Even though we’re only half-way through the year, I am already confident that When Dimple Met Rishi will be among my top ten reads of 2017.
THE SQUARE ROOT OF SUMMER by Harriet Reuter Hapgood
The Square Root of Summer is such a quirky book. It contains little illustrations and while it starts off like a contemporary read, it plunges into science fiction through time travel. Time travel in this case doesn’t pertain to fantastical notions of visiting another era. Here things are grounded a bit more in physics, incorporating discussions of the space-time continuum, the speed of light and the effect of gravity on one’s ageing process. If there’s one thing to be said, the main character is exceedingly smart and prides herself in her intelligence.
THIS ONE SUMMER by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki
Flip open This One Summer and you’ll be greeted by beautiful graphics. They’re art pieces in and of themselves. The illustrations are set in monotone though rather than black ink, dark blue has been chosen. This adds softness to the images fitting for the contemporary summer setting of this graphic novel. I could stare at the pages over and over again, allowing my eyes to feast upon the beauty. Sadly, that’s all that my two stars are for.
OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord
Ever got your emotions tangled up so much in a book, you didn’t know where to draw the line between your mind and the book? That’s how I felt about Open Road Summer.
Open Road Summer was actually not a book that I meant to read. I saw many praises for it online, particularly on Twitter, which is why I decided I would pass. I didn’t even read the synopsis. I saw the cover with the awfully overexposed sky washing out the couple with that weird tone of a green for the title, and thought, Nah, not gonna read that. I pretty much ignored all the raving henceforth. But then, a brand new copy stared right at me at the library. It basically called out to me, telling me to give it a chance. I couldn’t resist. I had to know what the hype was about.
BEING SLOANE JACOBS by Lauren Morrill
I don’t think any book that is so steeped in sports can get any more charming than Being Sloane Jacobs! After I closed that book,I was just sitting there with a silly grin on my face. No kidding. I wanted to hug the book to sleep. It was that adorable. And yet I totally got into the sports parts. They were realistic, they were intense, and all the dynamics between team mates and competitors were so on point, I recognised a lot of the situations both Sloane Emily and Sloane Devon found themselves in.
