rapid fire review of ‘Summer Bird Blue’: my expectations were NOT met.

hello!

what’s this? me posting? omg. (i feel like i can’t really say that anymore because i’ve actually started (somewhat) blogging again).

I actually read ONE book from my may tbr already!! wowwww. i say “already” like 10 days to read a book is quick…. (see my tbr here)

so. Summer Bird Blue. I’ve had this on my kindle app for god-knows-how-long and the HYPE for this book in my head was… immense. i was really looking forward to this book. and i think that yes, it had a very strong message… but, the book as a whole just didn’t fulfil all my expectations.

I’m not saying it was awful!

things that i DID like about the book:

• i liked the aro/ace rep. i think that was really well handled.
• i liked the flashback memories that were scattered throughout the book. i think they were great.
• i really liked the messages about grief/mourning. i think the book was very sad and moving and yeah.. emotions were felt 9/10.
• her neighbour. i think the old man that lived next door to her and his annoying lil dog is what kept me reading.

but… that’s about it for me. and usually that is not the case. i like nearly every book i read. i’m not that hard to please. i’m normally quite good at picking books and trusting that i will like them… which i why i feel so let down by this book. I loved ‘Starfish’ i really did, so the expectations were HIGH for this book.

reasons why my expectations were NOT met:

plot

There was virtually no plot until the last 30-40%. the first part of the book was basically just her being sad and angry and snapping at everyone and thinking ‘i need to finish this song’ and then… NOT doing that.

I feel that this could have been way better if it kept coming in and out of time, like month by month or something time-laspe-y? i was more attentive to the ‘minutes/hours left’ at the bottom of my screen than anything else tbh.

the last 30% of the book could have honestly been easily the entire book, in my opinion.

other characters?

the other ‘friends’ that Rumi made… felt FLAT until the second half. i feel like Kai was the only one we were given any real detail on… i just feel that they could have been a way bigger aspect of the book/Rumi’s journey? and only one was really involved?

i just think that this really missed the mark.

Rumi herself?

I really didn’t feel that attached to her until the latter portion of the book. While i understood her grief, pain, all that, there was just something that stopped me from really connecting to her like i do with other characters. I feel that the lack of plot only accentuated the lack of character/reader relationship. There wasn’t anything driving me to finish this book until about 70% of the way through it (which i have now said many times!!).

have you read this book? let me know your thoughts!!

Luuuuuuuuu