Review | Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins

Summer Days and Summer Nights edited by Stephanie Perkins
Published On: June 2, 2016
Published By: Pan Macmillan
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Anthology
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought
Rating: ★★★

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Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Summer Days and Summer Nights is the second anthology edited by Stephanie Perkins featuring twelve summer romances, following on from My True Love Gave To Me featuring twelve holiday romances. I have chosen to rate and review each story individually, with the overall rating above the average rating of all twelve stories.

Head, Scales, Tongue, Tale by Leigh Bardugo - This was a huge surprise for me. This story is about two teens who develop a relationship over a series of summers while searching for a lake monster reported to live in the local lake. I usually dislike the stories that include elements of fantasy and magical realism but I actually really enjoyed this one. It was very out of my comfort zone but it has made me want to pick up more from Leigh Bardugo, whose books I was never interested in before. 3.5/5

The End Of Love by Nina Lacour - Sadly, this one was a disappointment. I had heard such great things about Nina Lacour's writing so I really wanted to love this story. Unfortunately, I found it boring. It's about a girl who decides to retake a class during summer in order to get out of the house as her parents are getting a divorce. Also taking the class is a girl our main character has perviously had a crush on. This story features one of my biggest dislikes in books; children being incredibly selfish and thinking the world revolves around them when their parents divorce. That, although not the main point of the story, ruined it for me. 2/5

Last Night At The Cinegore by Libba Bray - This was a very weird story. Kevin works at a movie theatre and on the final night before it closes, his last shift working with his crush Dani, a lot of crazy stuff starts happening. Horror isn't really my thing and this was definitely horror. Some really weird, creepy stuff went on in this story and is definitely not the kind of thing I would usually read. It was written incredibly well, and I did enjoy it somewhat, but it really wasn't my thing. 2.5/5

Sick Pleasures: For A and U by Francesca Lia Block - This was the most confusing story of them all for me, about a boy and girl who meet one night and romance ensues. It was very average and not particularly interesting but the use of first initials instead of names just confused matters. It was enjoyable enough but nothing special. 3/5

In Ninety Minutes, Turn North by Stephanie Perkins - It's really no surprise for me that this was my favourite of the anthology. This story follows the same characters we were introduced to in Stephanie Perkins' story in My True Love Gave To Me. I loved revisiting those characters and seeing how their relationship progressed. It was just as cute and adorable as I expected and having been introduced to the characters previously really helped me connect to them throughout this story. 5/5

Souvenirs by Tim Federle - This was another average story about two boys who were both working at an amusement park over the summer and started a relationship, however set a day to break up. This was an interesting idea, following a couple on the day they have set as the day they break up, but I think it could have been executed better. I found it a little bit boring. 3/5

Inertia by Veronica Roth - Another story I enjoyed much more than I was expecting to. Veronica Roth's story was very different but cleverly done. This story follows a girl whose childhood friend is in critical condition in hospital and has chosen her to share memories with him before he dies. I really enjoyed the way the romance genre was twisted to become more of a sci-fi story with romance elements. It was such an interesting concept and the romance was incorporated really well. I was also impressed with how well some more serious topics were covered in such a short story. 4/5

Love Is The Last Resort by Jon Skovron - Again, I found this story to be pretty average. This follows a cast of characters at a resort and featured multiple relationships rather than just the one. It was fun to have a larger cast of characters but in such a short time it was difficult to connect with all of them. I really enjoyed the resort setting and having multiple romances, however I feel like it needed to be a bit longer to reach it's full potential. 3/5

Good Luck And Farewell by Brandy Colbert - Since reading this book, this is the one story that I keep forgetting what it was about. I enjoyed it enough while reading but it appears to be quite forgettable. It's about a girl whose cousin, who has almost raised her since her parents died, is moving away and she has to deal with that change in her life. It was a nice, cute story but, once again, pretty average. It was a good take on family relationships and emphasised the different types of family but the romance was nothing special in this story and was a definite case of insta-love. 3/5

Brand New Attraction by Cassandra Clare - I wasn't sure what to expect from Cassandra Clare but I ended up pleasantly surprised by her story, I really enjoyed it. It was very unique as it is set in a carnival and follows the daughter of the carnival owner. There is a lot going on in this story but rather than being confusing or overwhelming, I found that it reflected the busy carnival setting and added to the feel of the story. It was very different to all of the other stories in the collection as there was a lot more to it than just the romance. I loved the interesting setting and unique plot. I was very impressed with how much Cassandra Clare managed to do in such a short story. 4/5

A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong by Jennifer E Smith - Having loved many of Jennifer E Smith's books before, I expected to enjoy this story just as much as I did. This is the story of Annie who is working at a camp over the summer and has a crush on the shy boy from school. There is so much more to this story than it first seems and I really loved the way autism and Aspergers were discussed. Some of the things mentioned were a bit stereotypical and I think including such stereotypical behaviours could have been avoided but overall I think it was written well. I really enjoyed the story, particularly the relationship with the little boy, and also found the romance adorable. 4/5

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things by Lev Grossman - This was a good end to the anthology. Another very interesting premise, this story follows our main characters as they live the same day over and over again. It was an interesting take on the topic and I was initially quite doubtful as I often find that kind of story to be boring and repetitive. However, I ended up enjoying it much more than I expected to. It is a bit more complex than some of the other stories, and ambitious to attempt in such a short space of time, but I still thought it was a fun, cute story. Unfortunately, while the story was interesting, I didn't connect with the romance at all. 3.5/5

There was an interesting mix of good and not so good throughout this anthology and many of the stories surprised me as it was often the ones I least expected that I enjoyed the most. I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed My True Love Gave To Me, but there are definitely some authors whose work I am more interested to check out having read their short story.