Featuring stories by Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina LaCour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, and Jennifer E. Smith.”

Summer Dreams Ripped At the Seams

Ok so my header is a BIT dramatic, but it’s also from Grease so #win.

I won’t beat around the bush: Summer Days and Summer Nights does not live up to My True Love Game to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories.

Stephanie Perkins is the editor for both of these short story collections – the first being Christmas themed and now this one, which is summer love-ish.

To be completely fair, my expectations were so high. Every one of those Christmas short stories was a gem – each brought something so special and unique to the collection.

With Summer Days and Summer Nights, only a few short stories shown bright, while others were lackluster. These short stories didn’t have as much balance as their predecessor.

Let’s talk about the great stories first:

Head, Scales, Tongue, Tale by Leigh Bardugo – This is the first story in the book, and it’s just so Leigh, which is incredibly beautiful and slightly dark. I will be re-reading this one for sure.

Inertia by Veronica Roth – I wasn’t sure what to expect from Roth because the Divergent series is all we have from her so far. But, this was so interesting – a futuristic story that allows for sharing memories. Loved it so much.

A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong by Jennifer E. Smith – I haven’t read anything by this author, but let me tell you, I plan on picking up one of her books based on this story alone. The perfect summer love contemporary story!

The rest of the stories were either ok (Brand New Attraction by Cassandra Clare) or just not for me at all (Last Night at the Cinegore by Libba Bray).

Some just felt completely out of place, like Sick Pleasures: For A and U by Francesca Lia Block. This one was deep and very heavy and not a “summer love” story that fits in with the rest of the stories, despite being well written.

While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book, I wouldn’t say don’t buy it either. I think every reader will resonate with at least a handful of pieces.

My advice would be to look at the author list and make your decision based on their appeal. That might be the safest way to go.

BONUS: Please note the cover of the book. They characters depicted on the cover correspond to ALL of the characters in each short story. Pretty cool, right?!

OVERALL:

I wished so much for the feels and seasonal fun of the first author collaboration, but sadly this short story collection was disappointing. Summer Days and Summer Nights has a few excellent stories but unfortunately doesn’t offer a well-rounded enough offering.