Review: The Season of You and Me by Robin Constantine
Rating: 4/5
A fun, light-hearted summer romance featuring a love interest who uses a wheelchair! This is what How To Keep Rolling After a Fall could have been if Karole Cozzo wasn't so ableist.
I thoroughly enjoyed this quick read. I loved the beach setting and the alternating viewpoints. I also loved all the kid characters! They felt so authentic and age-appropriate and I loved all the sibling relationships. Cass and Hunter were so cute and I really loved the positive representation of a blended family. No evil stepmothers here!
I did find some stuff about the portrayal of Bryan's disability a bit weird - how he talked about going to the bathroom was definitely strange - but overall it felt like a sensitive portrayal. I especially loved how supportive and attentive to his needs his friends were. Cass was very respectful too and there was never any gross invasions of his privacy. Though I do wish Bryan's chair was pictured on the cover.
A lovely little novel that's perfect for brightening up a dreary weekend!
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This is like ultimate YA romance. It is chock full of cliches like the quirky best friend (for both leads), the parental drama (long lost father anyone?), and worries about the future and the past (past exes that is). But what romance novel isn’t? Personally, the appeal of a romance novel is it’s predictability. I read romance novels because I find comfort in knowing what’s going to happen next, particularly knowing that even when shit hits the fan there will still be a happily ever after. So if that’s your jam then come along with me and discuss The Secrets of Attraction.
So everyone bear with me because it’s been almost a month since I’ve read this book, but I still wanted to do a little post about it because I did enjoy it. Yes, this book was as predictable as most romance novels but it had its moments of uniqueness and that’s what I’m really here to discuss.
First, the novel is about the romance between Jesse and Madison. Madison’s focus is on creating a portfolio for a summer art program, her work on the school newspaper, her friends, and dealing with the major bombshell that who she thought was just a family friend is actually her father. On the other hand, Jesse works at a coffee shop with his best friend/bandmate and bitterly wallows after his long time girlfriend broke up with him via cheating on him with his other best friend/bandmate.
The whole love triangle may be a cliche and only there to cause more drama (which it does), but it also throws a twist in with the girl coming crawling back to Jesse after her new boyfriend isn’t so perfect. This might not be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that he and Madison were on thin ice after an already long road to getting together and the thinning was caused by her jealousy over finding a girls’ number in his pocket.
The thing about Madison is that she’s never really cared about a relationship (probably due in some part to her daddy issues) and so she doesn’t know how to handle her strong feelings for Jesse which I can totally understand. Her friend gives her the advice that I quoted above which is that jealousy is a waste of time, but when she goes to apologize to Jesse for freaking out she finds his ex looking to win him back and back to start they go.
Everything, of course, gets wrapped up with a nice bow even the things that shouldn’t. I’m a sucker for happy endings, but I also want something real. Maybe that’s because I want to see the possibility of happy endings in real life and not just in fairytales. I don’t know, but that was one of the things that bothered me about this novel. I don’t want to spoil too much, but that is my warning to anyone who goes forth and reads this book. It’s predictable in the ways of the romance novel (particularly the YA romance novel and yes there’s a difference) and there is a happy ending, but the more cynical of readers might find it too predictable or too happy. To each their own. Read on and enjoy and let me know what you think!
Also here’s a moment when the book tried to be deep that really just leads to an existential crisis which I really don’t need help with:
“I feel so small—like when I’m sitting here and looking up, I realize that nothing is ever still, those stars are constantly imploding and dying and new ones are born, and we’re on some spinning hunk of rock in the middle of a galaxy and when you look at it that way, hell, you realize how insignificant we really are, and it’s scary, but then you wonder, how can we be alone? It’s pure arrogance to think we’re all alone in the universe, and it’s a nice thought—the not being alone. But then someone hurts you, or pushes you into a locker, or breaks your heart, and you realize how alone you are, and it blows. And it’s that uncertainty that makes us all batshit crazy, right? What does life mean? What if it means nothing?”
Looking for some contemporary YA to binge? Check out Robin Constantine's three books: The Promise of Amazing, The Secrets of Attraction, and The Season of You and Me.
The Season of You and Me by Robin Constantine - Review
Grades:
Overall – B
Character Development – C
Plot – B
Character Romance – A
The Season of You and Me by Robin Constantine was another I’d had on my TBR pile for a while and finally got around to it. I wouldn’t say I was impressed by the book but I wasn’t disappointed either.
TSOYAM is about two characters who meet while working at a summer day camp. Cassidy is running away from her boyfriend who dumped her. Bryan is relearning his life now that he’s in a wheelchair.
I think the plot of this book is pretty stunted for one that has so much potential. An MC in a wheelchair is huge for YA as visible disabilities (and invisible disabilities) fight for more page time. I’m not saying I want this book to be about Bryan in a wheelchair. But I wish we knew him better. I felt his development was almost nonexistent (except for that one thing he does at the end). He turns out to be just the love interest/guy in wheelchair. I wanted more from him.
Cassidy is okay in the development area but she doesn’t jump off the page as someone you want to root for. She exists and I think I liked her well enough, but until the end when she goes off with her ex boyfriend I really didn’t feel any strong feelings for or against her. Then, in a relatively anti-climactic turn of events, Cassidy leaves her ex-boyfriend behind and goes back to Bryan. Problem solved, crisis averted, everyone go home.
The most redeeming thing about this book is the way Bryan’s friends handle his new disability. Note: Bryan was not born without the use of his legs. He lost the use of the bottom half of his body after an accident when he tried to do some parkour. Anyway, Bryan’s brother and their friends pitch in to get Bryan’s surfboard updated so that he can still ride it. Bryan is hesitant and afraid but his friends encourage him, even when he yells at them and pushes them away. This point of the book is what turned Bryan into a likeable character for me. Unfortunately, it comes at the very end of the book.
The romance between these too is so cute that I’m almost willing to overlook the other stuff and give the book an A. Almost.
I want more development for both of these characters, but the plot is easy to follow and just heavy enough to be good but not so heavy that you need a break halfway through. If you’re looking for a quick read, this is a great book to pick up!
Suggested Reading: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. Emotionally charged enough that you’ll feel for the characters but easy enough that you can read it with only one pack of tissues.
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Genre: YA Contemporary
Page #: 352
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published in: 2016
Official Synopsis
Cassidy Emmerich is determined to make this summer—the last before her boyfriend heads off to college—unforgettable. What she doesn’t count on is her boyfriend breaking up with her. Now, instead of being poolside with him, Cass is over a hundred miles away, spending the summer with her estranged father and his family at their bed-and-breakfast at the Jersey Shore and working as the newest counselor at Camp Manatee.
Bryan Lakewood is sick of nevers. You’ll never walk. You’ll never surf. You’ll never slow dance with your date at prom. One miscalculated step and Bryan’s life changed forever—now he’s paralyzed and needs to use a wheelchair. This is the first summer he’s back at his former position at Camp Manatee and ready to reclaim some of his independence, in spite of those who question if he’s up for the job.
Cass is expecting two months dealing with heartbreak.
Bryan is expecting a summer of tough adjustments.
Neither of them is expecting to fall in love.
My Review
This was a really cute, fun book to read over the summer. I had never read a book set in a summer camp before, and the beach locale made me long for the southern California shore. The romance is really sweet and builds from a friendship, so that was nice.
The male lead, Bryan, uses a wheelchair, which is something I don’t see a whole lot in YA books, so I was excited to read something with a disabled character. He is not tragic and does not bemoan the fact that he is paralyzed. His family and friends are actually way more bent out of shape about it than he is. Bryan is quite active and athletic through the book, though he is still adjusting. I was a little bummed that they didn’t put a guy in a wheelchair on the cover, however. Feels like a missed opportunity.
