Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Noah's happier than I've seen him in months. So I'd be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It's not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah's happiness because of a kiss?

Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family's beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive....

Review:

I have been hearing amazing things about Hannah Moskowitz and her books since her first book was released in '09, and while I even have that said book in my TBR pile, I had not read anything by Hannah until Invincible Summer. And boy do I regret that now, as not only is Invincible Summer one of the grittiest, emotionally charged books of the year, if not ever, but it’s also a book that will make any reader feel a bucket full of emotions: anger, love, joy, the list goes on and on.

Invincible Summer tells the story of Chase over the course of four summers spent at the beach with his family. For Chase and his family, the best parts of their years have always been spent at the beach along with the Hathways’ (Melinda, Bella, and Shannon as well as their parents). However, this summer, Chase’s fifteenth, is nothing like the ones before. He is starting to feel things for the girl who has always been his brother’s…the one who has always made him the happiest. Worse of all, everything is changing this summer, lust will be felt, hearts will be shattered, and it will continue on for the next four summer as lives as well as faith are tested time and time again, and Chase as well as his family face the biggest challenge live has yet to through them. Will Chase overcome it? Will everything in Chase’s live change for the better or worse? Will everything in his life ever make sense again? Only more pages and time will tell in this addicting read filled with laughter and tears and hope and despair.

Looking at the sunny cover of this one, any reader would thing this is ultimately a feel-good type of book, as I did. Surprisingly enough, it’s anything but that, and that’s what made it an absolute star in my eyes, because it’s different; it’s unique; it’s one of kind; it's a book that includes the tough parts of live as well as the amazing parts. It tests faith… but I digress.

One of my favorite parts of this novel would have to be the characters, no doubt about it. Hannah creates each one with such grace to the point where they simply jump of the page and come to life with every word said aloud to the ones not said at all. Chase, the narrator, would have to be favorite out of the bunch. He is a boy who has his head on his shoulders; a boy who always wants to do the good thing, the right thing, but the problem is life isn’t always that way- he’s starting to find. His inner struggles over loss and love will make any reader root for him as well as well relate to him and his jokes and quotes will make readers laugh as well. Though, my favorite part of his character was his ties to his family. His family (his parents, and his siblings) play such an important role in in not only Noah’s live but the book as well. Better yet, it was hard not to simply adore ever one of them, even with their faults.

Adding to this, the plot of this was always a high point. I really enjoyed the way it was told over four summers, as not only did it make it suspenseful, but also it allowed for just the right amount of the story to be told. More importantly, I loved all the twists and turns to the story. I don't think I ever knew just how everything was going to end until the very end, which made me love this book even more.

Lastly, Hannah Markowitz…she’s one heck of an author. I know that for sure. She just gets the feelings teens feel down pat in her characters, in my opinion. She brings to life their problems, strengths, and weakness with her lyrical writing, and she never shies away from the hard parts of live, making her a very valuable author, in my opinion.

Full of emotions and fantastic and lively characters and events, Invincible Summer is one book you simply must not pass up. It is spectacular, gritty, and a worthwhile contemporary read. I can only hope you will love it as much, if not more, than I did.

But word of warning: you're going to need a few tissues.

Grade: A+

Invincible Summer is now out!

Source: Galley Grab