“I didn’t realise friendship could be a thing that makes you feel like you’ve been cracked wide open, but in the best possible way.”
Perfect for fans of: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants and readers who love Kasie West and Morgan Matson
Review:
The overall execution of the story was really well done. When it comes to multiple POV’s, it’s sometimes hard to distinguish between the different voices but all of the four girls had distinct tones to their chapters and their own individual goals that they were trying to make a reality.
The Summer of Impossibilities highlights friendship in all its glory. From the quiet anxieties everyone faces when trying to make new friends (am I likeable? Should I be funnier? Why don’t they want to hang out with me? is it them – or me?) to the best part of having a friend group (spending time together making the ordinary feel extraordinary), Allen encompasses a lot of different dynamics and preconceived notions about what a friend should be like in this novel.
Though the tone of the book is light, the topics addressed are on the darker side of things. Amelia Grace deals with the fallout with her church after she has been outed as gay during a sermon, Ellie struggles with building friendships because she doesn’t know how to be herself around other people and feels the pressure to be the best she can be on the tennis court, Scarlett used to cut herself and is still recovering and Skyler is frightened to tell her parents that her juvenile arthritis has deteriorated. It’s a lot to tackle in one novel and while there were some parts of the individual’s stories that could have used more page time for the reader to empathise, it was also extremely refreshing to have their issues be part of their personality instead of taking over every single aspect of their lives. In the end, it’s the friendships these guys develop that help them find a way to cope with their problems and feel supported enough to make their voices heard.
The romantic relationships definitely take a back burner in this one, and while I understood that for the most part seeing as friendship was the focus, I would have wished for a bit more development when it came to romantic interests – there was a very caricature-y way both Scarlett’s boyfriend and Amelia Grace’s and Skyler’s summer flings were described. Despite that, the LGBT aspect kept me turning the pages to find out what happens between Amelia Grace and her long-term crush on one of the girls at the lake house.
Altogether, this was a cute and quick read, an homage to friendships and dreamy summers, perfect for everyone who needs a pick-me-up and some feel-good vibes to brighten their day!
The Summer of Impossibilities is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of May 12th 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Skyler, Ellie, Scarlett and Amelia Grace are forced to spend the summer at the lake house where their moms became best friends.
One can’t wait. One would rather gnaw off her own arm than hang out with a bunch of strangers just so their moms can drink too much wine and sing Journey two o’clock in the morning. Two are sisters. Three are currently feuding with their mothers.
One almost sets her crush on fire with a flaming marshmallow. Two steal the boat for a midnight joyride that goes horribly, awkwardly wrong. All of them are hiding something.
One falls in love with a boy she thought she despised. Two fall in love with each other. None of them are the same at the end of the summer.
