Fiction for Teens

One year on from leaving High School and the disastrous Ball, friends Ryan, Katie, Alisha, Ben, Greg and his girlfriend Erin are catching up on a villa holiday in Spain. They are all still struggling to move on from the suicide of their best friend, Janey, at the end of the Ball last year. Everything seems to be going well as the group relaxes in the sunshine, until an unexpected visitor arrives claiming Janey’s suicide was not only a murder but was committed by one of them.

After reading Say Her Name, also by Dawson, last year, I decided to keep my eye out for other books by the author, I saw Cruel Summer in my local library and decided to give it a try as I enjoyed Say Her Name.

Like Say Her Name, the pace of this book increases steadily as the book progresses, until the ending, which was really gripping as it was hard to predict who was to blame for the events that took place. At the beginning of the book, the characters seem far too perfect and not likeable, but as the story continues we learn that this is not the case and they all have some secrets to hide. With each chapter the narrative was focussed on a different character giving different perspectives to the story as events unfolded.

When I finished the book, I really wanted to know what happened next as I thought that the story ended abruptly and I wanted to know more, especially as the buildup to the final event was so big.

Overall, I loved the enigma of this novel and as I had high hopes for this book after reading Say Her Name, I was not disappointed. Have you read any Juno Dawson books? Let me know in the comments what you thought about them. Happy Easter everyone!