YA Beach Read | Book Review: Song of Summer by Laura Lee Anderson

“The thirteen qualities of Robin’s Perfect Man range from the mildly important “Handsome” to the all-important “Great taste in music.” After all, Westfield’s best high school folk musician can’t go out with some shmuck who only listens to top 40 crap. When hot Carter Paulson walks in the door of Robin’s diner, it looks like the list may have come to life. It’s not until the end of the meal that she realizes he’s profoundly deaf.

Carter isn’t looking for a girlfriend. Especially not a hearing one. Not that he has anything against hearing girls, they just don’t speak the same language. But when the cute waitress at Grape Country Dairy makes an effort to talk with him, he takes her out on his yellow Ducati motorcycle.”

Summer Book

I was really intrigued by the premise for Song of Summer: a girl who loves music falls in love with a boy who can’t hear.

Maybe Someday had a similar backstory, and I wondered how this would play out with different characters in more of a YA setting (Maybe Someday is new adult).

Maybe this storyline isn’t meant to be. Things started off really well – Robin and Carter had all the predictable challenges to being deaf and hearing – miscommunication, feeling left out of conversations, etc. They come from different worlds, and the author showed that very well.

The trouble for me came in during the last third of the book. A large issue pops up and is left pretty unresolved. It felt out of the blue (it was led up to but still felt sudden to me) and the proportion of it was too large.

Then we’re left with very little closure. I appreciate an ambiguous ending when its done well, but Song of Summer left me disappointed and needing resolution.

Aside from that – I liked the setting and the dialogue. You don’t see the country side of New York described in too many books, which I loved. Plus Robin and her co-workers/friends were really sweet, and I liked their dynamic.

Also, the jealousy stuff that pops up for both Robin and Carter seemed unnecessary and story “filler.”

OVERALL:

This is an ideal beach read – it’s light and summery with a underlying deeper message. The missing pieces at the end disappointed me despite the book’s many attributes. Song of Summer was good but not great.