Lauren Bayne's Reviews > Malibu Summer

It's a true shame when a book with fantastic characters has such disappointing writing. Because these characters are stand-outs.

Ivy, our left-brain soil scientist developing a product to help with water retention, is a powerful FMC. Though this woman in STEM is grieving the loss of her husband, she finds her place as a gardener for a TV producer in Malibu, getting to experiment with her products in a very hands-on way. Conrad, our right-brain TV producer, is also grieving the death of his wife, but he settles for selling out so he can continue to provide the best quality of life for his step-son Hudson. And Hudson truly ties everything together, the first step in the bond between Ivy and Conrad as they develop into a partnership. I found myself rooting for all of these characters and very invested in their journey.

But...most of the chapters were incomplete. They cut off randomly, taking away much of the action. It felt like a TV show cutting for commercial, but then never going back to that plotline. I could excuse a couple chapters of this, but I genuinely started wondering if half of my eARC was missing. A couple of chapters randomly followed side characters (like Mak or Fernanada) and featured their POVs. If this was a slice of life with more intentional looks at different perspectives, it would be fine. But in this story, it was super distracting. I liked each dramatic moment in the third act individually (the storm, the business, the fears of falling in love), but it was too much all together, especially with the cut-off chapters.

There were also random outbursts that didn't fit the narrative at all, like when Ivy didn't know that her supposed best friend's mom died when she was a kid. It felt like lazy character writing. We are also supposed to believe that Will and Ivy were this perfectly moral couple, but Ivy references a Woody Allen quote that Will supposedly loved. It just felt out of place.

Last note: this book takes place over a whole year. Not just a summer. I wish the title fit this book.

I'm giving this three stars because it is hard to write really strong characters and realistic depictions of grief, but the writing left a lot to be desired.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest review!