What was supposed to be a dream summer for Tilla and her sister, visiting the father they haven’t seen for a year becomes a tough lesson in life and survival. From the unexpected cruelties of her father’s family to the secrets that lay buried in the crystal sands of Jamaica to an impending hurricane, Tilla is forced to face the harsh realities of life from which she can learn and grow or be destroyed.

Asha Bromfield’s HURRICANE SUMMER is a brutal story of petty jealousies, gender inequality, emotional abuse and one teen’s fight to survive it all. It took a while for the story to actually take off, and to be honest, while the use of Jamaican “speak” does give this story added flavor, it did become tedious after a while and tossed me out of the story. I would hate to think that a land so blessed with beauty can be so full of hate.

In all, it is a very good story for anyone who can tolerate racism, class prejudice, sexual innocence shattered and a skewed father/daughter relationship.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Wednesday Books! This is my honest and voluntary review.

This is a heartfelt coming-of age set in the Caribbean by a young author clearly familiar with the culture. I love that she included a guide to patwa but didn't overexplain things in the text. It's an emotional story of family and culture. This story deals with colorism, classism, sexism, sexuality, domestic violence and other topics with care and grace.

4.5 stars

It took a bit before the story hit its stride but once it did, I was all in. Every emotion the main character was feeling, I started feeling too. Maybe not a perfect read, but it was an incredible reading experience. Pick this one up if you enjoy YA fiction.

Tilla lives in Canada with her mother and younger sister. Tilla's dad pops in and out of their lives as he spends much of his time in the country he was born and raised in, Jamaica. Tilla and her sister will spend this summer on the island with their dad and other relatives. Perhaps, this will be an opportunity to understand her father better and who knows, Tilla might just discover a thing or two about herself as well.

The author incorporates so many different things that brought substance to the story. Fair warning, there are some disturbing scenes in the story that might be triggering for some readers. For the most part every part of the story added value but I did question if the last shocking part was thrown in just for dramatic purposes. (I'm trying to be vague so I don't give away spoilers) After awhile you can't help but feel protective of Tilla and want to shield her from getting hurt.

At the heart, you have this complex father-daughter relationship. There's also Tilla feeling like she doesn't quite fit in on the island and with her relatives in Jamaica. I love how the author explored social class as well as colorism. There is one particular scene that really resonated with me in regards to the topic of colorism.

There is some good tug at your heartstrings type writing in the final chapters. However, some of it becomes a bit repetitive and loses its impact after awhile. That's just a teeny, tiny criticism though as my overall opinion is this book is a fantastic YA read and I encourage fans of the genre to check it out.

Hurricane Summer is a coming-of-age tale that explores a young woman's awakening of her sexuality as well as the nuance of her Caribbean heritage and Canadian upbringing. I believe this novel will resonate for readers seeking an escape from the rush of everyday life as the prose and setting of this novel wash over you like waves on a Jamaican Beach. The pacing is on the slower side and at times it felt like the main character was observing and telling things more so than having a visceral reaction to them but not so much that the narrative lost its vulnerability.

I am used to reading fantasy books, but let me tell you. This book has just as much magic in its words with the culture and the awakening journey Tilla has to take.
I found it a little hard in the beginning to navigate the Jamaican language, but Asha does an amazing job of translating everything for you within the story without making it seem forced, and within a few chapters you get used to the terms.
This book sucked me in and then spat me out out the end, making me feel like I had just gone through a rollercoaster of emotions.
This is such a beautiful story of self-discovery, friendship, and tragedy that had me sobbing by the end.
This was a 5 star read for me.

4.5 stars rounded up

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to earn her father’s love and affection.

Tilla and her sister Mia travel from their home in Toronto to Jamaica to spend the summer with their father, and Tilla has mixed feelings about it. Plans change, as they often do with their father, and the girls are unceremoniously left with relatives in the country while their father goes back to the city to work for a few weeks.

Mia fits in with her cousins instantaneously, but Tilla has a harder time. One of her aunties they’re staying with is anything but warm, the girls in town can be a little two-faced, and the boys are...well, the boys are confusing.

This was a compelling and heart-wrenching coming of age story about a girl struggling to find her place between her home and her roots, all the while navigating family conflicts, first love, colorism, classism, and an approaching hurricane.

I loved Tilla. She is the embodiment of everything a young girl faces as she approaches womanhood. Her story was beautifully written, and made me feel all of the emotions.

This was a fantastic debut that I highly recommend. I'm not a reader who can visualize what I'm reading very often but something in the way Bromfield described the lush landscape of Jamaica, the juicy fruit plucked right from the trees, and the cascading waterfalls simply transported me to the island and created vivid images in my mind.

Tilla is a young woman, recently turned eighteen, living in Canada with her mother and nine year-old sister, Mia. Their father spends part of the year in Canada with them but the majority of his time is spent in his home country of Jamaica. The girls are planning to spend a summer with their father in Jamaica, giving them an opportunity to see where they come from and to meet more of their family.

Almost immediately, Tilla feels unwelcome in Jamaica. Her family lives in the country and the disparity between her lower class Canadian "wealth" and her Jamaican family's poverty is staggering. Moreover, she's seen as a "foreign princess" - spoiled, bratty, and worst of all, slutty. Nothing Tilla does or says seems to be right, and as she tries to find her place in Jamaica and among her family members, she experiences discrimination, hardship, love, and a true finding of herself.

I loved the coming of age aspect of this novel. Oftentimes, I felt frustrated with Tilla's decisions and self-deprecation, though it felt authentic when I tried to think back on myself at 18 years old. The hostility and resentment directed toward Tilla was brutal and often incited anger within me, though I felt that most of the time she handled herself fairly maturely. Not sure I could have had that restraint with Aunt Herma!

I thought Bromfield did a phenomenal job addressing major social issues such as privilege, racism, and sexim in a sensitive and eye-opening way. In Canada, Tilla was ashamed of her clothing from WalMart and was considered lower class, but in Jamaica, where many of her cousins wore tattered hand me downs from other sibling and cousins, she appeared spoiled and rich. Tilla's lack of understanding of these disparities in wealth, privilege, and opportunity shone through most of the novel, but her growth in this area was also great to see. I felt that it also really helped to define "privilege." So many people don't recognize their own privileges and focus only on what they don't have or their shortcomings, but when taken in the bigger context, they may actually be quite privileged when compared to others.

Regarding racism, the discrimination against darker skinned Jamaicans was pervasive and blatant and the family's treatment of Andre was often difficult to read. I had first read about something similar in The Vanishing Half and appreciated that Bromfield tackled this sensitive and extremely relevant subject in Hurricane Summer as well. I think by showing the impact of racism on the Jamaican community, it helps demonstrate how systemic racism truly is. It was shocking learning that Andre was not only targeted and abused because of his darker skin color by the people who were supposed to love him most, but that he was also denied opportunities for education because of it. I really appreciated Tilla's anger and call to action about Andre's treatment, and how she called out the hypocrisy later on in the novel as well.

Finally, Bromfield did an exceptional job highlighting the sexism Tilla faced while in Jamaica too. Because she was a woman, and an attractive one from another country, she was often identified as a slut and as promiscuous. Just by being kind or friendly, Tilla was given a poor reputation. The difference in treatment of Tilla versus her younger sister Mia really highlighted how Tilla's womanhood and sexuality was being weaponized against her. This was a central theme to the story and the growth Tilla experienced here was empowering.

Because of the powerful topics, this is definitely one that would be excellent for a book club or buddy read. I loved that not only was this a magical and enjoyable read, but one with deeper messages and powerful themes. The writing was stellar (the use of Patois added SO much to the story and to the characters), the storyline complex but well executed, and the characters beautifully developed.

If you're a fan of Elizabeth Acevedo, particularly her novel Clap When You Land, this is a book that you absolutely cannot miss.

This book emotionally wrecked me. This book belongs in every high school library. Written by a Hollywood star they all know, and probably all love like I do, the story explores colorism, classism, and genderism on an island during it's toughest times. It was written in a way that wasn't difficult to process and I never had to re-read something so I could understand it better as it was already written perfectly.

Thank you St Martins Press, Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing an ARC of Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield for an honest review.

Every 6 months Tilla's dad comes from Jamaica to visit his family in Canada. This Summer Tilla and her younger sister decide to visit dad's family in Jamaica. It will be a summer she will never forget.

This is definitely a book I will always remember. There is some hard topics that are dealt in this book. Topics such as physical and mental abuse. Privileged, cheating, lying and even more death. I loved reading Tilla's thoughts and I really felt at times crying with her. Asha Bromfield writing is so beautiful. A+

I was not expecting how depressing this book would be. I genuinely expected a "trip to the homeland refreshes perceptions of life" type book. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it and was gripped by the story almost the entire way through. The beginning was a bit slow but then the pages started turning fast. Tilla is such a sweet main character yet so clueless I found myself wanting to shake her except every single one of her experiences was trauma in the making so instead I just wanted to hug her and protect her at all costs.
This story resonated with me deeply. While my relationship with my father and homeland family are not as contentious as Tilla's is, I still found that the tiptoeing, innate guilt, gaslighting, and hyperawareness of public perception were something we deeply shared.
This book is a wonderful read for young readers who need to see that this is a painfully universal experience and that the hurt they harbour through their mistreatment is of no fault of their own. The author did a fanastic job of feeding motivation into every character's actions and words and made this a beautifully, if depressingly, fleshed out read for young adult readers.

Hurricane Summer is a story about embracing the person who we are, not who we are told to be. It's also a story about fathers, about family who let us down, and stories that just can't be. About being changed by destruction, altered by the forces of family, and walking out the other side. It's about the words we never should have to hear, the sights we never should have to see, the defenses we shouldn't have to prepare. What began as a story about the disillusionment and complex relationship between Tilla and her father, morphs into a story about family, privilege, and female sexuality.

Hurricane Summer contains the hurts, the pain, the aches of missing and longing we forget. The family relationships that Tilla is thrown headfirst into, a history of sacrifices, apologies never uttered, and grievances. It's also rife with privilege differences, the jealously and envy, the pain that twists our heart. How can Tilla fit into this world? This place that should be a source of home, but is fitted with jagged edges. Tilla has to reckon with the image she has of her father. Especially as she sees how he acts in Jamaica, surrounded both by his family, and memories of the past.

Let me start my review by recommending a physical version of this book. I had this as an eARC and while my 5 stars show that I loved the book the physical version would have made this a much easier read. Why? Well because this book is written with a lot of Patois language. The book begins with an excellent glossary but flipping back and forth on the ebook is much more challenging (to me) than if I could have bookmarked it in a physical book. That being said by about halfway through the book my referencing to the glossary was rare so an ebook is still enjoyable just a tidbit that I thought I'd share.

Hurricane Summer is set in Jamaica. More specifically it is set in the country in Jamaica. Tilla and her younger sister, Mia, live in Canada but are visiting their father and his family for two months of the summer. Their father normally travels back and forth to sharing time in Jamaica working and living with them in Canada, but he wants them to experience their background, their culture and their family.

Tilla is not so certain of the arrangement as as she is growing older her relationship with her father is getting more frustrating for her. His absence is starting to wear on her more and more and she is starting to feel the separation between them growing as she becomes older and more aware. When they land in Jamaica she remembers the version of her father that she loves, but spending time in the country with her relatives with him not around as much as promised will challenge her and change her.

This book is very emotional. Tilla's life is forever changed by this one summer. There is abuse, racism, jealousy and family drama abound. There is also love and adventure and self-discovery in the mix.

"Mom says you get two birthdays. The first one is the day you are born. The second is the day you leave home and give birth to yourself"
Get ready Tilla because you are about to leave home and give birth to yourself. Thank you to the author for sharing this beautiful piece of work.

This novel enraptured me. I loved Tilla and all of her flaws. She had so much growth throughout the entire summer, and by the end of the book, she learns about the value of life experiences. She deals with classism when she discovers that the “middle class” is far more wealthy than the people of the Jamaican countryside. She attempts to explain that her mom can hardly afford to buy them new clothes, and the poverty-stricken community puts her in her place.

But the monumental task that Asha Bromfield tackled was sexuality. Tilla experiences firsthand the double standards that come as a woman with a sex drive. Not only is Tilla confused by her desire because some of the advances are unwelcome, but she faces mistreatment in a highly complex community situation. This journey is still happening under the giant umbrella of Tilla looking for acceptance and love from her father.

The story is heartwrenching and heavy but also empowering and promising. Asha Bromfield is a master of her craft, and the beauty of her visual writing is unmatched. This book is primarily a coming-of-age and a young adult novel, but there is heavy content explored. The dichotomy of a beautiful landscape and a horrific experience are prevalent and often hard to swallow.

Thank you, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and Asha Bromfield for this ARC. I will highlight this book on May 3 on my Instagram: @lyatslibrary

At first I thought it was going to be a story about a girl going to Jamaica for fun. Turns out it was so much more. Tilla (18) and her sister Mia (9) are going to Jamaica for the summer to see their dad who comes and goes into their lives fighting with their mom and promising to come back home to Canada. Tilla and Mia are ostracized as foreigners "foreigna". Story is told in patois and patois terms included in story which was hard to follow initially, but something new to pickup and flows after a while. When Tilla arrives in the country, not the city of Kingston, her father's family is welcoming in his presence but they are resented when he leaves them once again to go stay in town on business. Tilla is tired of it and of course remembers more than Mia who is only 9. The only friendly face is one of her cousins, Andre who is ridiculed for the dark tone of his skin. His brothers who are lighter with green and hazel eyes are accepted and actually go to school, but not Andre. This was a coming of age for Tilla. There are so many "isms" that took place, colorism, sexism and more. I smiled, I rooted for Tilla and got to love Andre and applaud her finally confronting her dad. So much happened to her and she persevered.

DNF due to triggering content!

Trigger warnings: death, sexual assault (on page), rape (on page, explicit), colorism, physical abuse (explicit), slut-shaming, sexism, classism, abuse (physical, verbal, and emotional), guilt, character death, and blood(mention)
*Inclusion of religious belief and ideas of God

When Tilla and her sister visit their father for a summer in Jamaica, she knows she’ll miss her mother but is excited to spend time with her father. In the country, she sticks out like a sore thumb as a privileged foreigner. As a Category Five hurricane approaches, Tilla has to find it in herself to overcome tragedies that occur.

Wow, I am shocked this is a debut novel. The story was captivating and the way it was written was beautiful. The prose at the end, and how the hurricane was balanced with the character’s emotions was beautifully done. The reader becomes so connected with Tilla. I really felt for her and her experiences, but boy did they get my blood pressure up. It was very difficult to read what she went through, but don’t worry... as a reader, you will feel redeemed in the end. As Tilla states, “there is beauty in destruction.”

“In their eyes, I am the hurricane that was passing through. I am the destruction that has uprooted their lives and left everything in pieces. I am their hurricane summer.”

“When a hurricane finally forms, you feel it in the depths of your bones. It is the feeling that tells you nothing will ever be the same. That morning can ever be the same.”

Hurricane Summer comes out 5/4.

Hurricane Summer is a story of resilience within the sexualized violence of girls face as they transition into womanhood. Exploring class, colorism, and misogyny, Bromfield follows as Canadian teenager Tilla spends the summer in Jamaica to reconnect with her distant father.

There is so much to say of Bromfield's powerful writing. Her lyrical prose immerses the reader in a beautiful yet authentic portrayal of Jamaica, while she simultaneously develops an intentional story of growth in defiance of a culture that inherently devalues her protagonist.

The ending is heavy, containing Tilla's reflections and growth in the aftermath of violence, while also introducing a heartbreaking plotline. For me, this felt difficult to process within fifty pages, and I wished the pacing had allowed more room to fully explore these elements.

However, overall I so deeply loved this novel! I felt it created such an important space for exploring the violence that is so often a defining element of the transition from girlhood, and I love how intentionally Bromfield offers the reader her protagonist's strength as a guide for young women who find themselves reflected in these pages. ❤️

This gut wrenching novel is one of the best I’ve read in a while. Get ready with a tissue box and Patois Language knowledge. All Tilla has ever wanted is her father’s love. She and her sister are sent from Toronto to spend the summer in Jamaica with their father. While Mia, Tilla’s sister is excited, Tilla wonders if her father can be the father she desperately needs. Once they arrive, they are quickly sent to the country far away from their father who stays in town. Tilla soon learns that Hurricane season is not just about a weather event but also the storm inside yourself. This well written novel, tears at emotions you didn’t know were inside you. Family struggles, sexual harassment and inner strength pull you through this roller coaster called Hurricane Summer.

The plan is for Tilla and her younger sister, Mia, to travel from Canada to Jamaica to pend time with their long-;post father. However, he abandons them to family living in the country. Tilla is confused by cultural differences: domestic violence, racism, class and gender expectations. The hurricane that devastates the island symbolizes Tilla's emotions. Interesting story but not very well-written, The characters are one-dimensional.

Hurricane Summer was a really upsetting book. I wanted to love it and I totally understand the author wrote this to show negative heavy topics, but it was almost too much. I applaud the author for writing this because you can tell that they put so much heart and soul into this book. It just didn't sit right with me after I finished. I mean so much of the book is negativity but yet it isn't? When the main character is in Jamaica we see all the horrible things that happen, but the MC keeps saying it is wonderful? How? Did I miss something? Also, Tilla's family really isn't that great. Like I did not like any of them at all.

I wish I could say more about this book, but I really can't. I just didn't like it, but again that is my own opinion and I am sure so many people are going to love it and connect with it.