Book Review: The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown
[ID: A light pink book with an illustration of two teen girls (one of them is Black holding a spool of cotton candy) sits on a white shelf in front of loose book pages. A stack of yellow books with the spines showing sits on the left with a seashell and blue fake flowers on top. A sticker with a black cat and a rainbow that says “disabled cutie” by @BibiPins sits in front of the stack with more rainbow and flower stickers on the shelf in front. Yellow flowers and greenery are scattered around.]
Thank you to Levine Querido for sending me an advanced copy of Keah Brown’s YA debut. I loved Keah Brown’s memoir so this book has been on my most anticipated list since it was first announced. Unfortunately, while I loved the disability rep, the rest of it was honestly disappointing…
[ID: A light pink book cover wit the words “The Secret Summer Promise” and “Keah Brown” in looping white script. There’s an illustration of two teen girls sitting back to back in front of wavy blue lines. A giant orange and yellow daisy sits behind them with wavy green lines on either side.]
Summary: Andrea Williams has got this. The Best Summer Ever. Two summers ago, she spent all her time in bed, recovering from the latest surgery for her cerebral palsy. She’s waited too long for adventure and thrills to enter her life. Together with her crew of ride-or-die friends, and the best parents anyone could ask for (just don’t tell them that), she’s going to live it up
There’s just one thing that could ruin it: Her best friend, Hailee, finding out Andrea’s true feelings. So Andrea WILL fall out of love with Hailee – even if it means dating the cute boy George who keeps showing up everywhere with a smile. Do we want Andrea to succeed? No! Does she? We’re not telling!
What I loved:
The main character. Drea is a ray of sunshine and a welcome addition to the canon of disabled MCs in YA fiction.
This book is NOT about Drea “overcoming” or even accepting her disability. She’s proud of her identity and it’s a substantial part of her story, but not the focus.
Although Drea faces ableism (a really horrible instance in particular), she has a supportive and loving community. Her identity is constantly affirmed and celebrated.
What I didn’t like:
I hate to say it but Drea and Hailee’s dynamic did not work for me. I don’t want to give spoilers, but their relationship felt extremely toxic. Friends shouldn’t try to control who the other person hangs out with or throw fits when the other person needs alone time. I wanted a real confrontation about how unhealthy their friendship was before anything else.
The writing also felt unfinished with too much emphasis on “and then Drea did this. And then she ate that. And then she painted this.” I’m all for some fun fluff but it needed to have more character growth.
I think there’s a really good story here, but unfortunately I feel like it needs a lot more work. I was left feeling frustrated rather than transported. I think the author has a ton of potential though and I look forward to seeing her growth in the future.