Library Loot Review: Eight Nights of Flirting

Back in July I read The Summer of Lost Letters by Hannah Reynolds and loved every bit of it. The teen romance, the family mystery, the world building, the relationships in general - it ended up being my first "A" read in romance for the year (which OMG, seriously, so sad).  Anyway, I wanted the next book in the series, Eight Nights of Flirting like right then, but waited until the late October publication date and for a library copy to roll my way, which it did and then...a reading slump hit.  But there was a wait list behind me y'all, so I powered through and while I didn't love this as much as the first book, it's still really good.

Shira Barbanel is a sixteen-year-old girl on a mission. This Hanukkah she's going to finally get a boyfriend, and she's got just the guy in mind - Isaac, an intern at her great-uncle's media company.  Every holiday season the Barbanel family descends on Golden Doors, their home on Nantucket island to spend Hanukkah together, and Isaac has been invited.  It's perfect, except for the minor detail that Shira is the pits at flirting. Hence having never had a boyfriend and having never been kissed.  There's one thing Shira does know though - if you want to get better at something, you need practice, and for this sort of practice she needs a teacher.  Enter stage right, Tyler Nelson. Hopelessly attractive, popular, teen heartthrob/playboy Tyler Nelson.  The boy who laughed at her when she confessed her feelings for him a few years back.  Talk about awkward, but Shira is a on a mission.

Tyler thinks the whole idea is absurd, but he's intrigued and strikes a bargain with Shira.  He teaches her to flirt and she introduces him to her great-uncle.  Tyler also has an eye on an internship.  Anyway, what happens inevitably happens.  These two crazy kids start spending time together, discover they like hanging out with each other, and their respective defensive walls come tumbling down.  But, it's all so complicated in a teenage sort of way.  Tyler is playboy who isn't looking for a serious relationship and Shira has already had her heart stomped on once by this boy, plus she likes Isaac. Right? Yes, yes, she likes Isaac!  Uh, does she?

Much like the first book this one contains layers that add richness to the story once they're peeled back.  Shira is insecure and lacks confidence. She's looking for "her thing" but she's not really great at anything. She played piano for a long time, but gave it up when she realized she'd never been truly great at it. She worked very hard at figure skating but gave it up when she realized she didn't have the talent to move up the competitive ranks. The Barbanels' are successful over-achievers and Shira is...well, not.

Tyler is the handsome, popular boy that everybody likes but nobody really knows. He's confident, he's at ease with people, and he knows how to put people at ease.  But Tyler is like Teflon. He's a deflector. He's charming, but surface.  Slick but not deep.  And nobody knows the real Tyler...until Shira starts chipping away at his shell.

The book opens with Tyler and Shira getting snowed in at Golden Doors, with both of their families delayed due to weather. While bringing down the Hanukkah decorations from the attic they discover a keepsake box filled with "treasures" from an unknown Barbanel relative, and this adds a nice secondary mystery to the romance.  But this set-up was also the slower part of the book for me. It wasn't until the flirting lessons begin in earnest that the story picked up for me (probably 30% in?) and then I inhaled the rest of the story.

While it didn't light my world on fire like the first book, this was still an enjoyable teen romance with a light mystery thrown in for flavor.  The author also brings back many of the secondary characters from the first book (yes, Noah and Abby are back, as are the grandparents) and introduces some new ones (I adored Tyler's moms and Shira's BFF Olivia).  And once again the Nantucket setting shines through.  Reynolds could certainly continue mining stories set in this world, here's hoping she does.

Final Grade = B+

Library Loot Review: The Summer of Lost Letters

I do (generally...) subscribe to the axiom that "Twitter sells books" - just not (generally...) to me. What does sell me books is still old-fashioned long form blog reviews and I have Nick to thank for turning me on to The Summer of Lost Letters by Hannah Reynolds. I guarantee I would not have stumbled across this YA romance hybrid (more on that in a bit...) without seeing a review for it on her blog.  And guess what?  Here we are in early July and it's my first A read of 2022 (combination 😭 and 😍).

Abby is a nice 17-year-old Jewish girl from Massachusetts who isn't exactly looking forward to the summer before her senior year. Her boyfriend just broke up with her and all her friends are going to be away for the summer. One evening she's home alone when the doorbell rings. It's a delivery from her grandmother's former nursing home - a box of personal items, including a cache of love letters (!) written in the 1950s from a man named Edward.  Ahem, her grandfather's name was NOT Edward.  O'ma suffered from dementia in her later years but even prior to that she was tight-lipped about her past, which her family took at face value.  I mean, Ruth left Germany as a 4-year-old to escape the Nazis and her parents ended up dying in a concentration camp. Even if she wasn't tight-lipped, what would she know to tell?  So these mysterious love letters are a revelation - not only because of "Edward" but also apparently O'ma lived on Nantucket for many years.  She never mentioned Nantucket! Like, ever!

Abby is like a dog with a bone at this point. She loves history and here's a historical mystery right here in her own gene pool. She steamrolls over her parents, works some connections and bingo-bango before you know it she's renting a room on Nantucket island and working in a local bookstore.  She's going to track down this mysterious Edward and learn more about her dearly departed O'ma's past.

It's not long before Abby runs into Edward's grandson, very handsome, very rich, Harvard-bound, Noah. Noah a preppy God who is WAY out of her league. Which is fine by her really since he's insufferable. He's determined at first blush to throw up road-blocks. She can't just go poking around in his family's business (it's complicated, because of course it is...) and besides, love letters? Is she sure? Because shortly after his grandfather supposedly wrote these love letters he married Noah's grandmother, Helen. If he loved Abby's grandmother Ruth, why didn't he marry her? It doesn't make sense to Noah, who bless his heart has that naivete of youth thinking love can conquer all.

This is quite literally the perfect summertime read and Teenage Wendy that I keep locked in a book cave in the back of my mind gobbled this up.  It hit ALL my sweet spots.  The world building is fantastic (Nantucket! In the summer!); there's romance, family drama, history, a mystery and multi-layered characters!  Abby is the kind of girl I'd want to be friends with and while Noah is (definitely) occasionally misguided over the course of this story - he's a sweet boy wrestling with family expectations who is clearly smitten - which Abby is naturally too clueless to see (girl, we've all been there).

It's also a story of mothers and daughters and how complicated those relationships can be. There are so many layers to this story. I kept peeling back those layers and discovering more gems waiting underneath.  It's a fantastic story that kept me up well past my bedtime, on a "school night" during my busiest time of year at The Day Job.  I loved every single word and there's a sequel due out in October featuring Noah's cousin.  I cannot wait!

Final Grade = A