that summer feeling by Bridget Morrissey hits all those feelings of summer camp, marshmallows, campfires, finding love during the summer, and finding your home. I adored this so much; it reminded me of my childhood. I was a camper kid. This rekindled my spark for how much joy camping and making new friends can bring, plus it's queer, which makes it even better. That Summer Feeling is out everywhere now, buy, request at your library, or borrow from a friend. This is one you'll want to add to your Tbr

- Found Family
- Friends to Lovers
- Summer Camp Romance
- Queer Romance

I was gifted a copy by Berkley Romance but since have purchased two copies of my own. All thoughts are my own.

I am a camp person, I am a person still figuring out myself, and I always love a good story and all those things came together to make this such a wonderful book. I really enjoyed reading it and I found that I was caught up in everything that was happening throughout the story.

THAT SUMMER FEELING was such a nostalgic nod to being at Summer Camp, but in this case it’s for a recently divorced woman who goes to Adult Summer Camp.

🎧I read the ebook with the audiobook and loved the narration and tone. This felt like the perfect summer read!

WHAT TO EXPECT
-sapphic love story
-found family
-self discovery

*many thanks to Berkley and PRH Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Oops, I did it again, I fell for a pretty cover and instantly regretted it. I loved the sound of it, the camp setting and the queer romance, but it was not executed well at all. The characters fell flat, lacked development, and were forgettable. The side characters were just there, like props. They were so one dimensional. I'm sorry, but the instalove in this one was one of the most extreme I've read. I just couldn't vibe with Garland and Stevie's relationship. There was no development, not even a spark. I felt the author was constantly telling me rather than showing me. I swear I was confused reading this. I kept thinking it was YA because of the way the story was written and how childish the characters were. It felt more like a YA romance, especially with how extreme the instalove was. The other thing that really bothered me was the way Garland's sexuality was portrayed. Her being queer literally happened over night without any prior mention of her even feeling that way. This made me angry not only because of the way it happened, but also because she kept expressing how much she wanted her husband back and that she wasn't going to be with anyone romantically. Yet she is in love with someone by the 3rd/4th day of camp. Ugh, this was so disappointing. I still can't wrap my head around why I didn't DNF it. I'm more upset by that anything. I wouldn't recommend this one.

Sapphic rom-com set in an adults only summer camp, I had very high expectations! Morrissey exceeded every single one of them! The story was practically perfect!

✨ Review ✨ That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey

Read this if you like:
⭕️ queer found family stories
⭕️ adult sleepaway camp
⭕️ pushing your comfort zone

This book follows Garland to Camp Carl Cove, a sleepaway camp for adults, after a failed marriage, a year living with her sister Dara (who also comes to camp), and an encounter with the new camp owners while working as a rideshare driver.

In a chance encounter in the airport on a way to her honeymoon earlier in the book, Garland bumped into a man who returned something she dropped, and in that instant, she had a vision of her as part of her family. She's shocked when she realizes Mason is at the camp with her along with two of his brothers, and his sister Stevie, Garland's roommate.

The book is one of love and self-discovery and pushing one's boundaries. There are nighttime dances, camp competitions and scavenger hunts, swims and hikes, and all the things we love (or love to hate) about camps.

This was a fun, lovely read full of found family and celebration of queerness. Definitely would make for a fabulous summer read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: queer romance
Setting: adult summer camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Reminds me of: queer adult version of the parent trap
Pub Date: out now!

Thanks to Berkley, PRHAudio, and #netgalley for advanced copies of this book!

That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey is a sapphic adult romance novel that tells the story of Garland, a recently divorced woman in her early 30s. When she decides to attend an adult summer camp with her sister, she has a chance encounter with a man from her past—while rooming with his charming, outdoorsy, ray of sunshine sister Stevie.

Was this novel a little—okay, a lot—cheesy? Sure. But did I have a good time with it from start to finish? Also yeah.

People who were camp kids, or, like me, who wanted to be camp kids but never got the opportunity, will find a lot to love about this book. It captures the magic of how quickly bonds form when tucked away in nature with only your fellow campers for company. This book was laugh out loud funny at points; I was honk-snorting until I cried at several scenes. There’s also a loveable, well-developed cast of secondary characters that add to the overall texture and charm of the book. Garland’s character journey in particular as someone coming into her queerness later in life was very relatable, especially as a queer woman, and her journey will resonate a lot with some readers.

The romance between Garland and Stevie is incredibly gentle with a touch of magic, which is perfect if you’re looking for a sweet escapist fantasy. In reality, it’s incredibly insta-love, and I couldn’t quite suspend my disbelief at some of the events of the novel given that they knew each other for a grand total of six days. It’s also pretty much closed door, which happens a great deal in sapphic romances and is not my personal cup of tea.

Overall, if the idea of a funny, bright, sweet summer camp romance appeals to you and you don’t mind the insta-love setup, That Summer Feeling will take you on a vibrant journey and leave you a little lighter of heart.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was super light and quick, and I loved how it mixed a sweet summer sapphic romance with the setting of a summer camp. Throw in some family dynamics and self discovery and it's a whale of a time!

I did not finish this one, unfortunately. However, I will definitely recommend it to other readers! This is definitely a case of it simply not being for me at the time that I tried it. The writing style seemed a bit young and I wasn't vibing with it. And writing style is super important for me in a book - I need to love the writing style to love the book. But I know that some of my friends or people I work with would love this book, and I think it wouldn't be a great beginner romance read for people just getting started in that genre. We need more Sapphic romances! And the camp vibes were so much fun.

can we make this adult summer camp real?
this was the perfect summer read, making me wish I could go to summer camp with stevie & garland and the rest of the crew.
the found family & finding yourself through the people who show you love was so major and lovely to read.
I don’t think there’s anything that could have made me love this one more.

Garland and her sister are spending the week at an adults only week at sleepaway camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Because she swore off love after her divorce, she never expects to fall for roommate, Stevie.

I thought that the summer camp setting was super fun, but the week at camp timeline made this an insta-love situation that I’m just not a fan of. There was a lot going on in just a week, and it just made it unrealistic for me. I loved the summer camp setting, but I just need more time for it to feel believable.

i adored this book!!! such a sweet sapphic summer romance. i am obsessed with the summer camp setting as well.

So darn cute and sweet.

The amazing characters overshadow the plot, if that's not your kind of thing, then this book may fall short for you. I'm a huge fan of character driven stories and this book has that. Even though the development of their relationship is rather quick (about a week), it is done so well that I do not care about how quickly it happened. Also, they're roommates so I feel like the timeline works.

Garland and her sister, Dara, never had a chance to experience summer camp as kids. Growing up with parents who seemed to resent their presence they had always wanted to escape their home life, even if just for a little while. Garland, still reeling from her divorce, and Dara can't wait for their week in the wilderness.

Considering Garland goes through a major awakening I felt like this book/plot was way too fluffy and light-hearted, and the insta-love didn't have any chemistry behind it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really cute summer romance with lots of great banter. While I’ll admit that the story felt like it moved really fast in some parts (I get it; adults can’t take more than a week off of work), I felt like the scenes could have been packed with more details. I truly enjoyed this though. Now I want to go to summer camp!

All the feelzzz✨✨✨💖💖💖


Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

A summer camp for adults? Yes, please. Garland had a plan. Her plan did not include getting a divorce but when she attends an adult only summer camp with her sister she thinks everything happened for a reason when she reconnects with a man from her past. What she doesn’t expect was to fall for his sister.
.
This is a story of finding yourself, nostalgia, fate and how sometimes carefully made plans are meant to be broken. Plus, this is adult summer camp is just pure fun!
.

Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
.

For awhile, I really thought this was going to be my next 5 star read but unfortunately, the latter 15% went downhill for me. There were declarations of love made to each other after they'd known each other for 5-6 days which just completely ripped me out of the story. The author was self aware and so the characters made Uhaul jokes but still. Just not believable for me personally. I would still highly recommend this read though. It was so nice to read about a woman in her early 30's coming out for the first time. It totally resonated with me. The romance just wasn't my favorite. It definitely felt like a contemporary fiction following our main character's journey with a secondary character who is solely there to be a love interest so our MC will realize she's bisexual. But again, not bad. I literally laughed out loud while reading this. It was a great book just not what I was entirely looking for.

I LOVED this book. I loved the setting, the writing, it was so good on audio and I absolutely loved the characters.

I absolutely LOVED That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey. This is another book that is going on my Christmas wishlist (which I make my husband shop from for the holidays haha) because I want it on my shelf forever. I've given less than ten books five stars this year and That Summer Feeling is one. Set during an adult week at summer camp, this story is about Garland who is getting over a divorce. Together, with her sister, she decides to attend camp for a week as a way to reparent themselves and recapture a part of childhood they never had. While there, Garland meets a man she had a brief encounter with a few years ago. However, it is the man's sister, Stevie, Garland's cabin mate, who she cannot stop thinking about.

Look, I am not kidding when I say I loved this book. It is a sapphic summer camp romance. That Summer Feeling comes across with affirming and kind vibes, if that makes sense? I loved Garland's growth as a person. She is the life of the party and it turns out people really genuinely like her. Garland also finds her people, so to speak. We also see healthy conversations occur and COMMUNICATION which I just love. And this book has a color war -- which is like the best part of camp. I loved all the side characters too. The romance is beautiful -- the way it unfolds. This is just such a wonderful, excellent book. Get your hands on it for the absolute best summer read.