The Summer of Me succeeds unequivocally in one way – it makes you care deeply about the main character. I had a ton of issues with the book. But I kept reading it avidly because I cared so much about the heroine and I wanted things to work out for her.

The Summer of Me is about Destiny Madison, a single mom of twins. Destiny agrees to let the twins spend the summer with their father (Destiny and their dad are divorced). This gives her some time to figure out what she wants to do with her life. While the cover suggests that she spends the summer contemplating her future while staring at the ocean, she actually spends the summer working her ass off. She goes back to school, she takes on a new project at her church, and she continues working at the job she already has (she manages the cosmetics section of a department store). She also spends some time with her friends, happily married Natalie and wild girl Bertice, and accepts an additional part-time job with the somewhat shady company that Bertice works for.

Disclosure tangent: I hated Bertice so much that it almost made my hair fall right out of my head. I found her to be mean-spirited, selfish, irresponsible, and a total fat-shamer who actively tries to sabotage every good thing Destiny attempts to do. I think maybe I’m supposed to regard Bertice more sympathetically, as someone who is a lot of fun and a little lost. But I didn’t think she was fun. I thought she was toxic. Since Bertice is central to the plot and is in many scenes, this dramatically reduced my enjoyment of the story and contributed to the C+ grade (versus B-).

Getting back to the plot: Destiny’s friends introduce her to Daniel, a pastor who is new in town. Destiny and Daniel hit it off, but agree to move slowly since neither has dated in a long time (Destiny since her divorce, and Daniel since his wife died). But Daniel has some secrets. Can they make a romance work?

This book is a contemporary, and it has a strong inspirational component. Daniel is a pastor, and all of the characters talk frequently about the importance of God in their lives. That didn’t resonate with me, personally, but I think it will resonate with many readers. The book isn’t preachy or overbearing; it’s simply upfront about the fact that for most of the characters their religious faith is a strong part of their everyday way of thinking, behaving, and speaking.

One thing I liked about the book was the way breast cancer came up as a theme. Daniel’s wife died of breast cancer and Destiny’s mom is a survivor. This is a painful topic, but an important one, especially for African American women. As middle-aged women of any race, I think most of us get to a point where either we’ve had cancer or we know someone who has. It’s a part of life now for those of us over forty, at least in my experience (I have several relatives and friends who have either passed away from cancer or survived cancer, including several who are breast cancer survivors specifically). And I thought it was valuable and realistic that the book acknowledges this strange phase of life we share. If you are looking for more information, Sisters Network has information for women of every race as well as information for African American women, specifically.

I also loved how direct Destiny is, and how much she and her ex and his wife try to work together to co-parent their children. This was the story thread that hooked me and kept me reading. I was never that invested in whether Daniel and Destiny got together, but I cared a great deal about Destiny’s parenting issues. I have many divorced friends, some of whom really bring their A game to trying to handle the parenting aspects of divorce like freaking grown-ups. It was wonderful to see how direct and honest Destiny is with her ex, and how the children’s stepmother, Mary Margaret, turns from Destiny’s nemesis into her ally. The arguments between the sets of parents make sense and they are resolved with communication and compromise and I felt like giving everyone a loud, slow clap for being functional adults who put their kids’ needs first.

As far as flaws in the book, some plot points come out of nowhere. One the one hand, I thought Destiny’s relationship with her overbearing mother was very realistic. It was relatable and veered between funny, painfully funny, and just plain painful, as mother-daughter relationships so often do. I liked how ultimately they use clear communication to become closer – as you may have gleaned, I have a huge fondness for clear communication and when they had their big mother daughter talk I was thrilled. On the other hand, there’s another plot point involving Destiny’s mom that just comes out of nowhere and felt both unnecessary and artificial.

I was also not sold on the romance. I felt that Destiny beat herself up way too much for things beyond her control, while Daniel failed utterly to take responsibility for some of his actions. I liked the fact that Daniel is supportive of Destiny and is there for her during some fraught moments, but he never seems to realize the toll his own choices have taken on the other characters. (FYI, this is a squeaky clean romance – not a criticism, just letting readers know. Daniel and Destiny kiss and that’s it.)

Finally, I disliked the writing style of the book – I found it to be stilted. Even those clear communication conversations I adored felt very scripted. The writing didn’t flow for me. It didn’t feel natural. It’s frustrating, because the writing style of the book is my single greatest problem with the book, and the reason it’s a C+ and not a B-, and yet it’s hard to describe exactly what was wrong with it. There’s a lot of telling instead of showing.

Here’s an example of the writing – it’s not terrible, but it bothered me:

Destiny let the playful exchange between her friends wash over her as she considered the truth of Bertice’s words. There had been a change in their friendship since Natalie married Gavin, one of the pastors at the church they all attended, three years ago. Destiny had watched her friend change from a selfish, sometimes vindictive witch with a b to a model pastor’s wife. Natalie still had her same spunk but it was now couched in genuine concern and love for others. Destiny didn’t know much about miracles but she believed the change in Natalie was as close to one she’d seen. Natalie’s compassion had been a strong factor in helping Destiny develop a cordial relationship with Kenneth and Mary Margaret.

To be fair, this passage comes at the start of the book, when exposition is to be expected, but the tone stays pretty consistent throughout. It also reads exactly as though The Summer of Me is the second book in a series and as though this passage is catching us up on a previous book – but if there is one about Natalie and Gavin, I can’t find it, meaning that we have exposition that is not only clunky but unnecessary.

The book didn’t gel for me, but I sure did like Destiny, and I could not stop reading until I knew that she was going to be OK. Ultimately it was a pleasant and engaging read. Some of the characters annoyed me, but some delighted me. I didn’t end up caring much about the romance, but when it comes to modeling good parenting and adult communication, this book was excellent.