Title: Cruel Summer

Author: Alyson Noel

Date: 14/08/09

About:

Having recently discarded her dorky image—and the best friend that went with it—Colby Cavendish is looking forward to a long hot season of parties, beach BBQ's, and hopefully, more hook-ups with Levi Bonham, the hottest guy in school. But her world comes crashing down when her parents send her away to spend the summer in Greece with her "crazy" aunt Tally. Stranded on a boring island with no malls, no cell phone reception, and an aunt who talks to her plants, Colby finds herself worrying that her new friends have forgotten all about her. But when she meets Yannis, a cute Greek local, everything changes. She experiences something deeper and more intense than a summer fling, and it forces her to see herself, and the life she left behind, in a whole new way...

Review:

Cruel Summer was a decently well-written novel. The storyline was addictive and quite passionate in the descript difficulties of the relationships. It was easy to tell that the Alyson has written from experience, as the storyline was easy to relate to. It involved mistakes, regret and love. Although, one thing I was disappointed about was the lack of information in some parts. The book was formatted as though it were a record of the main character’s (Colby) thoughts, a record of everything she wrote in her diary, her emails, letters and her blog (called “cruel summer”), but you were never given the emails or letters she received, therefore you were forced to fill in the holes yourself using as much information as possible that ‘Colby’ had written herself. The book was very entertaining and I would recommend it. I would also say that it is probably only suitable for those 15 years and older as it does contain some rather sexual content. Overall I’d rate it 3½ /5 stars.