By Dana Mele

“Emily Joiner was once part of an inseparable group—she was a sister, a best friend, a lover, and a rival. Summers without Emily were unthinkable. Until the fire burned the lake house to ashes with her inside. A year later, it’s in Emily’s honor that Chelsea and her four friends decide to return. The house awaits them, meticulously rebuilt. Only, Chelsea is haunted by ghostly visions. Loner Ryan stirs up old hurts and forces golden boy Chase to play peacemaker. Which has perfect hostess Kennedy on edge as eerie events culminate in a stunning accusation: Emily’s death wasn’t an accident. And all the clues needed to find the person responsible are right here. As old betrayals rise to the surface, Chelsea and her friends have one night to unravel a mystery spanning three summers before a killer among them exacts their revenge.” (Goodreads).

I am sure people loved this book. I’m sure people were creeped out and drawn in and towed right along. But Summer’s Edge just did not do it for me. I spent the whole book way too confused to enjoy it, and when I did try to enjoy it, all the characters annoyed me too much. I wasn’t expecting this to be more of a ghost story either – do not pay any attention to the plot summary because it doesn’t really tell you anything. The vibe was gothic and ghostly, and you’ll love it if you’re into the kind of thrillers with characters that kind of make you uncomfortable.

I’m sure everything connects in some way, somehow. Now that I take time to reflect on the book, things make a little more sense, but it was overwhelmingly confusing during the book. I didn’t know what time different POVs were in, I was constantly forgetting which character was talking, I didn’t know who knew what or who was even supposed to be alive. Eventually things kind of come together, but it was mostly frustrating trying to connect all the dots when the author made it impossible for the reader to do so even after they had all the information. I also don’t like it when the author kind of changes the rules of the universe partway through. In the first POV, Chelsea’s, she’s hearing voices and thinks there might be some kind of ghost but it’s almost played off as if she’s just crazy. Then suddenly, in the second, another character who’s been denying it reveals there have been ghosts the whole time? And finally, in the last POV, (supposedly a year in the past from the first POV) there are a ton of continuity issues between that one and the first. Eventually, you find out that’s part of the story, but it just leaves the reader reeling. If you enjoy that, go ahead and read it, but be prepared to know nothing the whole time. Now that I’ve finished the book, I can see how interesting and well-done the story is and every breadcrumb leading to the truth. The “truth” just felt like too much of a jump to me while reading.

This book is written in three different POVs across three different times – the present, two years in the past, and then one year in the past. This would’ve been fine and really interesting if you could tell any of the voices or timelines apart. The POVs were all way too similar and I often forgot who was supposed to be speaking. Every once in a while, someone would seem more angry, aggressive, or softer than another, but the all the characters at the lake had such crazy interconnecting relationships that you just couldn’t tell them apart. As for the timelines, there were so many continuity errors and things that just didn’t make sense based on the “current” POV. This was kind of resolved later and it made those errors into “on purpose” clues, but it just changed the rules and made it impossible for the reader to know what’s going on.

I also didn’t like the filler dialogue. It felt like the characters never realized anything on their own, they just stumbled upon clues or the other two POVs explained things to the reader. Rather than “solving the mystery,” everyone just talked and talked at each other, endlessly guessing and speculating at the truth rather than taking action and figuring it out. The first POV especially just felt like useless running around trying to find people. The characters were also spouting constant internal dialogue. Every time one thing happened there were like two or three pages of the POV character just thinking about that thing – and sometimes not even related to the mystery, just giving random backstory on unnecessary stuff.

I did not like any of them. They were all kind of crazy, selfish, and ridiculous. That was another reason I couldn’t tell them apart – they all seemed so unrealistically crazy. Emily was kind of a psychopath. Ryan was just a bad guy. Chase tried to be a good guy but also couldn’t empathize with anyone poorer than him. Chelsea seemed like the “nice” girl, but she had a lot of mental health problems to deal with. Kenneddy seemed selfish in some POVs and like a mom to the group in others. Mila would’ve been the best out of all of them, but she chose to put herself in a terrible situation and make bad decisions. All of them thought it would be a great idea to drink (very) underage and hook up with everyone (and I mean everyone because half the group has an ambiguous sexuality). Everyone spoke and behaved as if they were both way older than teenagers and way younger at the same time. YA books are a struggle because they’re often written by people pretty far removed from teenagerhood who don’t understand what real teenagers do. This felt like one of those.

I also had no idea who these people were outside of the lake house. Chase and Ryan played lacrosse, I guess, and some of them were rich, but other than that the only thing the reader knows about these kids is that they’re all friends and every summer they come to the lake house together. I would’ve liked to know what keeps each of them going other than drinking wine by the water every weekend.

2.5 stars for this ghostly thriller. The plot and style was way too confusing within the book for me, but you’ll love it if you’re into ghost stories and thrillers with toxic, tangled teen relationships. Just pay very close attention to avoid getting lost. 🙂