Y'all, I've never wanted to rebel so much before if it meant I could have a love like Dax Miller. *swoon* Ivy and Dax did not disappoint. I tell you, everything Cindy Steel writes is simply AMAZING and oh soooo good with the chemistry and moments. Ahh, the moments in this story. This is the kind of book you need to read going into it knowing nothing more than you are going to be smiling and grinning the whole time. Steel doesn't just deliver on the romance though. I love the depth of her characters and way she tackles some really heavy family situations. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't give a lot of detail, but just know, I was so proud of Ivy and I loved how Dax was her opposite, but they were exactly what each other needed.

I listened to the audiobook version and let me tell you, Marli Watson did a fabulous job bringing Ivy to life. I loved how the audiobook made reading feel like watching the love story of Dax and Ivy play out. I definitely recommend the audiobook version.

This is part of a multi author series. It can be read as a standalone, but the whole series has been five star reads for me and I think this book was the perfect end to the series. I loved seeing the other Falling for Summer characters in the book (especially Beau) and the setting of Sunset Harbor.

This is a clean romance. I received an advance listening copy from Dreamscape Media and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ARC/ALC Review

This sweet romantic comedy beach read is book seven of the Falling for Summer series (and my favorite)! The series takes place in Sunset Harbor and each book features different residents of the small town island. The characters appear throughout the series, but each book can be read as a standalone. It is such a fun and unique series due to it being written by multiple authors and it takes a “connected series” to a whole new level of fabulous!

‘Every good summer has a little bad…’ this perfectly describes this book. It was bad in just all the right ways. Cindy Steel is truly my favorite contemporary romance author, she just has a way with words and paints the best pictures in my head. In this one we meet Ivy and Dax. They grew up together on the island of Sunset Harbor and a little incident brings them back together. The banter, teasing and pranks are just perfect and all so funny. The nickname of ‘books’ went straight to my heart every time!

I loved the narrator Marli Watson, I have read a couple other books she narrated and they were awesome too! Marli does so good reading this, she reads Ivy’s part perfectly, I could just feel the emotions and they matched perfectly with the words. Also, Dax’s parts were excellent too! I didn’t even notice it wasn’t a dual narration and I loved it. I read this one twice, first the ebook and then the audio!!

Quotes:
🩷“Never mind. Just the burger and fries. And you…”
🩷”This is my business. That you broke into, I might add. So no, I won't be putting on a shirt. But I'm sorry if it's distracting for you.”
🩷”You've jumbled me up in all the best ways.”
🩷”The girl who crashed into your shop? And my heart…”

Enjoyable content:
☀️ Enemies to lovers
🦋 Bad boy & good girl
☀️ Opposites attract
🦋 Teasing & tension
☀️ Flashbacks
🦋 Lots of Legos

Spice: 💋 kisses only

Thank you to the author Cindy Steel and Net Galley for the advanced copies of the book.

I knew this one was going to be my favorite! Absolutely obsessed with this book, especially the audiobook.

It had everything I was expecting and more. The plot is so entertaining and full of humor & heart. I couldn't put this book down. I also loved the setting.

The characters are fantastic. I loved the dynamic between them. Dax and Ivy were adorable and had great banter, plus a ton of chemistry. If you're a fan of the relationship between Nick & Jess from New Girl, you're gonna love Dax and Ivy. Just imagine as a "bad boy" mechanic haha.

The writing is addictive and the narration is well done. I truly thought Marli Watson did a marvelous job voicing the characters.

10/10 would recommend!!

This was such a cute, fun summer audiobook! It was exactly what I needed, and such a quick and captivating listen! Fun & adorable.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. I absolutely hated the first 25%! I was really thinking about DNF'ing it but I don't like being a quitter! I just hated Dax, he was so mean. I also don't know about the whole "loosen up and break the law" vibe he was giving. The whole DUI situation was confusing because at first he was making her look bad in court and acting like she was stuck up but later he said he was immediately over it. That being said I laughed out loud multiple times, I really enjoyed Ivy's character and her growth. And I did eventually see the Dax appeal. Not my favorite but would definitely check out more from the author.

🎧🎧 Book Review 🎧🎧 Rebel Summer is the final book is the surprise smash hit of the the Falling for Summer series and I would be lying if I said there isn’t a bit of sadness that this is both the end of summer and the end of this delightful little getaway to the fictional Sunset Harbor. Rebel Summer is no exception with its witty writing and cameos from beloved characters while getting to know Ivy Brooks and Dax Miller. Cindy Steel writes an absolutely beautiful novel and Marli Watson narrates it in a breezy enthralling manner!

Thank you so much to the publisher and authors for this wonderful escape this summer. I really hope that one…or several of these cherished characters we met has a friend or relative in a ski town and we get a similar series set in a winter town!

Review is on Goodreads and will be posted on instagram closer to publication date and on Amazon when published!

Thank you Dreamscape Media for my gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Cindy Steel is quickly becoming an autobuy/auto read author for me. This is my third of her books and I’ve really enjoyed or loved all of them!

I’m usually more of an open door romance girl, but I love closed door romances like Steel’s too when the chemistry between the characters is just so good.

This was such a unique story. Caroline/Ivy returns home for a wedding after a day of delayed flights, accidentally takes an ambien and drives a golf cart which she crashes into the auto-shop of her high school lab partner/bad boy. They’re forced to spend time together when she’s ordered to complete community service.

I loved how clearly gone for Ivy, Dax was. She has such a tenuous relationship with her father and he was so supportive. I loved their banter and the bond they developed. I also loved how he helped her to be herself and do what made her happy. She seemed to help him open himself up again after some trauma as a teenager. I enjoyed the cast of characters and can’t wait to check out the rest of the series.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narration by Marli Watson.

Another fun read from this summer series, Serve community service with the hot mechanic who now is a reformed bad boy, yes please. My first read from this author, it was light and funny and so cute.

I really enjoyed this seventh book in the Falling for Summer series!

Ivy returns to Sunset Harbor for a wedding when she gets into an accident. Thankfully no one was hurt, but she drove into Dax's repair shop and broke the legendary huge Lego car! Her punishment - helping Dax with whatever he needs in his shop. As she's forced to spend hundreds of hours with him, her memories of their time in high school come back to her.

I enjoyed Ivy and Dax's relationship in the now and also seeing it in the flashbacks. They had fun banter and chemistry. They helped one another with traumas and past hardships. I enjoyed seeing them support one another. I loved the ending! It was super cute!

This series has been so fun because we've been hearing about Dax throughout other books and hearing how the ladies at the retirement home love him and now we finally see his story!

I listened to the audiobook for this. It's written as single POV and I enjoyed the narrator.

This book is already out but the audiobook releases on August 13th! Thank you Cindy Steel, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

I have been anxiously awaiting this book since starting the series at the beginning of summer and it did not disappoint! Cindy Steel has done it again, love her writing, all the banter is 👌🏻 and she is master with creating tension and all the feels. Dax is just such a complex rebel softie and you cannot help but love him. Ivy has been through a lot being the daughter of a politician who cares more about his career than her and she bears the emotional scars to prove it. When they are forced to team up as lab partners in high school their relationship starts to bloom but life happens and they haven’t seen each other for 10 years until Ivy comes back to the island for her cousins wedding and her rebel summer ensues. I would definitely recommend this one! I loved it so much!

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ARC!


Rebel Summer is a charming and engaging contribution to the Falling for Summer Series, offering a sweet and swift read that delicately broaches more serious themes. This novel is an uplifting, witty, and captivating summer read, certainly one of the highlights of the series.

Ivy returns to her small island town for a weekend wedding with plans to escape her dad's vicinity as soon as possible. Except a small mixup with her meds lands her in the hospital after crashing her golf cart into the town mechanic's display window and his prized Lego car. Her sentence for admitting to a DUI is to rebuild that car and help the mechanic, which would be a cinch if that mechanic weren't the dark and brooding Dax Miller who she's been trying to avoid falling for since high school. A banter-filled, forced-proximity, enemies-to-lovers good time is guaranteed.

I really enjoyed seeing all sides of both characters get explored. We get character growth not just from Ivy, but the exploration and growth from Dax's side was pleasantly unexpected. A well-rounded look at both sides of the relationship makes for a more satisfying read all around, adding the fun moments and the excellent banter cinches the deal for me.

It gets hot and steamy without going into the explicit details that most books seem to be centered around. Sometimes you just want the smoke, not the fire, and this story perfectly fills that space. You can tell sparks are flying between Ivy and Dax and the plot is such that it's more than enough to know they'll be very happy together.

The narration by Marli Watson is pretty good, but there are times when I had difficulty telling apart who was talking or when it's spoken dialogue versus thoughts or exploration. She does such a great job at bringing everyone to life that it's not that big of a deal, but I did find it a little annoying at times.

Delightful thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the fun romance listen!

This was another favorite of mine of the Falling for Summer series...an interconnected seven book stand-alone series written by seven different authors.

Ivy was only supposed to be in Sunset harbor for the weekend, but an accidental act forces her to stay all summer...on probation, doing community service for the one and only Dax Miller. I loved the connection and banter between Ivy and Dax and seeing tibbits of them in high school. This book had all the tropes I love. It was fun, fast paced and had me wanting more. Loved it!

Read if you life:
Small Town Island Romance
Frenemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
Second Chance Romance
High School Crush
He Falls First
Bad Boy/Good Girl
Closed Door Romance

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audio Arc in exchange for my honest review

The Falling for Summer series is THE series of summer 2024. Period.

I've loved all three installments that I've read so far, and this one, by far, has been my favorite.

When Ivy takes a sleeping pill instead of an Advil, she could never expect the ramifications of it. And I could never have expected how happy her mistake would make my heart.

Dax and Ivy are everything--lifelong crushes, enemies to lovers, second chance...they fit into so many tropes that they may as well just be their own trope. Their slow burn (and inevitable) romance is filled with so many sweet things that you'll find yourself grinning over and over again as they grow closer.

Other things I loved about this book, specifically: love for Legos, Bon Jovi, "Sweet Caroline," and a meddling elderly lady named Virginia.

Add this, and every other book in this series to your TBR before summer ends. It's exactly what you need.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet secret golden retriever. Just for her. He fell so hard and I loved it. Bad boyx good girl. A classic. The banter was incredible.

They saved the best for last. This is the last bookin the series. Each book can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading all of them. This book was amazing. Great story, very relatable and memorable. Realistic storyline and characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫(4.5)

Ivy was only supposed to be in Sunset Harbor for a weekend wedding, but an unexpected mistake keeps her there all summer, paying off her debt to Dax Miller. He’s trouble incarnate, and the more time they spend together, the harder it is to remember why she needs to leave at the end of summer.

“The mediocre coffee here is spectacular.”

If that line doesn’t sell you on Dax Miller, I don’t know what will. Every time he spoke, you could hear the grin through his mischievous teasing 😏

And this is only the first exceptional microtrope…

Confession: I have been getting so annoyed lately with the ridiculous nicknames literally no one would use in real life 🙄 This book REDEEMED the nicknames microtrope for me!!! I could not get enough of Dax’s flirty sass as he unrelentingly provoked Ivy with a couple sentimental names.

This book has turned the tattoos microtrope frenzy into an official trope category. You’re going to be obsessed 🥵

Have I talked about the microtropes enough?? Sure, the mix of daddy drama and bad boy antics in forced proximity creates a nice opposites-attract HEA, but it’s Nick Miller’s—ahemmm—DAX Miller’s impish charm with nicknames and tattoos that will get under your skin in the very best ways.

Thank you to the author the the eARC 🫶🏻 and to @dreamscape_media @netgalley for the ALC 🩷 The ebook is available on Kindle Unlimited #kindleunlimited #ku

Perfect for you if you like:
Tattoos
Making your own path
Childhood frenemies to lovers with flashbacks
Tattoos
Teasing nicknames
LEGO
Tattoos
Forced proximity + opposites attract
“bad” boy mechanic
Tattoos

Similar to:
Flirtation or Faceoff by Leah Brunner
Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams
Business Casual by B.K. Borison (open door)

⛔️closed door romance (kisses only)
⚠️very mild language (literally only noticed it when I did the word search on my kindle after), parental manipulation, narcissism, sibling abandonment, and a brief scene of an attempted sexual assault

Part of the Falling for Summer series. The Falling of Summer series is a series of seven stand-alone clean romances. All by different authors. They are located on a fictional island off Florida. They all happen concurrently, so it doesn't matter what order you read them in

This was my favorite book of the series so far! (The fourth one I've read)

I really liked how Jax got Ivy to stop living to please her father. You also got a lot of insight into Jax and how he got to be the person he is.

I wish the town had been involved more. Jax and Ivy stayed mostly isolated. And they didn't really go to the events that occurred in the other books.

Marli Watson narrates and I have no complaints :)

I received an advance audio book in exchange for an honest review.

The other books in this series have been light, fun rom coms. This one is a lot more serious and feels out of step. It’s a good book but not at all what I expected. If you like angsty contemporary romance, you might enjoy this novel. The audiobook narration was well done and matched the tone of the book.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Rebel Summer is book 7 in the Falling For Summer Series. This series is so fun, flirty and heartwarming. This book is a great addition to the series. The characters are so likable you can’t help but root for them and smile as their journey to love unfolds. I loved the chemistry between these two and the flashbacks going back to high school.

I totally related to Ivy and enjoyed her development and growth throughout the book. Dax was a so sweet and who doesn’t love a reformed bad boy!

While this book is fun and lighthearted it also has emotional topics as well.

Marli Watson narrated this audiobook. She did a great job capturing the different characters which can be difficult with just one narrator.

I highly recommend this book as well as the series!

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC of this audiobook. I voluntarily listened to it and gave my honest review.