Review: Summerlost

Title Summerlost
By Ally Condie
Genre Middle grade Contemporary
Format Audiobook
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
It's been almost a year since Cedar lost her father and brother Ben in a car wreck. Her mother has decided to buy a summer home in Iron Creek. It's looking to be a long boring summer but then Cedar meets Leo who works concessions at the famed Summerlost festival. When Cedar gets a job there too her and Leo become fast friends as they become engrossed with the mystery of what happened to the famous Hollywood actress that got her start in the Summerlost festival and seemingly died of a broken heart.

First Sentence
Our new house has a blue door.

Trying to get out of my reading slump I decided to pick up some lighter middle grade books. I had success with the graphic novel Ghosts and decided to read this middle grade book by Ally Condie. This is her first middle grade book and I was interested to see what it would be like.

Condie writes beautifully. I like her style. At times it might have felt a bit too beautiful and flowery for a middle grade book but since I'm not a kid I can't say if they'd be bothered by it and I loved it so I didn't mind.

This book had a lot going on for a middle grade book too. It's dealing with grief and first love but it still manages to be a quick easy read.

My favorite thing about the book was the obsession Cedar and her brother Miles had with a soap opera their mother didn't know they were watching. I found it amusing and quirky enough to make the story not only memorable but believable. There were plenty of things I watched and read that my mother might not have approved of but that were my own little thing and I wasn't going to part with them for anybody.

A beautifully written and memorable story, I hope Condie continues writing middle grade. I found it utterly charming.