"The Summer We Forgot" Review

Growing up, I spent quite a few summers at camp. I have enough handmade bracelets and necklaces to last a lifetime and a 'cleanest cabin' award that is one of my proudest accomplishments (just kidding!). If you couldn't tell by that last statement, my experiences at camp were pretty tame especially in comparison to the camp in the book I am reviewing today...luckily for me!

"The Summer We Forgot" is a Young Adult novel written by Caroline George. It was released on March 8th of 2022.

If you would like to preorder "The Summer We Forgot" you can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can follow the author, Caroline George, on Instagram and Goodreads! You can also check out her website!

Through Netgalley, I was able to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley, Thomas Nelson Publishing, and the author, Caroline George. As always, all views expressed throughout this review are my own.

Some memories are better left forgotten.

Darby and Morgan haven’t spoken for two years, and their friend group has splintered. But when the body of their former science teacher is found in the marsh where they attended camp that summer, they realize they have more questions than answers . . . and even fewer memories.

No one remembers—or no one is talking.

The group of reunited friends begins to suspect that a murderer is stalking the coastal highway 30A, and they must try to recover their memories as quickly as possible . . . before the history they can’t remember repeats itself.

Everyone has a secret.

As tensions rise and time runs out, Darby and Morgan begin to wonder if they can believe one another . . . or if they can even trust themselves.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads. There was a lot about this book that really worked for me. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I also think that my personal connection with summer camp made me warm to the plot immediately. My personal summer camp experiences were a lot less murder--y and mysterious but I like books that use summer camp as the setting. It also helped that I read this towards the beginning of summer. Being a mood reader, it sometimes helps me to tailor my reading based upon the season.

I liked the cast of characters and enjoyed the interactions that I was able to read between them. Teenage angst is strong with this one but that comes with the territory. The characters can be overly emotional but also silly. Caroline George does a pretty good job at portraying the younger teenaged experience and all of the emotions, heartache, and craziness that comes along with it.

Also...bonus points for the mention of a character named Ashley Olsen. Whether intentional or not, I felt it played into the nostalgia factor for me! But maybe that's just because I watched so many Olsen twins movies growing up?

My only real complaint would be the pacing. The writing style was good but I think the story would have benefitted from some improvement in the pacing department. There were some points where the story got a little too slow for my taste. It was tough to encourage myself to power through, but it really paid off in the end. While it could have been improved, it was not such an egregious offense and I was able to overlook it. All of the things I really enjoyed about this book outweighed the issues that I saw with the pacing. With that being said, I would read other books by this author in a heartbeat.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this for readers 13/14+. There is very few instances of mild language, dialogue, and situations. However, it was nothing off-putting (to me) by any means. I have seen other reviewers complain about the one or two cursing instances and the mildly descriptive romance. I did see this book tagged as Christian fiction and I saw a few reviewers saying that the author is a Christian author. While the complaint is fair and reading is subjective, I disagree. There was nothing overly scandalous or inherently un-Christian. It would be impossible to write a sin-less murder mystery (bc murder). Somehow this author manages to keep this book mild enough to appeal to all audiences yet, interesting enough to keep them reading. Reader's discretion is always advised. If you, too, were a summer camp kid, have ever made one of those braided plastic friendship bracelets, or are just looking for a good summer mystery, you should add this one to your list!

"Everyone here plays - or played - a role in my life. Their faces pepper my scrapbooks and social media feeds. They remember me like I remember them. We wrote a history books, then burned the pages."

With all books that I read, I make a playlist to go along with the book. These playlists are full of songs which encapsulate the feeling of the story as a whole, capture the essence of a particular scene, or just remind me of one of the characters. You can find my playlist for "The Summer We Forgot" on Apple Music or Spotify.

Will you be checking out "The Summer We Forgot"? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

As always, thank you for reading!

XO,

Madison