Eighteen year old Talla and and her eight year old sister are going to spend the summer in Jamaica with their dad. To say the least he has been an inconsistent presence in their lives. Upon arrival he almost immediately takes them to the country where a large group of relatives lives. He leaves them in the charge of his sister, their aunt, who sees them as city girls. From the start her aunt is unwelcoming. Her aunt should have been a steady, adult presence for Tilla, but there are no adults there for Tilla as she is being unknowingly manipulated and tricked by her cousin Diana who is driven by jealousy. Tilla reconnects with her cousin Andre whose very dark skin makes him of lesser value in the family. Their exploration of the country are a welcome respite to all the family tension.

Talla begins the summer innocent and fairly guileless. As she comes of age, she faces her father’s deception and her aunt’s meanness. I won’t spoil the story. I will say at times I found Tilla’s choices frustrating. Then I’d remember that she was a teenager thrown into a situation with no trusted adult support. The adults who should have been backing her up and listening to her infuriated me.

This book will be a great addition to my high school library own voices collection. However, I will have trigger warnings for sexual assault, slut shaming, racism, and an absent parent. This is a deep, heavy coming of age.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The author did a fantastic job in writing the tale. Some moments are so raw and gripping which are challenging to read. Yet, some moments burst with pure innocence that lightens your heart and gives you a fresh perspective. Moreover, it is never easy fitting into a new society, even if it is temporary. There will be people in life who will be jealous of who you are and try to bring you down to high their insecurities. The author writes the characters and their situations so personally that I found myself rooting for Tilla as she struggled to adapt.

Tilla is a strong character and probably one I will remember for a long time. She enters Jamaica with innocence but learns the struggles she would endure and how strong she would become. Similarly, Andre was another one of my favorites. I loved all the moments that Tilla shares with Andre. The way they support each other through the harsh times. Even simple moments where he asks her how many shoes she has or how she gets mesmerized by his artwork brought a smile to my face.

Furthermore, the author also touches on the harsh realities of racism for how people treat Andre. Yet, he remains healthy and doesn’t let it affect him. The author also touches on domestic abuse, and unfortunately, how common it could be in such places. I was not too fond of Diana and Herma and thought they made memorable villains. I don’t think I will ever forget the scene involving the cake and confrontation. Similarly, I also liked moments between Tilla and Hessan and wondered how their relationship would progress.

Overall, “Hurricane Summer” is a beautiful debut novel with a dynamic cast and storyline that will draw you immediately into its world.

This one surprised me on so many levels. The language is the most obvious startling feature—startling in a good way. When I noticed that the book opened with a lengthy glossary of terms, I was sure it would be overwhelming to translate everything. It wasn’t. Once I got into the story, the words flowed with remarkable cadence & continuity. She captured the rhythm of the patois with such accuracy. I was also caught off guard by Tilla. I misjudged her character for the first 1/4 of the book. By the end, I was fighting for her & cheering her on. There were a few predictable story lines, but they didn’t detract from the depth of emotion that the characters conveyed. This is too raw to use in my classroom, but I know that this book will ring all too true for some of my students.

Hurricane Summer follows Tilla as she embarks on a life changing summer trip to Jamaica to visit her absent father. She ends up dealing with much more than she anticipated on the trip, however, and she has to learn her be courageous and to be herself.
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Hurricane Summer had a lot of promise and a great premise, but unfortunately it fell into the trap of having too many things going on. The author tried to fit many plot lines into this book, and having so many took away much of the emotional value. Maybe if there were one or two plot lines that were the main focus I would have been able to connect to it more.
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2.5 stars rounded down.
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CWs- rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse, toxic relationship, absent parent
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Two things you need at your disposal to start this precious poignant journey; Patois language dictionary and tons of napkins because you’re going to cry your eyes out!

Get ready to be ripped your heart apart: Tilla’s story will bring out the feelings you never experienced! Your emotions will be everywhere after you read her heartbreaking journey!

This is thought provoking story about daughters who are deeply yearning to preserve her father’s love and care ! Tilla can do anything to stay as her father’s beloved daughter. When they were traveling from Toronto to Jamaica with her sister Mia, she was so excited to spend her summer with her father. Their parents’ turbulent marriage made him move away from Toronto but now he makes excuses about work crisis to go to Kingston urgently, leaving his daughters with extended family.

As Mia easily connects with her cousins, Tilla suffers from verbal abuse, feeling rejected by her own family. Her resentment to be left away by his own father push her to resume a secret relationship which results with terrible consequences!

This book is a young teenager girl’s search for love, acceptance, suffer from her sudden steps to the womanhood. It’s about first love, verbal and physical abuse, jealousy, seeking approval of loved ones, racism, self discovery.

It is intense! The words cut you deeper than you can imagine, you bleed and cry as you witness Tilla’s pain and empathize with her loneliness and inner struggles.

It’s lyrical, it’s natural, it’s heart wrenching. Its intensity and genuineness make the book more powerful, inspirational, unconventional!

How far you go to earn your father’s love and approval again? A girl’s true seeking to find her place in her society, her efforts to find her identity without being criticized and humiliated could be more challenging than she can endure!

This book is not for everyone! This book is for people who are not afraid of feeling too much! If you’re one of them, you’re the great match to enjoy this lyrical, unforgettable journey which earned my full five ready, heartfelt, sad, inspirational stars!

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I didn't know when I requested this book that it was written by an actress on a show called Riverdale that I used to watch. Anyway for a debut author the writing was pretty impressive and beautiful to take me away from snowy New Jersey to Jamaica, not the tourist side but the locals who are from the island. There is some Patois, a local language which I believe has some French which I understand, I didn't mind the words at all. However there are a lot of trigger warnings that need to be given for content regarding abuse and rape, incest, etc. Its not a book for a less mature YA reader. I wanted to give this a 3.5-4 stars for a debut.

A powerful coming of age story about a young girl coming to terms with how to love herself and deal with the storms that life throws at you! The last section of this story (The Aftermath) made it a five star read for me!

Tilla and her sister are sent to Jamaica for the summer to rekindle their relationship with their father, get to meet their relatives, and experience part of their culture. Upon arrival, the country lifestyle is a shock, but even more so the disdain of relatives for “foreign princess” daughters coming to stay— especially when her dad leaves for the city.

There are visible and unspoken rules for girls in Jamaica, and being a Slut is among the worst designations. Stay out till sunset or go off onto a waterfall excursion? You’re asking for a label. Tilla grapples with her frustration with sexual shame, hypocritical religion, patriarchal ideals, and shade discrimination on the island.

Let alone, there is a personal hurricane of emotions between her and her father while the true hurricane is ready to hit the island!

Without giving too many spoilers, Andre is by far my favorite character— I wish I were in trees eating fresh fruit with him and Tilla or exploring the majesty of Jamaica. I also appreciated the use of Patois throughout the book and the dictionary of terms given at the beginning of the story.

Please, please read this book. It gave me so much more insight to check my own privilege and understand more of a glimpse into what I thought I knew about Jamaica.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! I look forward to reading more of Asha’s writing!

This is a fresh take on the coming-of-age story. A girl on the verge of womanhood who wants to know more about her father and her heritage makes her way to Jamaica for the summer. It's completely different from the life she is used to. Tilla has to learn how to navigate relationships with many people: her Jamaican relatives, a new love interest, the community at large, but mostly her father. This is at times a very heavy and dark book as well. I don't want to get into the details because I don't want to spoil anything, but you prefer to steer away from unsettling topics, you may want to avoid this one.

This was an okay first novel that would could do with removing so many plot devices. There’s too much happening and it’s not handled well enough. The lead up to the rape is tense and anxiety inducing but the absent father storyline is left in the shadows and Tilla doesn’t even deal with the rape before Andre dies. And that’s not including the reveal of the secret second family. There’s too much and not enough all at the same time.

Book: Hurricane Summer
Author: Asha Bromfield
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Wednesday Books, for sending me an ARC.

Oh, wow, guys, this one gave me all of the feels! I had such a great time reading this one. At first, it kind of comes across as your typical YA book, in which a girl leaves her home and goes on a journey of self-discovery one summer. However, there is so much more to it than that. We get to look a real Jamaica and see how most of its people live. We have a deep father/daughter relationship and get to see all of the messy elements of that. We have great character, all of whom have a lot of baggage. This book has a lot packed into it. Asha does an amazing job at giving us everything we need in order to really have a deep bond and connection with the characters and everything around them. It takes a super talented writer to do able to do this.

Tilla is our main character. In the beginning, she kind of comes across as being your typical YA main character. She lives in Canada, but her father lives in Jamaica. We see her longing for a relationship with him and worship when he is around. We see her want to have him in life and to have that father figure. She and her sister spend the summer in Jamaica with him. Throughout the whole book, we see Tilla long for that love and closeness with her father. We, along with Tilla, see her father promise her something and only to end up breaking it. We get to feel her pain and heartbreak throughout the whole story. Plus, we also see her trying to deal with the cultural differences and trying to learn how to deal with that.

With that being said, this book does deal a lot with Jamaican culture. We, like Tilla, get to see it through the lenses of an outsider. The Jamaica that we get in this book is very different than the tourist one. We see the poverty that most of the country actually lives in and get to see what role that poverty plays into people’s lives. There is one character who really jumps out to me. He has this dream, and the talent, to be an artist. Tilla offers him the chance to go back to Canada with her. However, the others, including her own father, tell her that isn’t going to happen just because of where he lives. Not only that, but this character is also darker than the others and not seen someone who has value. This, of course, rocks Tilla. However, it also shows us that even though all of the characters are Black, having darker skin caused people to kind of shut them down. There is also a sexual assault scene and it is written on the page-just giving you a heads up. We get to see the aftermath of that and see how it really affects the girl. However, the boy is not blamed at all and the whole thing is put onto the girl because of the way that she dressed and acted. It is scenes like that that are going to make you feel uneasy. I am glad that Asha included things like this in the book. It shows us that these things do not only happen in the US, but around the world. If it makes you uneasy, then it is something that we need to be talking about and trying to change.
I really thought that this book was going to be able reconnecting to roots and all of that, but it was more than that. We actually do end up with a kind of dark and heartbreaking book. Do not go into this one thinking that it is going to be a fluffy book or one with just a little bit of a dark undertone. No, this book deals with a lot of hard hitting topics.

With that being said, I do not think that younger teens or sensitive readers should pick this title up. There is a lot of abuse, sexual assault, racism, and other difficult topics addressed. The book also uses the Jamaican dialect-I didn’t have any issues with, but if you don’t like that, then it’s up to you.

The only reason, I gave this a four star, was because I didn’t feel anything for the romance and it just didn’t make sense to me. It really felt like the author was trying to force these characters together.

So, anyway, this book comes out on May 4, 2021.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/myvuDnIuSM8

With the force of a hurricane, the emotions of a young woman finding herself and her place blows through even tough circumstances.

Tilla has grown-up with her sister and mother in Canada, her father always going back to Jamaica and his true home. When her mother decides the two girls should spend the summer on the island with their father and a family they haven't seen in many years, Tilla doesn't really want to go. But she's not asked. The arrival not only means culture shock and struggling with the accent, but each family member packs their own personality and attitude...not all of which are good. When her father heads out for a few weeks to take care of business, leaving her and her sister alone, Tilla feels more than betrayed. Add the incoming hurricane, the difficulty of deciding who to trust, and the possibility of love, and she's battling more storms than she might be able to handle.

This is a book chucked full of heart, tears and sweat. It's clear that the author poured herself into this one, and the result is a very grabbing and emotional read. Tilla is thrust around the family and placed into an environment, which she's really not sure how to handle. The first chapters illustrate her confusion and insecurities masterfully as she's tossed from one situation into the next as if flailing helplessly between waves. Her personality is not one of a victim, but those around her and her inexperience as well as lack of knowledge of the island and people, cause her to stumble even when she tries to hold her ground. It makes her very sympathetic and hard not to root for.

As the troubles grow, so does Tilla's capability to deal with them. She makes mistakes and matures with each problem. This book does hit upon tough themes such as incest, rape, cancer and...and...and... And this is where it stumbled a bit for me. Every issue under the sun comes up as if packing the trouble-list with every possible piece of baggage...something which wasn't even necessary. Tilla's inner struggles, learning to deal with the family, and facing her own growth into a woman with all of the hurdles involved was already more than enough for the tale (and well handled). All of the added rest cheapened that more important side.

The rich culture in this one is a bonus. The characters come across as very authentic, and it's as if the reader can breath the Jamaican air. The author knows the island and allows the reader to be submerged into the scenes as if they were truly there. There is a dictionary at the beginning of the book to help out with the dialogue and phrases. While this is very interesting and helpful, it also wasn't. The dialogue holds the accents very heavily....for light, quick reads this does weigh down. And since not all phrases can be memorized before the read, anyone using the dictionary needs to flip back and forth (not often but sometimes). This pulls out of the story for those who want to immerse themselves into the tale. For those who love to dig deep into their reads and really embrace the moments with study as well, it's great. It just isn't my thing.

All in all, this is an amazingly well done coming-of-age read and was definitely worth the read.

I am giving this one 4.5-stars while rounding up.

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield

9781250622235

400 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: May 4, 2021

Own Voices, Teens & Young Adult, Jamaica Culture, Caribbean Geography Diversity, Multicultural

Tilla (18 years old) and her sister Mia (9 years old) travel from their mother’s home in Canada to visit their estranged father on Jamaica. They haven’t seen him in a year and look forward to spending the summer with him. Unfortunately, that is not his plan. He takes them to his family’s home in the country and leaves them there after a few days. He claims he has work and will return in three weeks. Staying with virtual strangers, Tilla has a hard time fitting in. Her Aunt Herma is hostile to her along with her cousin Diana. The only one that she can be herself with is Andre, a young man with skin the color of midnight. Tilla is upset how Andre is treated differently from the others.

This was an amazing book. I stayed up all night to finish it. There is obvious classism and racism between the characters in the book. The story is fast paced as the hurricane season is cranking up. It is written in the first-person point of view and characters are well developed. The father daughter relationship is so intense and very relatable. At times I was cheering on Tilla and others I was questioning her actions. I highly recommend this book. It is definitely one that will make you think and appreciate life.

Tilla and her younger sister, Mia, are spending the summer in Jamaica with their father. Though she was born in Canada, her parents are Jamaican natives, and she’s resigned herself to a summer without friends or internet. Yet there’s more waiting for Tilla in Jamaica than even she realizes, and she at once experiences a sexual awakening and a cultural backlash intent on shaming her for it. When the threat of a hurricane cuts her off completely from the outside world, Tilla will have to learn how to survive and flourish in the middle of the destruction of everything she loves. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at St. Martin’s Press. Trigger warnings: character death, car accident (off-page), drowning (off-page), sexual assault (on-page), rape mention, incest, cancer mention, injury, racism/colorism, sexism, slut-shaming, slurs, threats, bullying, infidelity, grief.

I wanted to rate this higher because I think there are some good things in it, but there was very little of it I actually enjoyed. Let’s start with the good things. It’s an #ownvoices novel set in Jamaica, and I enjoyed the immersive look into a culture that’s totally unfamiliar to me. This isn’t tourist Jamaica or even city Jamaica; it’s Jamaican country in a small town where everyone knows everyone and poverty is extreme. Almost all the dialogue is written in Patois, which makes it feel very authentic. At first, I was flipping back and forth a lot to the accompanying glossary, but after a while it slips into a kind of rhythm and it wasn’t as necessary. I think the phrase “kmt” or “kiss my teeth” should have been included though, since it’s used a lot and is specific to Jamaican culture. (I recommend a YouTube video, since I had never heard it before.)

It’s very much a first novel though. The language is poetic, but it often feels overwritten and overdramatic. More words don’t always lead to more emotion or more meaning, and Tilla never feels anything halfway. I think this will appeal to teenagers (it is a YA novel, after all) or readers who prefer a very emotional experience, but I’m resistant to anything that comes after my feelings too hard. There’s also way too much packed into too short a time frame. The novel tries to tackle too many issues: absent fathers, female sexuality and slut-shaming, rape, incest, cancer, hurricanes, poverty, family death, infidelity, and the kitchen sink, and it ultimately does justice only to the first two. At some point, it begins to feel like Bromfield is including things for the added drama in a book that’s already quite dramatic. Much like in writing, more isn’t always better when it comes to plot.

It doesn’t help that I wasn’t feeling Tilla’s romance at all. I never once warmed to her love interest or her reasons for pursuing him when there are so many obvious downsides to it. Though Tilla claims to love Jamaica and the novel is praised as a love letter to it, it’s also portayed as extremely religious and oppressively racist/colorist and sexist. While I appreciate the realism and I’m glad these stories are being told, it makes for a very heavy read. There are a few too many characters to keep track of, most of them hugely unlikeable. Tilla’s character development with her father is well-done, but the rest doesn’t quite get the attention it needs, and it all resolves a little too fast for me. There’s a heavy theme of looking at trauma as a growing experience that I don’t care for. Sometimes there’s no poetry in destruction; sometimes things just hurt. Many of the issues feel glossed over, and the end doesn’t help. I never appreciate character death being used for added drama, without a chance to actually develop any plot around it. It’s not for me, but I’m not sure it was ever intended to be. It’s a worthwhile story to tell, and I hope it finds its perfect audience.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Wow! What a beautiful, tragic, celebratory book! The author brought Jamaica to the reader and did it so well. There were times when the language was a bit hard to understand but then I think that also helped put the reader in the shoes of the main character. I’m so glad I was able to score an advanced copy of this book- thank you NetGalley!

This book isn't one I see myself reading again for fun. It's not a book you read to enjoy, it's a book you read to remind yourself that you're not alone. It's a book about the struggles of being a woman, its a book about yearning for love that has been denied. It's a book that will break your heart, only to piece it back together.

First off, I'd just like to say how much I loved the setting of this. In all of the other tropical books I've read, the island is portrayed as a paradise, it's a nice vacation setting, and that's it. In this however, Jamaica was a lifestyle, it was a culture, it was more than just a place. I loved how that was explored, and the revelations Tilla has regarding the island.

Id be doing this book a disservice if I failed to mention Tilla. She is a beautifully flawed character. She makes her mistakes, she has her misconceptions, she has a temper. She is unapologetically herself. It was so touching to watch her discover herself, and challenge her family's beliefs. By the end of this, I was almost in tears. This book managed to convey her anger and frustration and sadness perfectly.

By the halfway point, I was beginning to lose a bit of interest. I thought this was turning into yet another YA romance, and throwing away all of the beauty it had amassed. Thankfully, that didn't happen. I loved how Tilla finally realized that she doesn't need the love of others, her love is the love that matters.

Finally, I do have to bring up that I really struggled with the dialogue was written. Since this is set in Jamaica, all of the characters spoke in a Jamaican accent. I appreciated this because it was yet another detail added to the setting, but at the same time, it made this hard for me to get in to. I had to work so hard to comprehend what the characters were saying, that I didn't even want to pick the book up. I loved this when I did, but it did complicate things.

This truly is a profound coming of age novel. At times, it was hard to read because of the heavy content, but it was worth every minute of my time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Asha Brimfield for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Possible triggers: abuse; both physical and mental, sexual assault

“Everyone has that one summer, the summer that changes your life.
It passes through you like a hurricane leaving as quickly as it came, but once it has torn through you nothing can ever be the same.”
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Wow, if this doesn’t speak to me, and quite possibly every human alive. Everyone has the one summer that completely changed their life and for Tilla this is it.
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Tilla and her sister’s mother are sending them to Jamaica for the summer to spend time with their Father and his family. Tilla’s father spends six months out of the year in Jamaica and she is dreading spending the summer in his homeland. She has spent her life chasing the love of her father.
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There are some truly dreadful characters in this book, but out of darkness comes light. I have never been to Jamaica but after reading this I could imagine what it would feel like to be there, to touch the flowers,
to eat the fruit, to feel the rain.
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With the hurricane approaching, the island is in upheaval, as is her life, but with a hurricane comes a rebirth. In Jamaica Tilla has found her own rebirth, her resilience and found the rhythm of her life.
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Written in an almost musical quality this debut novel is one that will stick with you. A coming of age novel that questions what it means for a daughter to be foreign in her father’s homeland and her father to be foreign in his daughter’s homeland. A coming of age story that shows strength in character and recovery. A coming of age story that will stick with me for quite a long time.
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Thank you to #netgalley and #wesnesdaybooks for an arc in exchange for an honest review
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I was able to review Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield from St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced ARC in exchange for an honest review.
We are told the story from Tilla, a teenage girl that has a father who loves his homeland Jamaica more than his family life. Tilla and her sister, Mia spend the summer in Jamaica with their father's extended family. The girls have many experiences, culture shock, prejudice, racism, colorism, classism, sexism, sexual assault and young love when their extended family will view them a "City Girls." The summer doesn’t turn out to be all sunshine and quality family time as she hopes.  Tilla's has many experiences where we are able to see how a girl claims the woman she deserves to be.  
When you read this book you will understand the first lines of the story, "My mom always 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" and how there is "beauty in destruction."
Hoping we get a second book where we can learn more about how Tilla & Mia experiences in Jamaica shaped them as they returned to life in Canada with their mother.

My mom always 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.

A breathtaking Coming of Age story about a girl named Tilla who visits her father in his home country, Jamaica. Tilla was born in Jamaica but moved to Canada when she was young. She has always felt like her father did not love her because he spends six months of his life in Jamaica. Tilla hopes to connect with her father but is thrust into a land and culture that she doe not know.

What did I like:
1. Asha Bromfield is able to touch on some pretty deep and meaningful topics through her well crafted storytelling. Some of these topics include: racism, colorism, classism, sexism, sexual assault and young love (you can find this in the synopsis of the book)
2. The writing in this story is beautiful. So many lovely quotes that it was hard for me to pick a favorite. I loved loved loved the symbolism of comparing a hurricane to the storms and destruction in our own lives. How we rebuild and heal from both of these disasters. "There is beauty in destruction"
3. The Jamaican dialect added a ton of value to the story. I appreciated the glossary at the front to help translate some of the words. I was surprised at how easy it was for me to pick up on it. This could potentially be problematic for some but I would NOT want it done any other way.
4. Both the characters and story were well developed. At times the characters made me feel so angry I wanted to throw my kindle across the room and other times I wanted to let out a good cry. I think that the characters and story are relatable to many.

What did I not like:
1. I wish the book could have taken place over a longer period of time. There is a lot of life changing and/or traumatic experiences that happens to Tilla during her two months on the island. These experiences happen to a lot of young woman and I feel like she moved through these experiences fast which made the story feel less authentic to me.
2. I would have loved to see more of the relationship between Tilla and her father.

Overall what a beautiful debut story from Asha Bromfield. It's definitely worth your time.

Firstly, that cover is gorgeous! It definitely matches what is inside as well. Hurricane Summer is a beautifully written story that I could not get enough of. It was a fast read with a wonderful bunch of characters.