Summer Days and Summer Nights

Starred review from February 22, 2016
Readers will be enticed by more than steamy romance in this volume of contemporary love stories from 12 popular authors, a summery companion to My True Love Gave to Me. The selections, ranging in tone from heartfelt to spooky to downright outlandish, find passion springing from some very unexpected places. Lev Grossman’s protagonists, Mark and Margaret, are drawn together in a Boston suburb where time stands still. Cassandra Clare’s Lulu Darke unexpectedly finds a kindred spirit at her father’s dark carnival: “You know the drill. Evil clowns lurching out of the shadows, blood on their puffy white gloves.” Even stories with more conventional settings—like Jennifer E. Smith’s tale recounting the growing affection between a day-camp counselor and a withdrawn, disabled young man—offer unexpected twists and turns. In all cases, the authors captivatingly render the vulnerabilities of teenagers tentatively navigating the confusing maze of first love. Offering a sampling of many different genres, bright and distinct narrative voices, and a generous portion of tender moments, this book has something for everyone who has loved or longs for it. Ages 13–up. Agent: Kate Schafer Testerman, KT Literary.

Starred review from March 15, 2016
Summer meets love in both fantasy and reality in this anthology featuring renowned writers of both teen and adult fiction. Punk-romance regret reigns in Francesca Lia Block's rich-yet-minimalist "Sick Pleasures," while the pressure of making life-changing choices underlies Libba Bray's hilarious zombie horror "Last Stand at the Cinegore," Veronica Roth's "Inertia," and editor Perkins' heart-smart "In Ninety Minutes, Turn North." In this summer companion to Perkins' previous winter holiday romance anthology, My True Love Gave to Me (2014), characters are universally deftly drawn, and the language is typically distinct and compelling. Repeated themes include struggling with well-being, witnessing separation or divorce, or being left by one or more parents, as well as the impacts of those experiences on building trust and new relationships. While the collection holds variety in setting and genre, as well as in sexual orientation, the racial and ethnic diversity of characters isn't as broad as one might hope. Yet this is a star-studded lineup that doesn't disappoint, wisely capped by Lev Grossman's brilliant "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things," in which the protagonists experience time repeating in an endless loop--until it doesn't. An intelligent beach read with heart, soul, and sizzle. (Short stories. 12-18)

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Starred review from April 1, 2016

Gr 10 Up-In this latest anthology and follow-up to 2014's My True Love Gave to Me, Perkins returns with an enthralling collection of steamy summer love stories penned by an all-star cast, which includes Lev Grossman, Veronica Roth, and Libba Bray. The stories are by turns bittersweet, unexpected, and unapologetically hopeful, and themes of endurance, bravery, and determination emerge as the teens navigate issues such as broken families, ending relationships, life after high school, and identity. Standouts include Brandy Colbert's "Good Luck and Farewell," a realistic look at two Chicago teens who have lost family members, one to South Side violence, the other to depression, and Grossman's "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things," the story of two teens who live the same day repeatedly, which enables them to create the titular item. Francesca Lia Block offers up a gloomy look at love lost, but the vast majority of the selections end on a hopeful, if not an altogether happy, note. Fantasy, soft horror, science fiction, and paranormal all take their place beside the prevalent realistic pieces, and it seems that the authors took the call for diversity to heart, providing not only racial but sexual and developmental diversity as well. There is a fair amount of cursing and sexually charged language, Block's story presents a matter-of-fact sexual encounter, and not all tales will appeal to all readers, but there is something for everyone here. VERDICT This title is a sizzling must-have that will be too hot to keep on the shelves.-Alea Perez, Westmont Public Library, IL

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2016
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* As she did with My True Love Gave to Me (2014), Perkins once again collects 12 romances from a bevy of best-selling YA authors. This time, though, she switches seasons. Cozy fireplace tales begone: these stories are all about summer loving. The shared theme might seem limiting, but this is a far cry from formulaic, as the stories range widely in genre and tone, often with surprising depth. From the truly fantastical (Leigh Bardugo's Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail ) to sci-fi (Veronica Roth's Inertia ) to the requisite summer-camp story (Jennifer E. Smith's A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong ), love in its many formsstraight and gay, beginning, rekindled, and endingis examined here. Other notables include Libba Bray's Last Stand at the Cinegore, where, on the closing night of a movie theater where Kevin works with his crush, a horror movie becomes startlingly real; Tim Federle's Souvenirs, where two boys who met working at an amusement park for the summer approach their previously designated breakup day; and Jon Skovron's contemporary Regency spoof, Love Is the Last Resort, where workers at an upscale resort meddle in their patrons' love lives. Really, though, there's not a false note in the whole thing. These big-name authors deliver a collection that scorches as surely as any day in the sun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)