When I got The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland, I wanted a nice, fluffy read. I didn’t think my expectations were high – and yet I was still left disappointed.

Although the writing isn’t bad, if I could use one word to describe everything about The Summer My Life Began, it would be “blah.” Since a one word review isn’t going to cut it, here’s why The Summer My Life Began wasn’t my ideal beach read:

- The main character barely goes through any adversity. It’s obvious that Em is going to end up happy at the end of the novel, but couldn’t she have some obstacles thrown in her way? She’s got a great life at the beginning of the book, and when she goes to her aunt’s bed-and-breakfast, it gets even more perfect because now she doesn’t have to hide her culinary skills and has a hot guy fall for her. There’s so little opportunity for her character to grow!
- The secondary characters are way too stereotypical and have no depth. You’ve got the prim and proper grandma, the bubbly younger sister who can get away with things, the surfer boy who looks like a loser but isn’t, etc.
- The romance lacked chemistry.
- There was barely any drama. Em got over the big family secret in, like, two seconds. If she can’t bother to make a big fuss about it, why the hell should I care?!