YA Review: The Summer Invitation

The Summer Invitation by Charlotte Silver, May 20, 2014. 192 pages. Published by Roaring Brook Press. Source: publisher.

Two sisters are summoned to their aunt's Greenwich Village flat, where they must start dressing like young ladies, cultivate their artistic sensibilities, and open themselves up to Life with a capital L.

When Franny and her older sister Valentine are summoned by their Aunt Theodora from foggy San Francisco to sunny New York City for one summer, they are taken to old-world locales like Bemelmans Bar, the Plaza, and the Sherry Netherland by their chaperone, Clover, Aunt Theodora’s protégé. As they discover New York City going lingerie shopping and learning about the simple elegance of a cucumber sandwich, they also begin to unearth secrets and answers about Aunt Theo's glamorous and romantic past, and they have a few romantic adventures of their own.

First Sentence:

Aunt Theodora's invitation arrived all the way from Paris on a piece of French stationery. 

Well, I have putting off writing this review because the words just would not come. The Summer Invitation was sadly quite disappointing and nothing like I was hoping it would be. Really, it is the one book from 2014, that I didn't DNF, that I wish I had never even read.

Even after all these months, I still am flummoxed as to why I didn't set this one down, even when it was failing to give me any reading pleasure. What really makes me sad is that I had been quite excited to read The Summer Invitation as it sounded more like an adventure set in New York...not like what it ended up being... Words cannot even begin to describe my disappointment as this book just slipped into, I don't know, poor judgment and poor guardianship. It seemed more of a book about the baggage of those in charge, and their ill conceived notion on love. Yeah, from what I read, I cannot see that any of them, Clover or Aunt Theo, knew what it meant to be in love.

Even though the author has the ability to write, I just could not find it in myself to enjoy the actual story-line of the book or the characters. The over glamorized take on the New York life was just too much; also, it felt like it was more aimed at a mature audience given the way every character treated love, not the teens it was actually marketed for. So, even though the author has a knack for the written word, The Summer Invitation just did not work for me.

As you can probably tell, I have been trying to get my thoughts out on this one for ages now, While it was nothing like I expected, I just cannot find it in myself to recommend The Summer Invitation to anyone. If I could rewind time and go back to when I started reading it, well, I would tell myself to walkaway after the first chapter like I had first planned. This book just made me angry and unhappy on so many levels that I cannot even begin to write about without feeling the need to sling it across the room (even now).

If, like me, you have certain expectations when it comes to the way love and romance are talked about in a book then just runaway from this one. While this one did not work for me, and even though I don't want to recommend it, I do believe that everyone needs to make their own call on whether or not to read The Summer Invitation for themselves.

Final Verdict: The Summer Invitation- No, just no! The writing itself isn't bad, it's the plot and the way the author deals with love that makes me cringe.

The Summer Invitation earns

This book was received in exchange for an honest review.