Seventeen year-old Alex is not comfortable in her own skin anymore. As a result of a bad decision that she made, a tragedy occurred that left her without a best friend and unable to cope with her grief. Hoping to find some help for her, Alex’s parents send her to the summer camp that her aunt runs for troubled teens, to be a counselor. Alex has been carrying the weight of her grief and guilt for so long that it will be very difficult for her to open up and expose her dirty secret. If she doesn’t, though, she might just implode...
I would recommend this for Y.A. readers, but with adult guidance. The underage drinking and not -so-innocent flirting that takes place at the beginning make for some pretty mature scenes. However, the fact of consequences that can occur while driving under the influence is a point driven home all throughout this story., so I think teens could benefit greatly from reading it.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book was okay, moved slowly, and was predictable. I bought a copy for the branch, but it wasn't my favorite read.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

This book starts off with a bang and really sad but evolves into a story of personal growth. Alex's internal struggle is selfish, sorrowful and shows so much growth. I felt so relieved when she finally opened up about her feelings, especially with the therapist. I loved Grant's level headed temperament but that he's not afraid to call her out. The camp idea was cute and overall this was a fun read with a good message!

Meh...I found this book to be fairly predictable and somewhat boring. I did make it through the book. I did not make a connection with the characters. The main characters were thrown together due to circumstances and I never really understood why they liked each other. Of course they were both good looking but they did not know a lot about each other. It might have helped to have some narrative from Grant's perspective.

This is the second book I read by this author and she is now a must read author for me. This book had good emotional depth, character development and growth and a good relationship pacing. I enjoyed the setting of the camp. As someone who has attended and worked at a camp I can relate to the type of emotional and self growth that happens at camps. This was certainly a believable setting for this type of story. Such a sweet romance I would recommend to all YA romance readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

As a former Summer Camp Counselor, it was difficult for me to connect to the background "realities" of living camp life. I was also frustrated by the main character's constant stubbornness. It didn't feel like a realistic portrait of someone who is dealing with a lot of grief and guilt. She felt like a typical obstinate, privileged teenager. There could have been so much to her if that trait was dialed down, especially given her situation. I think this book would have been more impactful if she would have been able to grow and learn about herself without the love interest. That would have left a more lasting impression if she would have walked away from the love interest and chosen herself through her time of grief.

Last Chance Summer was such an amazing story about finding love, forgiveness and second chances. Alex thought she lost everything in a car accident that took the life of her best friend, Nikki, and her family’s trust when she snuck out that night to a party after being grounded. After all the physical therapy and her counseling sessions, her parents decide the best thing for Alex is to spend the summer with her Aunt at her summer camp. There, she finds exactly what she needed by giving Alex a chance to face what happened while dealing with her grief and to heal emotionally after all the trauma.

This story definitely pulled my heartstrings because Alex tried to build this wall around her after the car accident and she didn’t want to deal with the grief that she knew would break her. Both Alex and Grant had their own secrets to hide and they needed each other to be able to pick up the pieces so they could finally heal. Last Chance Summer was a great read that I know will stick with me and I can’t wait to read more from Ms. Klare in the future.

I was extremely disappointed by this book. After reading and loving "Surviving Adam Meade" by this author, I expected so much more from "Last Chance Summer." Unfortunately, the main character was annoying and self-centered. I expected to come to like her, but I didn't. She annoyed me to the end - which wasn't even a satisfying ending. The whole thing felt very anticlimactic. If you're going to read a book by this author, read "Surviving Adam Meade." It was way better.

The reason this book got two stars from me is because Grant became likable. At first, I had been frustrated by him, too. And although he's nowhere close to being one of my favorite love interests, I still liked him better than Alex. I also liked when they went geocaching. It's an activity that I've never understood, but when Gramt explained it, it made so much sense.

That's all I had for this review. I don't recommend this book, but I still recommend the author. Sometimes people just have lows in their careers, and this book was it.

This book was a little scattered and disorganized. It was really missing heart. Also, these are the worst camp counselors ever! You just can’t leave your campers all the time like they did.

YA Romance is my go-to when I am looking for a fun, fast, read. Last Chance Summer has all the potential to being that summer read, but it just fell short for me. Alex, daughter of a sheriff, has fallen off the deep end. After blaming herself for the death of her best friend, she spirals out of control. Her parents gave her one last chance to figure life out when they sent her to work as a counselor at her aunt's summer camp for troubled kids. There Alex meets Grant and romance sparks. There was so much potential here to dig deeper into both Alex and Grant's backstories, but it missed the mark for me.

Content: There's some profanity and mature themes. No sexual content.
13+

This was a really sweet, and cute read. I loved that it had such a satisfying ending. Books with relationships that go back and forth and back and forth due to a simple lack of communication don't sit well with me. You won't find that in this one. This is a good, solid YA romance.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

"Last Chance Summer" is a young adult book centered around two camp counselors - Alex and Grant.

The beginning of the story foreshadows a car accident where Alex nearly died and her best friend did. Her parents force her to visit her aunt and become a camp counselor at the summer camp that her aunt works at, which is where she meets her co-counselor, Grant. At first, Alex doesn't like Grant and really doesn't want to work with him or be at the camp at all. However, over the course of the story, Alex gets to know Grant more as they have more conversations and spend more time together, and they slowly become friends (and eventually, a couple)..

love the enemies-to-lovers trope, and I think it was executed very well in this story. In addition, the readers learn a lot about Alex and her past and see the progress she's made and how much she grows throughout the story, especially towards the end of it.

Between the characters and their enemies-to-lovers relationship to the intriguing plot, I thought "Last Chance Summer" was a really good book

Eighteen-year-old Alex has an attitude bigger than the sun and entitlement issues to give even the most spoiled child a run for their money. The daughter of the town sheriff, she seems to have spent her life breaking the rules for no other reason than she didn’t like them. The only child of two loving parents, she doesn’t really have much to rebel against, except she discovered being a rebel in her small Louisiana town made her more popular, so rebel she did. Until the fateful night in the autumn of her senior year when she, daughter of a law enforcement officer, got into a car with her best friend, who was drunk, and allowed said girl to drive. She’s forced to live with the tragedy of that night, still suffering PSTD as well as the loss of her BFF, though she doesn’t acknowledge her role in it to the extent I believe she should. After spending most of her senior year in rehab after the accident took a toll on both her body and spirit, she’ll be repeating her final year of high school. But first, she’s shipped off to be camp counselor at a summer camp for troubled youth. This should be the wakeup call she needs to see how good her life was until that night, but she wears a giant chip on her shoulder like a badge of honor.

She gets a crash course in what it’s like to deal with her when she comes face-to-face with five fourteen-year-old girls who give her a run for her money when it comes to attitude. But unlike Alex, their lives and attitudes are shaped by vastly different circumstances. These little rebels have a valid cause for their rebellion. As Alex learns how to wrangle them, she’s kept off her toes by her hot counterpart, Grant. He won’t take any of her crap, but he’s really good at dishing it out. A former camper himself, he has his own secrets and dark past. While the attraction between them is evident from the beginning, Grant isn’t like most guys Alex deals with; he doesn’t find her smart mouth or antics endearing. The more they spar, the more they learn about each other, and Alex finally comes to realize that everyone has issues and hers aren’t any more important than anyone else’s.

Plot
The primary plot is Alex dealing with her issues and growing up, becoming less self-absorbed, but the romance between her and Grant is a strong subplot. The story moves at a steady pace, but where it really shines is the witty dialogue. From the playful banter between Alex and Grant and the snarky dialogue between Alex and her surly campers, the conversations make this otherwise run-of-the-mill summer romance really sparkle.

The Characters
The characters are fascinating, if not all incredibly relatable or even likable. In fact, it took me a good 75% of the book to warm up to Alex. But no one is untouched by trauma of some sort that has shaped their complex natures. From the sassy campers to Grant and Alex, no one is unscathed by their pasts and they all harbor scars that manifest in different ways. But each one is resilient in their own way, and uncovering the secrets that shaped them is what makes this book work.

Top Five Things I Enjoyed About LAST CHANCE SUMMER
1. Consequences. I may not like Alex for most of the book, but she’s never given a pass. The consequences for her behavior are harsh, deservedly so. The author doesn’t baby her, which is refreshing.

2. Grant. I love that he won’t take any of Alex’s bull. Sometimes I wonder why he’s attracted to her, but at no point does he allow her to get away with anything simply because he’s attracted to her. He has his own self-preservation motives for much of what he does.

3. Pranks. Summer camp pranks provided some much-needed lighter moments.

4. Redemption Arcs. I do love a good redemption arc and Alex has a great one.

5. Brie. She’s the most difficult of the campers, but her spirit and spunk were inspiring.

Bottom Line
A fun young adult contemporary with stellar dialogue and fascinating characters.

My Thoughts
Last Chance Summer is a young adult contemporary romance by Shannon Klare. I really enjoyed Last Chance Summer. It wasn’t initially as lighthearted as I thought it would be. There were certainly some deeper /darker topics explored like grief and loss, but the balance between summer romance and those topics was handled really well. Overall, this book was a really nice read and the romance in it was great.

In Last Chance Summer we meet our main character Alex, who is still suffering the loss of her best friend. You can tell that her friend’s loss is weighing heavily on her shoulders throughout the book, but watching her handle her grief and loss was something that I appreciated seeing addressed in her story. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows for Alex, such that is life. At the start of our book, Alex is acting out and her dad give her an ultimatum. Go to work at her Aunt’s summer camp as a counselor or lose her college fund. Not much of a choice if you ask me! When Alex gets to camp, she meets Grant, her co-counselor for the summer and it is pretty much hate at first meeting. I am such a sucker for a hate to love trope, so i was really excited about Alex and Grant right from their very first meeting. And they did not let me down.

Last Chance Summer was a great read. It is full of all the things you love about summer camp, and plenty of great bickering, competition, romance and some important lessons about life and loss. The romance and banter between Alex and Grant was my favorite aspect of the story, but right behind the two of them was a very strong cast of secondary characters that all played a big role in some of the other themes. Shannon Klare did a great job setting the summer scene for a fun and satisfying story. I really enjoyed Last Chance Summer. If you are a fan of summer romances that feature good character growth, Last Chance Summer is a book you should check out.

Last Chance Summer is a perfect book to read in the summer with the never ending battle against mosquitoes, long hot days at camp, and the hopes of romance.

The story follows Alex as she’s given the choice to go to her Aunt’s summer camp in Texas or go to boarding school or give up her college fund after months of therapy seems to get her no where according to her parents. In the time following her lack of a choice to spend the summer in Texas, she finds out that she’s going to be co-counselor to a group of teenagers with the own emotional issues. If that’s not thrilling enough, Alex’s co-counselor is a Grant, aka the guy who is able to get to her in ways that most can’t. Be is Alex able to work through so many emotions to let someone in?

Alex personality has hardened since the death of her friend. We didn’t see a whole lot of Alex before, but she’s now this girl who reflects her emotions through snarky comments. She’s one of the most real characters I’ve seen in a while with her raw grief that makes it hard to deal at times, and despite all of the fronts that she puts up, she still has a caring heart.

Then we have Grant. Apparently Texas boys are different from those in South Carolina because I haven’t found anyone with his personality (and if I had, y’all would have heard about it)! He’s lived through his share of things as a young teenager, and comes to work at the camp every summer to help those children that have problems and come to camp. Although he can be hot-cold some moments, he’s become someone that wants to be a better person and cares about the guys in his group.

In this fun and emotional book, Alex must find some way to grieve the lost of her friend before it’s to last and she closes out anyone who tries to get near her. This book will have you feeling the summer heat through the pages and the deep emotions of the characters!

Last Chance Summer was a fun YA romance where we follow Alex who has recently gotten into some trouble as well as recovering from an accident. Her parents decide that since she failed her senior year that before she starts it over she is going to spend the summer as a camp counselor at her Aunt's camp in Texas. Alex who is still dealing with the guilt and trauma from her accident the previous fall does not want to be there and is making things a little difficult for her co-counselor Grant. I really enjoyed following Alex as she learned to trust others around her all while trying to deal with her accident. I really enjoyed the banter between Alex and Grant and their relationship was fun to see grow, it wasn't quite enemies to lovers but it was close. My one real complaint was that I felt it was too short. In the beginning there are references to a person and an accident that Alex was involved in and she had some strong feelings about this person but it is never explained at all. I felt that having that information could have helped understand Alex's character a little more. I also wanted some more from Grant because I really liked his character. Over all it was a fun read and I will be picking more up from this author in the future.

This book is my first read from Shannon Klare and it definitely won’t be the last. I got sucked into this book on the first page.

It’s the story of Alex who had gone through tragedy and had a hard time keeping up with the terrible phases as well as bottling up her emotions. It’s the story of grief while being “easy” on the surface level.

I liked the writing style of this book and how it was so easy to get into and read but I didn’t care much for the characters especially the campers Alex was counsellor for. However, I love how Alex was given space to grown and feel and understand herself better. It was beautiful to read.

It is a sweet and quick read while having deep undertones of grief, becoming and finding oneself again, so if this is something you are looking for, you will enjoy this book.

TW: underage drinking, drunk driving and it’s consequences, grief and self-blame

This book ended up being more than just an angsty summer camp romance that I was expecting it to be! Klare packed so much grief and emotion that you can’t come out at the end without feeling exhausted. I felt the character’s raw pain and grief as if it were my own and the growth and acceptance and love that they found was so healing and realistic. I really appreciate how the author handled the MC’s healing process and didn’t treat it as an overnight fix was she’d accepted her feelings. She found acceptance and the help she needed and was open to the journey she had ahead of her. Love didn’t cure her but it gave her the ability to accept and forgive herself. Therapy positive and showing the strength you can find in people who have been through similar experiences to your own the author shows the reader sometimes we just can’t do it on our help and that it’s ok to ask for help.

Although I like how the book ended, my only issue is that I wish the ending had been a little bit longer. An extra chapter or two giving the MC (and by extension the reader) a little more closure I think could’ve been beneficial to the story but overall the ending showed her on her road to recovery and that that road is paved in hope and ultimately that is enough.

Alex’s life is spiraling out of control after her best friend is killed in a drunk driving accident. Her parents have tried everything to help her, to no avail. They give her an ultimatum: work as a counselor at a summer camp for troubled youth run by her aunt Lorraine, or go to boarding school. With limited options, Alex chooses camp where she is paired up with veteran camp counselor Grant. Grant thinks Alex is wholly unprepared to be a counselor and begs Lorraine to change his assignment. But as the two get to know each other they soon realize there is more to the other than meets the eye.

This is a classic YA enemies to lovers story set at a summer camp. It has some of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, summer romance, summer camp, redemption. I especially loved the summer camp element of the story. My favorite characters were the camper’s in Alex’s cabin, and the pranks and hijinks were the best! My only criticism is that the camp seemed very half-formed. I honestly can’t recall the name and it felt like elements were just pulled out randomly, and some of them seemed thoroughly unrealistic, like the fact that the boys and girls cabins were attached.

This is definitely a lighter YA story, and quite a quick and fun read. The bulk of the story I read in an afternoon. It is told entirely in the first person from Alex’s perspective.

Thank you to XPresso Tours, Netgalley, and Swoon Reads for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

lex lost a friend a year ago, but it still weighs heavily on her. Another incident and she is shipped to her aunt's summer camp, as a counselor. Paired up with Grant, who is not exactly easy going. :) Along with butting heads, the sparks between them are flying. :)

Gotta be honest, I didn't like Alex in the begging, at all. I rolled my eyes as I read the way she talked to people and the way she carried herself, but the more I read on, the more she grew on me, and by the end, I was full-on Alex team. :)

It's a heartwarming story on moving on, of dealing with grief, and guilt. There is hope, new love, and a new start.

One of those books that you read in one swoop.