The Goodbye Summer By Sarah Van Name Book Review

(pg 319)

About

Author: Sarah Van Name

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Click to buy book

Click to read other book reviews

Synopsis

Caroline can’t wait for summer to end so that she and her older boyfriend, Jake, can run away together. She decides to spend her last summer at home saving money working at the local aquarium gift shop–and spending all the rest of her time hanging with Jake.

Then she meets Georgia, a counselor at the aquarium camp. Georgia weaves her way into Caroline’s life and suddenly the summer feels a lot less lonely.

The stronger Georgia and Caroline’s bond grows, the more uneasy Caroline becomes about her plans to leave. When summer comes to a close, she will have to say goodbye to someone… but who is she willing to lose?

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To all those summer lovers,

There’s nothing like a good old summer romance to really put you in the mood, am I right? 😁

But what I liked about this summer book was that it focused on friendship as well and not a lot of books do that. I also liked how it can relate to those who are juniors and seniors in high school and trying to figure out which college to go to because that part of a person’s life is really complicated because you feel like you should be doing all these things and you should know what you want, but the truth is, sometimes a 16 or 17 year old isn’t going to have his/her whole life planned out.

Or the fact that Gegoria’s parents made her take FOUR HOUR practice SAT questions EVERY weekend was utterly ridiculous. I swear, I never studied for those kinds of tests whatsoever, or maybe just for some time, but still FOUR HOURS EVERY WEEKEND. Honey, no amount of studying is going to help you succeed in a rigged, biased test. I also thought it was weird that her parents had this thermometer on their fridge gauging Georgia’s status as hot or cold based on her SAT score for that weekend. Like your daughter isn’t a turkey that you stick a thermometer in and call it a day?!

Anyway, if you’re a junior or senior taking the SATs or ACTs, do your brain a favor and don’t study excessively for it. I’m telling you this as someone who got a pretty okay score, but not the best. You should still study in moderation if you have goals to go to Ivy League colleges or you need a certain score for a certain college, but make sure to take it easy and to take your breaks. The SAT and ACT is not who you are as a learner because it only captures you in that moment. And if you don’t get a good score the first time, learn from it, move on, try again and most times you will improve. Other times, you won’t, but that’s okay too. Just try your best.

But I’m not here to give you SAT and ACT college advice, I’m here to talk about this book 😅

So where do I even start with Caroline?

First and foremost, her boyfriend is a clingy man child.

I mean he works at a grocery store.

Then the way he picked her up was kind of typical.

I mean texting her she’s beautiful and all that hooblah. OF COURSE, it’s going to go straight to her 16 year old head!

Then there’s the part where he’s older.

And he’s always attached at her hip and SOMEHOW for SOME reason he convinced a 16 year old to run away with him to travel the world and then used her dreams to tell her lets move in with his dad in the middle of Kentucky because he has daddy issues.

No offense to those who work at a grocery store or live in Kentucky, because I bet Kentucky is beautiful and as a kid I always wanted to work at a grocery store and scan items (I know, I’m weird), but you’re an older man, you should know better than to impose this idea to a FREAKING 16 year old. She’s practically a baby and she was planning to pack up by the end of August and be gone with him on September 1st, leaving nothing but a note to her parents. I mean that is the DUMBEST thing she could do.

DUMBEST.

I mean do 16 years olds run away with their older boyfriend like that these days? *Shakes head*

Like honey, you’re a junior in high school, you have your whole life ahead of you and you chose to go where your boyfriend goes and wants to go because you “love” him. I love love, don’t get me wrong, but there was something very sleezy about her relationship with Jake, her boyfriend, in how he always touched her sexually and how they always had sex. Oh, don’t even get me started on how they ALWAYS seemed to be doing it. I mean, you’re 16!!!! Excuse me ma’am 🤔 You best be using some protection. I guess, yes, 16 year olds do “do it,” but gosh gracious she seemed to be doing it all the doo da day. And the fact that her parents let her or the way they gave her so much freedom knowing she was with an older man. My dad would have locked me up and thrown away the key if he knew I was dating an older man and I was 16 years old. He wouldn’t have allowed me to constantly go to his apartment and stay there until nighttime. Like, what did her parents think she was doing? Playing Bingo?

No siree.

I just couldn’t with her 16 year old antics.

I feel like her whole idea of following her boyfriend was done out of pressure and this obligation that she felt because she knew if she didn’t go, they would break up and at 16 years old, the love you have with a boyfriend seems like it’s the only love you’ll have ever. It kind of goes back to that saying where you should never go to college with a significant other or follow your significant other to college because that relationship might not last forever. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won’t, but I just felt in this case it wasn’t. I think Caroline was just agreeing to go with Jake because she already said yes and to back out of that would lead to the break-up she wanted to avoid. I feel like she was also naive to think that she could actually do such a thing as to leave her parents and to start play this”home” like scenario with Jake when really they were going to be living off her aquarium summer money and his grocery savings. They could only go so far before either parents would care enough to find them and bring them home. I also just wondered why she would leave her parents like that when they were so loving and kind to her. They did nothing to warrant their daughter running away in such a way.

I think deep down inside Caroline also knew it was wrong to go and that she was never going to follow through. Sure, she had the pictures pinned up on her cork board, but what travel lust teen doesn’t. I think her wanting to see the world stems from every teens dream of wanting to be independent already and to see the world—–to want more out of life and that’s okay. I know I wanted to travel the world and be independent when I was 16 too, but when you grow out of all those romanticized ideas, you really start to appreciate what you have right now and I think Caroline missed that. I loved how she talked about having these family days with her parents and how they would go to the movies, get ice cream, and then play a board game. Not all families take the time to do those kinds of things with their kids, let alone every week, and when she started dating Jake, all those family days went away, which really made me sad. Her parents obviously wanted to be a part of her life and she was shutting them out for a boy who gave her false dreams and hopes.

The shift in Caroline really happened when Jake dropped the Kentucky bomb on her.

Caroline really fell into a rut after that and I really just wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her, girl if you are feeling this LOW and BEAT UP about moving to Kentucky with your boyfriend, then that is a sure tell sign that you shouldn’t go. If she wanted to go, yes, she would be disappointed at the change in plans because she wanted to go to exotic places like San Francisco or Paris, but she would have gotten over it in a day or so. But she had this stuck in the pit feeling for days afterwards where she wouldn’t eat and she couldn’t sleep and that broke my heart for her because she shouldn’t have even been contemplating going in the first place and if she really wanted to go she wouldn’t have minded. But she did mind.

I really liked how Jenny treated her during this time. Jenny was her boss that always holed herself up in her office watching cartoons and got mad at Caroline whenever she came back late. Jenny sounded like a cool character who had more depth and I would have loved to seen her more, but that’s okay. I liked how she gave Caroline tortilla chips and peanut butter because she didn’t look like she had been eating. She also let her rest in her office because Caroline looked like a walking sleep case, which I felt bad about again.

I also enjoyed the part when Caroline just ballsily asks Jenny what her deal was or something like that. When Caroline finally talked to Jenny, it opened up my eyes to see why she was the way she was. She didn’t hate Caroline, but she wasn’t her biggest fan. Jenny had to cover for Caroline at the aquarium because of the whole Fourth of July thing, which made her miss seeing her college friends whom she could only see once a year. They were supposed to go to the beach, but that didn’t happen. I felt bad because Jenny just seems misunderstood and I wanted to give her a hug. She also seems like a tough cookie that you can’t help but love. I liked the whole last days working at the aquarium and Jenny tells her she wasn’t all that bad to work with. That’s her version of saying how much she liked her 😊

Eventually, Caroline’s conscience was catching up to her and she needed to talk to someone, so she finally told Georgia what was going on. I liked how Georgia never said anything when Caroline was speaking to her and how afterward, she wasn’t angry or reprimanding, but kind of pitiful. To me that was worse. To pity Caroline because she knew she got herself stuck in a bad situation. Like the good friend Georgia was, she told Caroline she shouldn’t go and she voiced all the things I mentioned in how if she truly wanted to leave, she wouldn’t be feeling this way. But there was this moment where Caroline was like “But I promised,” and Georgia was like, “You can break that promise,” and Caroline was like, “I can’t.”

Honey, you surely can.

Some promises you can break and this is one of them.

Just because you promised something a long time ago, doesn’t mean you need to keep it if that’s not what you want anymore. It kind of goes with how sometimes people have it figured out in what they want to do. They go to college to be a nurse, but then things change, interests shift, and sometimes it’s hard to change majors, so a person sticks it out because they feel like they have to. But it’s fine to change paths and to change a person’s mind. I guess, part of it was Caroline’s age in feeling like she couldn’t.

Georgia was upset with her for some time because Caroline was adamant she was still going—–more like convincing herself to go—– and they stopped talking. But then they made things less awkward and really enjoyed their last moments together. And through all of that, I really respected Georgia in how she never pushed Caroline to change her mind, but I think she trusted that Caroline was going to make the right decision or that she was going to come to her senses.

Here’s the thing, I really like their friendship.

They were good for each other with Caroline being kind of confused, a bit timid, and for lack of a better word, a push-over (not like she was weak but she was very go with the flow and did what people wanted or asked of her), where else Georgia was more outgoing, confident, outspoken, and ambitious. But I also feel like Georgia was lonely at some times and I felt bad when Caroline wanted to go over to her house and Georgia tensed up. That raised some flags for me because that meant something was wrong. Granted I felt something was off beforehand based on how much Georgia spent at Caroline’s house. But I liked their little girl afternoons where they would read magazines, talk to Georgia’s mom, or gossip. There was this one moment where Caroline was getting caught up in texting Jake and I WAS LIVING for when Georgia called her out and was like “Can you just hang out with me,” as in can you be present and not text your boyfriend. Then Caroline realized how rude she was being because here Georgia was giving her full attention to Caroline and yet she was texting her boyfriend. Georgia, you clap back honey!! 👏🏼 But Caroline was too attached to him sometimes in a way that wasn’t healthy. You don’t need him all the time.

Anyway, It was a cute friendship because Caroline didn’t have many friends and I think Georgia didn’t have someone to be close to either. Caroline’s friends actually drifted away from her life when Jake came into the picture because it suddenly became all about the boyfriend. But I feel like if your friends drift away or drop you because of your boyfriend, that’s saying something because your friends are a tell-tale sign as to if you’re boyfriends good enough for you. I don’t know, I feel like if all your friends don’t like him then something is wrong—your friend’s opinion should matter, especially if all your friends have a poor opinion of someone.

I also liked how Caroline’s family gave Georgia a sense of family. I liked how she felt comfortable enough to stay for dinner without feeling like she was intruding or how she could have open and honest conversations about college with Caroline’s mom who had a hard time talking about college to Caroline for obvious reasons. I also really enjoyed the whole Fourth of July celebration they had and how they went all out. Georgia gave Caroline a tip on how when making small talk, say the most outlandish things, but not too outlandish because that way it boasts about your life, and people might think you’re being ridiculous, but they don’t know what’s true. Anyway, I thought that tip was funny because genuinely who’s going to know anyway?

Person: “How are you?”

Me: “I got into Prauge on full scholarship, rescued a cat from a tree, and met the pope.”

Person: “Great.”

Doesn’t know the difference anyway, right? 😆

The birthday celebrations were very cute. I’m more like a Georgia when it comes to birthdays—–excited and over the top. I just love the idea of celebrating and honoring the day a person is born. Caroline is not too keen on birthdays, but I appreciated her effort and care to at least make it a good one for Georgia in buying her a robe and planning this surprise party and everything. When Caroline was planning Georgia’s party and everything, Jake was around and he asked her why she didn’t go all out for his birthday like he was jealous. I MEAN YOUR A MAN CHILD. GET OVER YOURSELF!!!! Your girlfriend is planning a special birthday for her best friend and you want to choose that of all things to be salty about. I’ll buy you a balloon, a party hat, and a cake for your small sense of security. Let her live!

The adventure day at the amusement park was such a great last hurrah.

I really liked how they all carpooled to the amusement park and got up early, which made me wonder how and why Caroline’s parents were okay with her getting up at 4:00 in the morning to sneak out to go to an amusement park? I’m not too sure, but they couldn’t stop her anyway. Toby, Serena, Devin, Dude, Georgia, and Caroline all spend the day together for the most part and I thought it was cute. NAME didn’t really like roller coasters so he sat on the side, but for the first roller coaster, Caroline tried riding it and suffice to say, she didn’t like it. So she stayed with NAME for the rest of the time as they followed the others who rode the rides. But there was that conversation I loved between Caroline and NAME in how he said he came for the food and to spend time with all of them because they wouldn’t stay friends for long with all of them going to college soon or moving. And I get it. I know when I felt like I wasn’t going to see my friends after high school graduation, I made time to spend with them because I thought those were going to be the last moments we were together. And I think it’s a common thing that when you feel like something’s ending, you want to hold onto every moment and make the most of it because after that it’s done and you have to move on and find a way to be okay after that. Sometimes it’s hard, but it’s going to be okay. But NAME and Caroline weren’t the closest friends, but I appreciated such an honest conversation between them that maybe bonded them.

Later the group split up and Caroline and Georgia went to go ride the carousel swing. Some reason being up on that swing gave Caroline the perspective she needed. She felt light, free, weightless, and I think she could see the world as so much bigger than what she had planned. It was like she had an epiphany as she swung up there, and might I say given how many times they rode Cath ride, I would have been thoroughly dizzy. Somehow, they weren’t. Not realistic 😆

If I’m being honest her epiphany was very anticlimactic Ironic given how she was on a carousel swing.

But I feel like I knew it was coming and she wasn’t going to go. I was just wondering when. I also thought it would be more dramatic where she would have this big conversation with Georgia, Jake, or maybe her parents. But I don’t know, something just clicked for her and then after the ride she told Georgia she was staying. OOOOOOOOOkkkkkkayyyyyy. Something just very weird about that moment like a quick resolution to her issues. I would have liked to have seen something more fitting based on how she went through this whole journey of if she should stay or go and being so set on going and then all of a sudden just saying she was staying just seemed ridiculously simple.

Granted, it was a simple decision to make.

But I would have just liked some spunk to that scene.

I think maybe it took her that moment to realize how good she got it with her friends and her family. She wanted to keep holding onto these good moments knowing that she didn’t want them to end. Part of the moving process with Jake was that he would always talk about how they wouldn’t go back or they wouldn’t see their friends and family, which really bugged me in a lot of ways. So Jake could see his dad, but she couldn’t see her friends and family? SKEEVY SITUATION IF YOU ASKED ME. So I think being around her friends and having such a good day made her feel like she didn’t want to give that up.

There was also this conversation she had with her mom one day that really stuck with me. It was when the mom walked into her room and ominously asked her to talk. Usually, when you hear this, you’re like, “I must be in trouble.” But the mom opened up to Caroline about how she used to have a serious boyfriend before the dad and how she thought she was going to marry him and start this life together. But then she got into this college and the boyfriend got into another college and wanted her to be nearby or he was going to break up with her or something. And then she found out he had been consistently cheating on her. So she chose herself in going to the college she wanted to go to where she met her dad. She told Caroline this story to highlight that sometimes your high school boyfriend doesn’t work out and you should choose yourself. Same as to what I talked about earlier in this review, but things change. I was glad the mom chose herself and I think by telling this to Caroline, in the back of her mind she knew that it was okay to move on from a relationship that wasn’t working anymore just because it felt comfortable.

I mean, the spark was DWINDLING.

I could feel it.

Maybe you could feel it.

But gosh, there was something so DISGUSTING when they were doing it and she was compliant with it because that was what he wanted. I mean, honey, it is within every right for you to say no!!! If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it!!! Aye, karumba!!! And then they did it and the next day she was sore and all down and everything and I was like, how VILE this relationship was where he was benefiting and she wasn’t. What’s the scientific term for that? Parasitism? I think their relationship was more commensalism,, but I’m no science major. 😅

I was happy she finally decided to trust in her gut and stay. Sure took her long enough.

I really liked the epilogue and how you could see how she was really pouring her love back into herself. She was focusing on school and mended her relationships with her friends and family. I liked how she still went to the aquarium and saw Toby. Can we stop to mention how Toby really got me in the beginning of the book with his tour and how he said something about how turtle shells are reflective. I believed that for a second and I was like WOW, really. I never knew that. I’m not sure that’s true now, but I mean, literally if I were Toby, I would make things up too because it’s not like anyone’s going to know unless they’re a science major or a marine biologist. But I also liked how she scheduled days to meet Georgia to keep up their friendship. It’s one of the harder things to do when you graduate high school or are in that time where friends are moving on. You really have to make the effort to talk to your friends if you want to maintain that relationship, so I liked how they had a space and time to catch up and just be.

If we’re being real here, can we talk about how I was rooting for Georgia and Caroline to actually be a thing?

I mean, I can’t be the only one who felt that connection as more?

Or I’m I? 🤪

I mean there were signs that I think Georgia liked her as more than a friend that Caroline never picked up on. I feel like Georgia still likes her in that way, but right now is okay with being friend zoned, but I feel like they can be more if we get a sequel book called Hello, Fall! 😅

First, when they met, Georgia and Caroline shared that look and smile. It was friendly, I interpreted it as more. Second, Georgia started to be nice to her by making room to sit next to her at the staff lunches in the yard and, again, could be because Georgia was being nice. But I thought it MORE. Then she offered Caroline rides home and then stayed for dinner and tried to make nice with the mom, which I realized was Georgia just wanting a maternal relationship, but hey it could have been an in with the mom too you know. Then they went up to her room and talked all the time and slept together. I mean there was that one part where they were “perfectly curled up together,” and how Caroline didn’t want Georgia to leave, but when she did, she felt her absence and wanted her back. Caroline also kept hinting at how much she missed Georgia and you don’t platonically hug your best friend and miss their absence in that way. Don’t even get me started on how Georgia never said she liked anyone throughout this entire book. Sure, a little boy had a crush on her, but I feel like Georgia was always pinning for Caroline. Whenever Jake was mentioned or around, Georgia tensed up. Could have been she didn’t like him, but also maybe because she was jealous and knew Caroline deserved better. But I don’t know! To me all the signs were there and still are, so you know, I’ll be waiting until they fall in love together you know what I’m saying? I’m talking to you Sarah Van Name 😂 It’s not like she’s reading this. I’m not that cool.

Anyway, a fun summer read, not so much about romance, but friendship and decisions that come with growing up. It’s about learning to choose for yourself in knowing it’s okay to change paths and ideas of your futures. It’s okay to want to hold onto being young and figuring things out because there is no rush to grow up and be independent so quickly. Enjoy the now and the people right now because I guarantee you, you’ll look back and miss it and what you had.

If you read this book, wha twas your favorite part? Least favorite part? What’s the dumbest thing you did as a kid or a teen? For me, I think it was forging a signature to get out of going to my schools after school program. I was a desperate kid who didn’t want to have to do all those clapping motions they did EVERY DAY. Anyway, let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and whereever you might be reading this.

And as always, with love,

Rating

3.56 Full Bloom Flower

Characters: Georgia’s more my speed with her bubbliness, but I liked Caroline, just didn’t quite like her choices at first.

Plot: Kind of a different kind of storyline for a romance and different from the usual transition to college type of book, but I appreciated that. I really admired the friendship most of all though, because I feel like you don’t get that with a lot of books

Writing: Very easy to get into

Romance: I feel like I was cheated out of the real romance in this book with Caroline and Georgia 🤔