I received an advanced audio copy of The Edge of Summer by Erica George by Katherine Collette from the publisher Tantor Audio via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Saving the whales has always been Coriander Cabot and her best friend Ella’s dream. But when Ella dies last summer, Cor works to complete the list of their goals before college alone, specifically a marine biology internship on Cape Cod. Cor’s summer of healing and new beginnings turns complicated when she meets cute lifeguard Mannix who is distracting especially when she saving the humpback whales from entanglement.

What I Loved: This book is a cute little summer read and definitely plays on the heart strings. I loved the whales aspect of this book. I found how the whales connected Cor to Ella was very lovely and watching Cor process her grief was realistic and believable for somebody her age.

What I Didn’t Like: This book reads very young. I got frustrated with Cor’s decision making and also Mannix and Cor’s relationship was rough to see, there assumptions and ways of handling things were a bit rough, it just felt immature. That said it is YA.

Who Should Read It: People who like grief studies or books about girls who want to pursue scientist.

Summary: A young girl processes her grief while working with the whales.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
So... maybe I just don't love whales enough but I don't really get what the author was going for with this. Specifically, the ending was really disappointing. We spend the whole book learning about what went wrong in her friendship with her best friend just for the MC to do the same thing to someone else, granted for a "better" cause but it just felt to me like she was making the same mistake and hadn't learned anything. Furthermore, the epilogue did nothing to rectify the issue. The MC does not properly apologize, instead she rationalized her behavior and learned absolutely nothing.
Up until the 75% mark the book was enjoyable enough and could be fun to read in the summertime but for me at least the ending kind of ruined it. 1.5 stars.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't written for me! You know when you have a truly great book, the sentences surprise you and yet flow so easily at the same time? This book didn't flow for me, however I think others could really love it! Sweet book.

Coriander Cabot and her best friend Ella have dreamed of saving the whales since they were in elementary school. Last year, Ella died in a drowning accident, and now Cor is making her way through a list of things she and Ella wanted to do before college on her own. This summer, she has a prestigious marine biology internship on Cape Cod. When she meets a cute lifeguard named Maddix, and she can’t deny her feelings for him. When conflicting priorities pull her in different directions, Cor has to figure out how to follow her heart and her promise to the whales and her friend.

I was fascinated to learn that whales can be identified by the unique markings on their flukes. Cor was realistically portrayed, with flaws and trying to figure out who she was and who she wanted to be. Maddix, on the other hand, seemed to be perfect; I would have liked to see a more realistic portrayal of him, too. Kathryn Lynhurst did a fantastic job narrating the audiobook. I would recommend this story for older teens.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

This and the cover are giving the summer I turn pretty vibes and if your a fan of that then you may be a fan of this.

A big thank you to netgalley for the arc

This book was unfortunately not my favourite. The plot seemed to drag a lot, especially in the middle. The main character really annoyed me too. Besides the fact she had a questionable name (why on earth would you name your child Coriander?!), she was extremely unlikeable, self centered, and lied on every other page. The problems in this book would've all been solved if the main character and love interest just sat down and had a proper discussion for once in their life.
Oh speaking of the love interest. They were perfect. TOO perfect. No flaws whatsoever. Come on, at least make it realistic!
The writing style was nothing special, which worked well for the story. It was simple, fun, and easy to understand. Anything else would not have suited the novel and its themes.
Overall I would recommend if you're looking for a fun, cute-at-times summery YA novel, this book is for you. 4/10

This one took me by surprise. It's great to see how the story plays out and I oved the author's writing style. It gives us loads of character development. I also enjoyed the friendship and subsequent romance that grew between Cor and Mannix. This was a fun, quick read! I really enjoyed it

Great audiobook, thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access it in exchange for my feedback.

A unique premise for a story, especially with the whale conservation being a main focus, but at times felt a bit cliched with the romance.

Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#theedgeofsummer @theericageorge

The death of her closest friend with their bond being built on a mutual love for whales.

She continues on a summer without her friend , on to work for their adopted whale.

A love triangle, a supportive uncle, a whale in danger all make up this animal loving drama filled end of teen summer novel.

I gave this book 4 stars - a fun innocent romance young adult novel with a dash of whales.

I would recommended this book to any who loved whales and is all about those awkward social moments. Who will get the girl?….

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook for my review.

#whales #friendloss #volinteer #passionforthesea #lgbtquncle #audiobook #novelwithwhales

*3,25 stars*

The Edge of Summer by Erica George is a story about first loss and first love, but it’s also majorly about marine conservation (specifically whales) which I personally loved (so many whale facts yay!). The story follows Coriander ‘Cor’ Cabot who’s about to start her internship as a marine biology intern in Cape Cod.

We very early on learn Cor lost her best friend Ella to the sea and that she’s trying to finish the bucketlist they made together. Some items on the list are pretty normal teenage stuff like ‘going to a Harry Styles concert’ but others show the love both girls had for whales and the sea, such as ‘get whale tattoos’ or ‘save Fraction’.

Fraction the whale is an important part in Cor’s grieving and healing. She keeps showing up at multiple times in the story, and to me represents her friendship with Ella. Cor, at first, comes of as arrogant and selfish, but as you keep digging more into the past and present of her life and thoughts you learn she’s simply acting her age. I’ve seen some reviews saying they can’t understand why she behaved the way she did, but if you know a bit about developmental psychology you know she’s just a growing and maturing teen who feels totally devastated and guilty for her friend’s death. I do admit that she sometimes came across as annoying and non-caring of anyone around her, but to me that’s because she’s carrying this huge weight around that she’s somehow responsible for Ella’s death and doesn’t know how to deal with the emotions that come with that thought. (And honestly, what teenager doesn’t come off as a little selfish and annoying at some point in their teens)

The heavy topics could be a bit better handled too, but I understand that since it’s a YA book mostly focused on the romance and marine preservation that it’s less the focus of the story.

The scene at the end with Fraction made me emotional because it truly meant Cor could stop punishing herself for what happened and could start to move on and live HER life, instead of trying to live Ella’s dreams.

I do admit I didn’t care much for her relationship with Mannix. I loved Mannix on his own and loved the nuances he was given, although he came off as a bit too perfect to be real. But viewing them as a couple felt off for some reason. Cor was emotionally very much not available which resulted in them hurting one another when their priorities clashed. Where Cor was written as ‘selfish’, Mannix was written as the perfect boy with a sob backstory because he couldn’t do what he wanted because of his father wanting him to take over the business. This is a fact that keeps coming up multiple times in the story and even though it is indeed sad it started to get a little bit repetitive after a while with relatively no change to that fact until towards the end.

Side characters I loved from the start where Mia and Kyle. They were true friends to her, and it seems like Cor didn’t always realise this or appreciated them.

Overall this was a fun read, but I do have to warn young readers that there’s multiple scenes and language dipping into adult content. I’d advertise this book more as 16+ because of this.

About the audiobook: I loved the narrator (Kathryn Lynhurst)! She did an incredible job mixing up the tones between all the characters. It’s nearly 9 hours of easy going summer vibes mixed with the heavier scenes. I do admit I liked the book more because of the narration, and would probably have given it less stars if not for the narrator.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the ARC in audiobook format I was given in exchange of an honest review.

This is a purely romantic story between two eighteen-nineteen-year-olds as they are done with school and try to find their way forward in the world.
Our lead protagonist and the single narrator is Cor. She has always summered in Cape Cod, and this time she is there for her pre-college internship. It was interesting to see the independence, financial and otherwise, of this girl who is not yet in college since it was different when I was that age (being from a different time and country).
Coriander (Cor for short) is carrying around a burden of guilt for how she lost her friend Ella before actually losing her for good. We find out all the information in small pieces as Ella's essence/spirit provides a running commentary when Cor feels she is doing something wrong.
Since Cor is vulnerable, she does not reveal her love for whales at the appropriate time when asked. This continues to haunt her over the time she spends making new friends at her internship. To complicate things further, she loses her heart for the first time quite quickly. In this picture comes Mannix, a boy who has his own troubles and wants something that his own family doesn't understand. The narrative takes quite a few deep dives into emotions, and it is done quite well. I just felt it was a little long as I listened to it in Audio format. Given the content, I felt like some things could have been skipped because the author wrote well enough to understand the situation even without additional scenes.
The narrator did a great job bringing this uncertain girl to life and effectively conveyed what the author seemed to want.
I would recommend this to readers who read young adult/ books with protagonists who belong to this age group.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own listening experience.

The Edge of Summer is a fun summer YA. This book does have some more mature themes and parts so I would recommend this for older YA readers. There were some things I really liked about this book and there were some things that I didn’t like. I really enjoyed the discussion of whale conservation in this book. As a big whale/dolphin lover the whale tale on the cover is what originally drew me into this book. I felt as though the conservation aspect was done really well. I also thought there were some cute moments between Core and Mannix. I did enjoy the queer representation in this book. Though it wasn’t a huge part of the book it was done well especially with the non-binary character of Kyle. I also loved the setting of this book and I thought it was done well.

One of the things I didn’t like about this book was the two main characters' first names: Coriander and Mannix. I hate both names. The biggest thing that I didn’t like was I felt like the deeper, more serious topics that were discussed should have been focused on more and discussed more. Core was not a good friend to Ella and I felt like the author should have gone a little deeper on that.

I really enjoyed the audio and thought the narrator did a great job.

Overall, this was a 3.75 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and and Tantor Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this sweet book and recommended it to a few friends. This story is so relatable and really pulls you into the emotion of it.

The Edge of Summer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: YA Romance
Format: Audiobook
Date Published: 6/21/22
Author: Erica George
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Narrator: Kathryn Lynhurst
Goodreads Rating: 4.11

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Tantor Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Aspiring marine biologist who must navigate first love and the loss of a friend, all while saving the humpback whales from entanglement during her summer on Cape Cod

My Thoughts: The story is narrated by Cor (Coriander) in her perspective, in a first person POV. First I want to say, the author did her research about whales, the conservation of whales, and how the environment is damaging whales. There is even a note at the end by the author speaking on the same. The scenes and tone was detailed and I could feel I was right there. I also love the author’s usage of appropriate pronouns for one of the characters. The narrator really brought the characters to life and did an amazing job at narrating the story, keeping you engaged. This book had a very important message of how human behavior affects other things in the world. The characters were developed well, had compassion (for the most part), energy, had unique names, and were captivating. I loved the author’s writing style, it flowed flawlessly, was complex, and creative. The story flowed well with building up the characters, their backstories, the friendship, then romance between Cor and Mannix, the plot, and then bringing everything together in the ending. This book released last month and I definitely recommend getting the audiobook.

“Whales have this effect on people like no other animal. When one appears, normal, rational humans transform into cheering, excitable messes.…Whales always remind you of how small you are. How insignificant you really are. And that even when you’re 50 feet long and 40 tons, possessing a physical power no human has ever had, you can still lead the gentlest of lives.” 🐋

Coriander Cabot and her best friend Ella have dreamed of saving the wales since they were small. When tragedy strikes Cor finds herself completing their to do list before college alone, and that includes interning as a marine biologist on Cape Cod. This is a touching story of first love and first loss.

The descriptions of the Cape were so spot on I could taste the salt air and feel the sun on my face and smell the fried dough in PTown. (If you’re ever in Provincetown I highly recommend a whale watch!) It was an awful lot like going home.

The romance is cute and very YA, but I really was drawn to the whales. Everyone should read this book for the heartfelt animal conservation portions alone. The North Atlantic right whale is almost extinct, and if you’ve ever seen the whales feed or swim or just be…you’ll understand how important it is to save these magnificent creatures. “Whale’s suffer because of humans and we are obligated to change that.”

I preordered a signed book from a local indie bookstore and am so glad I did! This one will sit predominantly on my shelves, and I am quite certain I will revisit it and pass it around to my family and friends to be enjoyed by as many people as possible! Also the cover!! 😍😍

The audio was also fabulous. Listening to this was like being told a story by an old friend. The narrator put a lot of heart and emotion into the story and I would highly recommend it if you enjoy audiobooks! Thank you to Netgalley, RB Media, and the author for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This womens fiction is full of emotion and revolves around self discovery. The setting and characters drew me in and captivated me. Really enjoyed this book.

After reading the synopsis, "for fans of Sarah Dessen and Morgan Matson", I decided to ask NetGalley for a copy and got an eARC in exchange for a review.

After losing her best friend to a drowning incident the previous summer, Coriander (Cor) goes to Cape Cod and spends the summer with her Uncle Jack while taking a marine biology internship. It isn't too long before she meets Mannix, the sexy local lifeguard and wannabe chef. Cor develops new friendships with some of his friends as well as others at her internship. Throughout the summer, she has a to-do list she tries to complete. But falling in love was not part of that list.

I absolutely LOVED the setting of the town. It was a PERFECT beachside town. I enjoyed how Emma, Cor's friend that she lost a year prior, was still there for her and helping her through her friend's first summer without her. I enjoyed her budding romance with Mannix, how neither of them planned to fall in love and it ended up happening.

I didn't enjoy the conflict later in the book, but not because of the writing or because it didn't feel real. I just didn't enjoy that bit of selfishness that Mannix displayed. And I'm not really into marine biology, so there was that. Though, I'm still glad I read the book.

This is a quaint little Summertown romance that is just a pinch heavy with Cor dealing with her friend's death still, but all-in-all, it's a good summer read/beach read. Add this to your list.

Themes & vibes:

• Summer on Cape Cod
• Sweet YA-ish romance
• Ocean and saving whales
• Grief & guilt

Though this was an ok read overall, there were several things that rubbed me the wrong way. The scenes and language dipping into adult content even though the book is advertised as YA would be one of them. The unlikable main character follows closely.

There was also the too-good-to-be-true love interest thrown into the pile. And I didn't like how the heavy topics were handled - those parts didn't feel genuine to me.

There were also some great things about this book. The whales, summer spent on Cape Cod, the ocean, the food, the easy going vibes... Plus, I listened The Edge of Summer as an audiobook, and the narrator did a great job.

But ultimately, I couldn't connect with Cor at all, and that's why I don't think I’ll remember this story for very long. I'll remember the whales, though, they were the best part of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of The Edge of Summer by Erica George in exchange for an honest review.

This was the perfect book for summer. I absolutely enjoyed it and it reminded me of my teenage years. It brought back all of those wonderful nostalgia feelings. I would recommend if you enjoy young adult romance.