Summer of Love, by Emily Franklin, is part of a series about a girl named Love Bukowski, this time focusing on the summer before her senior year. As the book begins she looks forward to a great summer with her best friend and to using the summer to discover the mysteries of her past, like the whereabouts of her previously absent mother. She soon finds some of the fun she was seeking but with it comes new confusion about her past. As she tries to live in the moment, she is thrown into even more confusing situations and faced with new obstacles, like choosing a good college and making important decisions about her future goals. The book ends with a new set of revelations, and therefore a new set of questions for Love to answer in the next book.
This book was sprinkled with a plethora of musical references from the Talking Heads to the Beatles and everyone in between. It was an easy read; information from previous books in the series wasn’t necessary to understand what was happening. Love seemed like a real character, however, the circumstances of her life were a bit too unrealistic. The book floated along but without any real substance to hold onto, relying instead on clichéd situations. Some parts screamed potential but then were left with the surfaces unscratched. Franklin’s characters are easily related to but the plot was so quick and implausible that they could not be empathized. The plot was nothing too exciting or new but it wasn’t horrible because it was expected. Overall, it was an easy and semi-enjoyable read, but lacked potential depth that it could have held.
