it’s up to you and me.”  Nervous energy flew off my body in palpable waves. We had water. We had a stash of nuts and coconut. We could sleep on the beach. We could survive. For a while at least. “Right now, surviving is the most important thing.”

Book: Summer by Summer by Heather Burch, Blink, 2015

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Target Audience: Girls 16-19

Subjects: Dating Relationships, Death of a loved one, Fear, Love

Summary: He’s exactly the same as all the others. Just a rich spoiled party boy. And she wants absolutely nothing to do with him. But for the sake of his family whom she’s come to love during the four weeks as nanny to ten year old Joshie during their summer vacation in Belize, she puts up with him. When his mom practically forces him to take her to a party with him, her suspicions are confirmed.  But that doesn’t stop her from accepting the offer when he looks at her like that… like she can truly trust him. So she finds herself scuba diving in the crays with a tourist group he is helping lead. It’s an amazing experience, helping her forget some of the hurt and pain she’s dealing with for a day. Until the storm strikes. Having stayed back on the other boat to finish the clean up with the other leader took the tourists in, they are trapped on the ocean in the storm. The boat loses power and they are slammed into the rocks and stuck on an abandoned island. No one knows where they are. They have no way to get home. It’s up to them to find a way to survive until they are found.

Notes: This book focuses a lot on the relationship development of the two characters. They are trapped alone on an island for weeks, facing many kind of dangers and having to not only work together to survive, but save each others lives multiple times. And secrets have a way of coming out in circumstances like this. She shares about the death of a boyfriend she truly loved but whose wild party lifestyle got him killed. He realizes that he no longer wants that lifestyle. He wants to respect the virtue of this woman. He doesn’t want any more shallow relationships, but a marriage commitment. So the whole time on the island he chooses to respect her decision to not have sex till marriage. But when they do get rescued and return to their old lives, her fears and lack of trust cause her to reject him when someone from a past relationship turns up and falsely claims a commitment to him. Until she finds out that Bray is in the hospital, ill, and possibly dying, does she fully open her heart and decide to trust him.

The spiritual element comes into play largely on the island. After the death of her boyfriend she felt God turned His back on her, but she was the one turning her back on Him. Her time on the island brought her back to her faith and praying. It’s not too strong of a focus, but it’s definitely there.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 4/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

James 1:12 – Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.