Quick review for a quick read. I was first introduced to "Summerlost" through a snippet offered on NetGalley, but I later checked out a full version of the book from my local library. This definitely satisfied my longing for a quick read in the form of a fulfilling MG/teen summer story. It's Ally Condie's middle-grade debut about a girl named Cedar who's coping with her first summer after her father's and brother's tragic accident. She returns to the town of Iron Creek for the summer, meeting a boy named Leo and volunteering her time at a theater festival called Summerlost. It is also a chance for her to join Leo in a side job directing tours surrounding the 2oth anniversary of the death of a Hollywood actress whose life was cut short due to tragic circumstances as well.

This proved to be a very quick read in the audiobook form, and I found Cedar's voice to be cheerful and easy to follow. The story provided some nice turns of showcasing the strong bond between Leo and Cedar, as well as illuminating and valuable showcases of Cedar with her family, though in brief spells. The setting was probably the strongest part of this narrative. I did feel that some parts of the narrative left much to be desired for deeper emotional development and narrative styling, but I liked the theme and enjoyed the overarching story for what it offered.

Overall score: 3/5 stars.

I got a loooot of new releases on my to buy lists and I got some of them:

1. Wink Poppy Midnight - April Genevieve Tucholke 
2. Summerlost - Ally Condie 
3. Fool Me Once - Harlan Coben 
4. Seven Ways We Lie - Riley Redgate 
5. Lady Midnight - Cassandra Clare 
6. The Queen's Poisoner (The Kingfountain Series Book 1) - Jeff Wheeler 
7. Flawed - Cecelia Ahern 
8. A Study in Charlotte - Brittany Cavallaro 
9. Girl Last Seen - Heather Anastasiu,Anne Greenwood Brown 
10. In Real Life - Jessica Love 

Tomorrow I'm flying back home -  a midterm break and I might finish some of my currently reading list. I have a few reviews to write and do the march wrap-up.

Did you get any new releases? Or any other books you are excited about?

I received an excerpt of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The excerpt was six chapters long and my review is based off of those six chapters.

Cedar has lost both her younger brother Ben and father after a tragic accident. Still grieving, Cedar’s mother buys a summer house in the town of Iron Creek so she can be close to her family. So the excerpt on NetGalley was labeled as both YA and Middle Grade; based off the writing style I would place this work in the Middle Grade category -- the writing is way too simplistic to be considered YA and even Middle Grade is a stretch. Looking at both Booklikes and Amazon, they seem to agree with me, Goodreads has it labeled as YA. Despite the simplistic writing style the author does a fair job of getting across the grief that our protagonist feels at the loss of both her brother and father. So she gets credit for how she was able to convey the grief of Cedar, but at the same time, I think even younger children would be insulted at the simplistic writing.

I could have lived with the writing style if only the story was interesting enough to draw me in, but it really wasn't. The excerpt was six chapters, but they were short and nothing really exciting happened. Cedar sees a boy ride by on a bike in funny clothes and then decides to follow him, that’s it. There’s little hints as to the fate of her brother and father, but it really wasn't anything that appealed to me. I gave this excerpt two stars.