When summer Ends by Isabelle Rae

When Summer Ends by Isabelle Rae
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

[Summary]

It’s the summer before Chloe’s last year in High School. Chloe sneaks into a 21 years old and up bar and meets Will, the bartender. They hit it off immediately and form a relationship. However, everything comes crashing to a stop on Chloe’s first day at school, when she sees Will and he’s not a student.

[Review]

I wish I didn’t know Will was a teacher, but I wouldn’t have picked up When Summer Ends if I didn’t, so I’ll rephrase, I wish we found out Will was a teacher way in the beginning. When Summer Ends has the overall same story line to Slammed, but not as good as Slammed. I had a lot of issues with When Summer Ends and I agree with a lot of the reviewer’s rants, so let’s just get started.

[Issues]

My main and obvious problem is how long and drawn out the story was. As many reviewers have complained, there were a lot of fillers. At times, I was just skimming paragraphs, because Rae would just repeat something I already knew. If Chloe could just shut-up sometimes, I was so sick and tired of hearing what was going on in her head, she just wouldn’t stop.

Why does Chloe have to be 17? Why couldn’t it just be an 18 year old student having a relationship with a teacher? I tried to get over the fact, what Will and Chloe were doing was very illegal. I thought Chloe being 17 years old wasn’t necessary for the story. A lot of drama could have been created just from the teacher/student story line.

Yes, there was tension between Chloe and Will, but sometimes I felt like the story was falling flat. I didn’t want the obvious problems to be presented, like someone catches Will and he goes to jail, but just a little something. I think Rae tried to create conflict by bringing in Ollie’s character, which is something I just didn’t understand. If Chloe truly had feelings for Will (to the amount Chloe says/thinks in the story), then there shouldn’t have been an Ollie.

[Chloe]

Where do I begin with Chloe? Let me just say this straight, I did not care for Chloe, not one bit, she’s every bit as immature, self-absorbed, selfish and silly a 17 year old girl can be. I don’t think it’s realistic that a 24 year old Will could ever be attracted to someone like Chloe, she really acts juvenile. Every time she “giggles” I wanted to slap her.

Chloe gets upset with Will when Will wants space because of the whole student/teacher thing, but Chloe thinks it’s because he doesn’t like her? How stupid are you? When Chloe started o date Ollie (even though she has zero feelings for Ollie), just to get over Will, I wanted to drop the book and just scream. I hate people like that in books and real life. I can’t stand people who don’t take other people’s feelings into consideration. Let’s just say, I was not turned off by Ollie’s possessiveness, in fact I found it enduring.

Nick is just unrealistic, I’ve never known an ex to act the way he does. Nick’s character mirrors a lot like the hero in a book and I was kind of thinking, maybe this is a Chloe and Nick story, not Chloe and Will. Also, Nick’s character was not necessary and kind of confused me.

[Will]

Is Will even for real? Will is so ready to be the martyr to take full blame and throw himself under the (I know I’ve said it a lot, but) unnecessary bus. I think Rae tried to make Will’s character honorable, but in the end, I found Will kind of weak, but very sweet. So it was hard for me to like Will because I did, despite my rant. My huge complaint is his awful nick name he gave Chloe, I would slap my boyfriend if he called me “cutie”, I mean, there are so many other wonderful pet names that could have been used, but “cutie”? YUCK.

[Overall Opinion]

I hate to say it, but why couldn’t Will and Chloe just wait until she graduated. I believe the relationship would have been fine if they just stuck to phone calls, emails and the occasional weekend visit, but I guess there wouldn’t be a story. I don’t know, it just seemed like there were so many options that could have been taken into consideration, I felt like it was an “all or nothing” kind of story, it was too extreme for my taste.

Also, I was confused on the target audience. I know this a Young Adult Read, but was it for the 12 to 14 year olds or the 15-18 year olds? There were some steamy scenes, but it would fall flat, like you were being teased throughout the book. I felt like the steamy scenes should have been full blown written out or not included at all. Maybe that is just my personal preference.

[Final Thoughts]

I could have given When Summer Ends a lower rating, but I picked 3.5 because overall, I did like the plot. I am a sucker when it comes to the forbidden student/teacher relationship. Also, once I skimmed past the fillers, the story in itself wasn’t so bad, don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of issues, but putting those aside, it’s a decent read.



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