8/30/2023 0 Comments Good night owl summaryI appreciate the author’s efforts to bring greater diversity to YA in terms of LGBT+ characters and mental health representation, but this book’s premise was a lot more promising than its execution. The banter isn’t any better with the verbal sparring sounding nothing like the way teens would actually talk, and I had to re-read some conversations to try and work out what was intended by the ‘witty dialogue’ because it felt so forced. Obviously as an ARC, the text is subject to change, but this sample is indicative of the prose throughout the story which is too simplistic for my tastes. Staring deeply at one another, we breathed in tandem, our eyes searching mine were full of wonder, hers of curiosity. My hands ventured over her curved body, exploring. I lay on my back as she matched my body’s form by climbing on top of me. Her hands worked their way around my body, feeling each crevice, each line along my physique. Unable to contain myself anymore, I held Vivian’s head in my hands and pulled her into a fiery and passionate kiss. If I honestly felt the chemistry between Emma and Vivian, I could’ve excused the other flaws, but when the central hook of the story is the Emma/Vivian relationship and it falls flat, there’s very little that can redeem it. Which brings me to the romance which was the biggest disappointment to me. Gwen is ostracized by the other girls, but we don’t even get any nuance with her character on how that affects her, because it only matters in how it relates to Emma and her love interest Vivian. Gwen is probably the most likable character in the book, but she’s basically Emma’s platonic Manic Pixie Dream Girl who is there to provide Emma with friendship and support and ship her with the love interest, she has no personality or interests outside of what’s happening with Emma. Lauren is the token Mean Girl which is a trope the author attempts to subvert by having her crush on Emma, but instead of making her a complicated character with conflicting emotions and motivations, she simply turns into a predatory lesbian stock type who keeps crossing boundaries with an unrealistically oblivious Emma (who doesn’t seem to realize that Lauren’s attempt at hand-holding and other obvious come-ons indicate her romantic interest). Emma’s childhood friend Julie apparently brings the letters Emma’s written to her over the years to read and re-read while she’s at camp, which seems strange to me given that they’re not very close anymore, and it comes off contrived simply because Emma’s letters are plot-relevant and need to show up in order to be used in people’s schemes. I struggled with the one-dimensional characters who seemed to behave as best befitted the plot instead of like recognizable human beings. I needed more to show WHY she was able to overcome these hangups instead of her being magically cured all of a sudden (with the minor implication that her love interest may have some of the credit). The book pays lip service to her issues instead of incorporating them properly into the storyline so that Emma goes from someone who supposedly has serious neuroses that majorly impact her life to the point where she had to be pulled out of school to a girl who has no issues facing her triggers and navigates everyday life with ease. Emma suffers from depression and anxiety, including a crippling fear of the woods due to a traumatic incident in her past, but we rarely see her struggle with this. My first issue was that the development of the mental health aspect felt shallow to me. Unfortunately this book didn’t hit the mark for me, but it may appeal more to younger readers as it’s a quick easy read. The cute cover and premise of sapphic summer love at camp lured me in, and I whole-heartedly wish I enjoyed it more than I did. When Emma breaks into the tool shed on her first day there, the fall out from her escapades leads her right into the path of her counsellor, Vivian Black. It’s the last place Emma wants to be with scary creatures, creepy crawlies, and much that can go bump in the night. Lumberjanes meets the frothy, fun tone of a YA Marian Keyes in this cute romance between two girls away at summer campĮmma Lane’s forced to face her fears when her mother unceremoniously dumps her on the doorstep of Camp Mapplewood, abandoning her for the summer while she heads off on a cruise with her latest husband. PUBLICATION DETAILS: by Wattpad Books on June 30th, 2020
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