While I love Jenn McKinlay, this one just didn't work for me. The dyslexia take was jarring, and very hard to work around. The main character felt very difficult to feel anything for. She whined. She whined a lot. She was concerned so much about her dyslexia, that I really felt it was overexaggerated to a point that it made it difficult to get through the book.

So there was a lot that I liked about this story and then there were some issues! I really appreciated the the sister/brother relationship! That as a whole was fantastic! It had so many different element woven into it that I enjoyed! The romance was sweet and I appreciated the flip of the switch with him being the booklover and librarian! A nice change of pace. I did appreciate the easter egg of them reading McKinlay's other book! What a fun call out!!

What I did not appreciate was the third act break which was ridiculous... it literally happened with 10% of the book left... Like cmon!! I also didn't like that some things seemed to be a big point but were hand waved away! Sam's cookbook and the promotion that she was passed over for! And Sam's entire relationship with Em was suddenly gone after we knew she was going to be okay !!

Excellent! I will always pick up Jenn McKinlay's books! Dyslexia is a key subject and the MMC is a librarian, what's not to love? Good "Summer Reading"!

this was a fun summer read. i love and will ALWAYS devour books that have bookish characters (i especially loved how in this particular romance HE was the bookish one, its always the FMC whos the bookish one but this was a cute twist.) The east coast summer vibes were really hitting. i feel like summery east coast books are always set in nantucket or main but martha's vineyard was a cute choice.

what i liked:
- the bookishness of it all
- the setting
- how the fmc was a chef
- the brother/sister relationship
- ben was such a little cinnamon roll hero

overall, i think this would be a great book to add to your summer reading list

Actual rating 2.5

I was really excited for this one. The premise sounded fun and promising. I loved that the FMC was neurodivergent (dyslexia). I also love that the author decided to format the book with dyslexia-friendly font, spacing, and margins. This was such a nice touch to making her book more inclusive. I wish all authors would do that, especially with books that have 2 size fonts. I'm someone who deals with a neurological disorder (epilepsy), so formatting makes a huge difference in my books.

I really wanted to love this book, but it just fell flat and very lackluster. The characters didn't feel well rounded. They're personality revolved around that one thing that defined them (Sam's dyslexia and Ben being a bookworm). I did enjoy how Sam and Ben connected, but the romance wasn't swoonworthy. I felt it was cute, but lacked chemistry. It kind of felt like they were friends more than an actual couple. It just didn't do it for me.

Overall, this was a cute summer read that I would still recommend.

Summer Reading was one of those books that I was so happy to finally read. Samantha Gale has dyslexia and has struggled all her life to be successful. She is a chef that recently lost her job and she is at the family cottage on Martha’s Vineyard trying to resurrect her career, whole supervising her half-brother for the summer. While there she meets Bennett Reynolds, a man who is trying to find his father. He’s taken a temporary job on the island, managing the library and the summer program, while trying to research the summer his mother spent there when she got pregnant with him. Niehter Ben or Sam are looking for a relationship, but when Sam knocks his book into the ocean, they are both attracted to one another. Ben finds out about Sam’s dyslexia, he encourages her to author that cookbook she has always wanted to write, and a relationship develops.

This is a rom com that pulled me in from the first page until I closed the book with a sigh and a smile. I liked the balance of romance, mystery, drama and family. I liked the realistic way that Jenn McKinlay portrays Sam and her dyslexia. It often causes low self-esteem, poor school performance and effects the way people look at you. Although there were some roadblocks along the way, I enjoyed this slow building relationship. There were some funny situations and great dialogue. I haven’t read Jenn McKinlay for a long time, but I will be checking out her backlist. This was a delightful HEA story that I enjoyed.

i had a hard time connecting with the romance, but the overall concept of this book was very fun. would be good to recommend for those looking for easy summer romances

I liked everything about this one. The setting. The characters. The hot librarian. The brother/sister relationship. The friendship between the main character and her friend. The cooking.

I also loved the representation, and the fact that the book was published in a Dyslexic friendly font. Well done.

I thought this book dragged a lot and I got bored and wanted to move on. I thought the romance was too slow and it overall felt negative.

I love the pro-reading/anti-reading matchup and I will definitely be reading more from Jenn McKinlay because this book was perf.

Thank you so much @BerkleyRomance for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 16 May 2023)

SYNOPSIS | Sam has recently been fired from her job so decides to take a pause and return home, to the island she grew up on, to look after her 14-year-old step-brother. On the ferry over she accidentally throws another passenger's book into the sea who just so happens to be the towns librarian.

WHAT I LIKED:
- that dyslexia features so heavily in the story (the physical book is formatted with dyslexia-friendly fonts & margins!)

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I prefer my stories with well-rounded characters & not just one singular defining trait
- while having dyslexia representation is important, it didn't feel as if it was naturally woven into the story and felt very textbook
- didn't like that dyslexia was used as part of the initial conflict (as the love interest likes to read but the MC doesn't)
- the story could have benefitted from Ben's POV
- honestly I just didn't feel the chemistry between Sam & Ben and that made it difficult to root for them

I was really excited to read this one, because I was really intrigued by the premise of our FMC having dyslexia. However, I mostly just found this to be kind of boring and the dialogue just didn't work for me.

I really enjoyed this story! I loved that the FMC was neurodivergent. I am seeing this more and more with books, and it makes me happy. While we read to escape, we also read to find how we relate to the characters, to feel seen and heard. While this character dealt with dyslexia, other stories recently, I have seen more of an ADHD rep as well and how they cope with everyday tasks. I also loved the insta-connection Samantha has with Ben. What started as a possible bad first impression turned out to be their meet cute 😍.

I enjoyed the side stories as well, Samantha's relationship with Em and Samantha bonding with Tyler. The closer those two got, the funnier their banter got.

While I do not enjoy a third act break up, I could see where this one would be a natural pause between Samwise and Ben. He just received devastating news and didn't have the emotional capacity to deal with it.

This story has definitely put Martha's Vineyard on my radar, and now I want to take a visit!

Just look at this cover! I absolutely love it! But honestly... it's my favorite thing about this book. I desperately wanted to love it, and I did think it was cute, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. The storyline, the character development, the chemistry/romance, it all felt a bit lackluster and didn't pull me like I had hoped.

A great title about neurodivergent people! I didn't realize something as easy as adjusting print could help dyslexic readers. What an eye-opening and heart touching read. I enjoyed every aspect of the story and didn't want it to end.

Jenn McKinley's "Summer Reading" proved to be a challenging read for me, ultimately falling short of my expectations. The novel follows Samantha and Bennett, but their character development and plot left me underwhelmed.

One of the major issues I encountered was with Samantha's character. Her dialogue came across as long-winded and tedious, making it difficult to connect with her. The constant mention of her dyslexicbecame distracting and sometimes felt like a forced element rather than a seamlessly integrated aspect of her character. Samantha's claim of being close to her friend didn't align with the narrative, as she seemed surprisingly unaware of crucial details about her friend's life.

Bennett's storyline, unfortunately, also needed more depth. It felt lacklustre and failed to capture my interest, leaving me wanting more substance and development for his character. Samantha and Bennett's relationship's slow pace added to the dissatisfaction. It felt anticlimactic when they finally got together and failed to deliver the emotional impact I hoped for.

While I acknowledge that personal preferences play a role in book enjoyment, "Summer Reading" did not resonate. There may be readers who appreciate its nuances and style, but unfortunately, it wasn't my cup of tea.

I read a decent portion of this book very slowly over a few months before DNFing. The writing is fine, but the characters fell flat enough that I just couldn’t get invested! Two stars since the writing was fine, just not the character development.

I really enjoyed this story. The way the author blended the main character's daily troubles with dyslexia, watching a young teen, the young teen's struggles with being "normal" and a love story was absolutely perfect. I probably would have loved this more in the summer months but it was still a great listen at any time of year!

Thank you for allowing me to read and review this story. This review has been posted on goodreads, storygraph and barnes & noble. The review can be found on my instagram @manymerrybooks

Personally, for me, this book was really well intentioned. However, I think where I went wrong, was expecting this to be romance oriented, where it was clearly women’s fiction.

Parts of this felt like a plat on Emily Henrys Beach Reads (which is ok, I loved that book). Although when it came down to it, I clearly preferred Emily Henry’s version.

That isn’t to say this was bad, I just really wanted this book to be more romance focused than it was, which is a personal preference.

I really enjoyed this rom com which was a sweet summery look at the hospitality business, neurodivergence, and family dynamics in two complex families.