Book Review and #Giveaway: Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Title: Invincible Summer
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Details: Paperback, 269 pgs.
Published: April 19th, 2011 by Simon Pulse
isbn: 1442407514 (ISBN13: 9781442407510)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Source: Publisher
 

Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?

Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive....

Not your typical beach read.

This book is about family and the struggles they have.  That's really what it's about.  But we also see the struggles Chase has in becoming a teenager, with noticing girls, struggling with lust, and with all his hormones on the rampage.  

I love that it's a male narrator, it's not as common and it always feels like a treat.  Chase is not an average guy.  He really loves his family and he shows it.  How many guys are like that?  That actually hug their siblings?  Especially an older brother.  And although I liked that, I kind of felt like it wasn't realistic.  But then he said somewhere that Claudia (his sister) was helping him with not being so touchy feely.  That made it much more real to me, just being told that it wasn't normal, and wasn't just me, made me feel like it was possible.  It's just rare to find guys like that I suppose.  Other then that I felt like he as a normal teenage boy.  Especially when it came to girls.  Thinking about them, and sex, constantly.  And the things he did even when it bothered his conscious.  

I mentioned that this is about family and Chase has a large one.  Every one of them had an important role in the story and they were all so intricate.  Each one was SO individual that I felt like their personality's got a little too deep.  It drew the story out just a bit too much.  I wouldn't say it's a huge downside, it just was a bit too much for me.  There's no way I can get into all the characters here, I'll just tell you that they all have very strong personalities.

Another thing that was important in this story is that Chase has a little brother who's deaf.  So we got to see the struggles they have as a family dealing with that.  With communicating with him and with them struggling not only to accept it, and him, but in caring for him and his wishes and desires.  I felt like all of that was very realistic and anyone who has had to deal with a deaf sibling or family member could really connect with the story on that aspect.

This book gets pretty deep.  The kids are constantly quoting Camus and I really grew bored with that.  I think that some may really like that though, it showed that the characters had depth and personality.  Or at least that they were insightful.    I also felt like we saw into their angst quite a bit and although that's truthful, it all just grew a little bit tedious to me.  And they all felt like they were beyond their years. 


When I finished up the book I found myself thinking about it for quite some time.  So although some aspects of the story were slightly annoying as I was reading, some of those things are what really stuck the book in my head.  So this was a bit different of a review to write.  It's actually one that I'm struggling to keep it from being too long.   


This book has quite a lot of sex.  Talking about sex and sex.  We don't see it though we do know what goes on.  There's a fair amount of cursing as well.  I would recommend only to an older teen of high school age.  But that's just my opinion.  

Find the author:

Website | Twitter 

Purchase: 

Invincible Summer at Indiebound

Invincible Summer at Amazon

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

I am on the tour for this book and the next stop is Jamie at bookmarked.  Be sure to check it out tomorrow at 

http://www.bookmarkedblog.com/

 

The Giveaway:

I'm giving away my once read finished copy to one US commenter.  

You must be 13 or older to enter.

You must enter by May 10th, 2011.

To Enter:

Leave a comment with contact info.