i liked the premise of the story a lot but i couldn’t get past the writing style. it felt a little too young for me for 17 year old characters. it felt a bit more middle school. i really wanted to like it but i just couldn’t get passed the way the book flowed.

thank you so much for the opportunity to try this book out!

Oh boy. First of all, I do want to bring back the “Is this synopsis accurate?” for books I receive for review. This description is accurate enough. It also should’ve been a giveaway for one of my big issues of this book. This writing of the main character doesn’t match with the canonical age of the character. The MC is supposed to be 17 years old, but everything in the writing suggests a way younger age. From how the characters interact with one another to their “Best Summer Ever” list. For a young friend group that will be 18 next summer, it seems a very low bar to be the best summer ever.

It’s a fast read but it took a while to gain my interest and I lost it pretty soon as well. The first time I considered DNF’ing was at 18% where the MC has a nightmare that’s just… poorly written, in my opinion. The writing style is very much action-after-action based, like “and then this person said this.” which I would normally associate more with middle grade writing, sadly.

I have other questions that I wish would’ve been expanded on or just removed like how famous are Andrea’s parents and why did it contribute to the plot? I don’t feel like it did.

This book also has a lot of miscommunication which is not my kind of trope, add to that the fact that some characters make sudden switches in their personalities or even get villain traits… I personally cannot recommend this book.

The writing style and characterisations didn’t really work for me on this one. The characters felt much younger than 17 to me and as a result it felt intended for a far younger audience than I’d expected.

The writing was a lot of “I did this, then I did this, then I did this” while feeling like nothing was actually happening.

I am rating this book as a 27-year-old woman but while reading it I often thought about my 17-year-old self and how she would like this book. Although, I still do love reading YA novels at 27.

This book includes really important topics such as LGBTQ+, diversity, inclusion, and disabilities. As a 27-year-old I can really appreciate that this book hits all of those topics knowing that younger people who may experience hardships due to the issues discussed can feel more included and have more relatable content in their lives to read. This book can also help those who are learning about these topics to be more inclusive and notice how others may struggle in life and how to be more accepting.

My 17 year-old-self would have loved this book for the writing and having similar emotions when I was a teenager and going through relationships for the first time. Especially having a crush who didn't know I liked them and wanting to tell them but not knowing how (we've all been there).

Throughout the book, I was really rooting for Andrea and Hailee to end up together and I felt so bad as they both had their own struggles with their sexuality and friendship. It was a fun and cute read while also covering these serious and important topics which made it more enjoyable to read.

I would definitely recommend this book to people around the ages of 14-20 or if you like YA this book is for you. I also think this is a great book to have in a school library for kids to be able to read and as many kids struggle with their identities so having a book with people their age going through similar things may help in self-discovery.

such a beautiful book. i loved it so much, and it made me anxious for summer!!!!!!!!!!! the writing seemed a bit young for the audience this book is for, but it was still so good!!

thank you so much net galley for this arc🤍

Absolutely loved this book!! 10/10 would recommend!! Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc!

I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me :( I usually really enjoy YA books but my main issue with this one was the fact that it felt too young. The main characters were supposed to be 17 but I felt as though I was reading about 12/13 year olds; the way they spoke and acted was very juvenile. I also felt as though the conflict and the following resolutions were quite rushed and never properly addressed - the problems were just brushed off and easily forgotten.

I think the story overall was very sweet with some important messages about sexuality and disabilities, and younger audiences would really enjoy it. But I personally found that it fell a bit flat :(

This book was a vulnerable and realistic portrayal of being in love with your best friend. It made me laugh, grin like an idiot and (nearly) cry. I loved the main characters and the dynamic of young female friendship and the candid discussion of disability.

The characters did seem quite young (they were 17, I would have guessed 14-15) and I think the writing reflected that at times. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I was so excited to read a queer YA romance with disability representation! This friends-to-lovers trope was sweetly done and peppered with pop culture references that young readers would enjoy.

This sounded like a super cute summer read, and in many ways, it was. The MC has newly realized she's bisexual and has a crush on her best friend. Last summer, she was recovering from a surgery related to her cerebral palsy, so this summer, she wants to make the most of it. That's why her best friend and her make a bucket list for the summer with 8 (mostly really fun!) items, and the MC secretly adds a 9th one: fall out of love with her best friend, because she doesn't want to ruin the friendship.

For the most part, I really liked their friendship. They're super close, which I always love to see in books. I also loved seeing how close the MC was to her parents.

I ended up with somewhat mixed feelings despite this, though, especially because the writing felt a little rocky to me. I also thought the book felt strangely young considering the main character is 17. This was especially noticeable in the way the MC and her best friend would argue with each other. The reason why was very understandable, and I sympathized, but the way they argued felt really immature and read more like they were around 14.

All in all, I would recommend this as a quick, heartfelt YA summer read, but it wasn't a new favourite for me.

3⭐️

Such a cute YA novel with diverse characters! The pacing was quick, and it was a super fun read!

The cerebral palsy representation was great — I can’t recall any other novels I’ve read where a character has cerebral palsy.

I found the characters super relatable, and I totally remember being a young teen with a summer bucket list, too :-)

Super heartwarming, coming-of-age story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was cute. 3.5/5 stars.

I enjoyed the storyline a lot. The main character is a POC, chronically ill and bisexual. I really liked the pacing of this story - I read this in no time.

The main character was kind of annoying me sometimes, but luckily the stuff I got annoyed at got fixed in the next chapter or so. I liked the character-building and grew to love (almost) everyone in this story. I somehow got to know everyone their characters and insights in their lives, without it being too descriptive.

I do feel like even though the main characters were supposed to be seventeen, the way they spoke and acted made it seem like they were thirteen/fourteen.

I read this book in no time and would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a fun and quick read, with depth.

Thank you to NetGalley and Keah Brown for giving me access to this book! I don’t usually go for a friends-to-lovers trope in a book, but I can say that I pleasantly enjoyed this. I also loved the different types of representation in the book: from disabilities to sexualities, it really was meaningful to me as someone with an autoimmune disease myself. However, the many grammar and spelling errors really stole from the reading experience. The miscommunication in this was also annoying (which means it was written in a good way), but I don’t like that trope so it was difficult for me to not scream at the characters. Overall though, it’s a light, fun read and I’d recommend it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! This was a fast and sweet read. I was grabbed by the story from the very first page! I wish this book existed when I was in middle school and high school.
I feel that fans of Nic Stone's books would really enjoy this book.
Thank you to Levine Queirdo for this arc.
4/5 stars

Taylor Swift Songs: “Jump then fall (TV)”

This was a cute, cheesy friends-to-lovers YA romcom with a POC, bisexual, and chronically ill main character (cystic fibrosis). It dealt with figuring out sexuality and identity, as well as struggling with feelings for your childhood best friend. It also touched on Andrea’s experience with ableism.

My main critique for this book is that it was too juvenile for high school. The writing style, characters and how they acted and talked was reminiscent of middle schoolers rather than high schoolers (supposed to be 17). It felt childish in a sense, coming from someone who was recently the same age as the characters. Also, the conflicts were solved way too quickly, without explaining much, just kind of brushing over the problems.
Another minor critique is that, as a person with a chronic illness and chronic pain, I would’ve loved to see a little more about what it was like for Andrea to live with it. I felt like most of the mentions of it were very brief and often glossed over. I would’ve liked to see more depth to that, but that is just my personal opinion.
However, since this is the authors first YA book, I am sure that they will grow into their writing style so that it fits better to the age the characters are supposed to be. I can tell this writer has so much potential.

Putting my personal preference aside, I do think that 12-14 year olds would enjoy this book since it was pretty fluffy and cheesy and had a lot of social media and pop culture references. However, that is not my personal taste, so I am docking points in my opinion. My ratings are always subjective. they are my own opinions of how I liked or didn’t like a book.

Age rating: 12+ (not steamy at all)

Thank you Netgalley for the ebook advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book and thought this was a sweet read for middle school/younger high school readers. I loved the representation this book has but thought the writing sounded like it was for a younger audience, even though the mc is 17. Overall, an enjoyable read!

This was definitely 4.5 loved all the representation of it. I’m not a huge fun of best friends to lovers but this one? I damn sure adore it. And I loved the whole group of friends in it!!

Thank you Keah Brown and NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Secret Summer Promise is about our main character Drea who is an aspiring artist and deals with cerebral palsy as a black young girl. It's finally summer and with a help of a bucket list it's going to be the best one ever. While trying to cross out all the things written down, Drea tries to navigate her feeling for her best friend.
This book deals with coming out, struggling with romantic feelings for your best friend without losing them, ableism, finding who you are and knowing your worth. While still remaining cute, fluffy summer rom-com full of pop culture references. The story itself is fast-faced and can be read very quickly. I loved the characters and the sapphic representation. I personally found it quite simple which can be a plus for younger audience. Overall, it was enjoyable and definitely worth the read!

nice little summer romance between 2 best friends. a very diverse story with a disabled mc and a sapphic romance + characters of color which i always like. slightly predictable but overall very enjoyable. i recommend

Keah Brown’s first YA novel is a delight with a colorful cast of characters that is queer and diverse. I couldn’t get enough of these messy, queer teens! It was refreshing seeing teen characters so well fleshed out they felt like they could walk off the page.

The representation and inclusion in this novel is another thing that adds to its overall charm and authenticity. There is plenty of queerness & racial diversity but one thing that stands out is the inclusion of Andrea’s cerebral palsy. It’s refreshing to see disability where it’s not presented in a negative light and instead it’s just something that is.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Super Secret Summer Promise. Even though miscommunication/lack of communication is one my least favorite tropes, it was executed so well I hardly even noticed until I was already very invested in the story. A true testament to the quality of Brown’s writing.

Keah Brown is an author to keep an eye on.


Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Diversity & Inclusion: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
General Adorableness: 💗💗💗💗💗