Synopsis:
Tessa Bailey’s S’more of You is part of Summer Lovin’, a sweet and sultry collection of short summer romances that turn up the heat—and the heart. Read or listen to each short story in one easy, breezy sitting. And to fully immerse yourself in the flirty fun, try out the direct-to-listener audio experience.
Senior counselor Margot Berry is finally going to tell Dean Ingram how she feels. Sure, she’s been pranking him for eight years and they’ve formed something of a rivalry. But surely that will all be set aside when she fesses up to her crush, right? Wrong. Dean assumes her confession is just another prank. Can she convince him she’s for real before the camp session ends?
Review:
At this point I’m questioning how Amazon keeps getting away with creating these novellas. I’ve read quite a few of them now and only truly enjoyed three at a push. Will I keep checking these out every time they release them? Yes, absolutely. Who doesn’t love a quick read? I also keep hoping they’ll get better. Unfortunately S’more of You is not making it into the converted list of audio novellas I’ve enjoyed.
These characters were so immature and when you pair that with the on page spice, yikes. It’s a little awkward. The book starts out with Margot wearing lipstick in the hope that the guy she has a “crush” on will notice. You’re 21, why are you acting like a 13 year old who just discovered boys for the first time. She also thinks about how she can prank him as apparently this is something she’s done to him every year for 8 years now.
Even after Margot basically forces Dean to kiss her he isn’t convinced she has true feelings for him. This whole exchange is painfully embarrassing to listen to. Everything they do feels extremely juvenile, even when they confess their feelings for each other:
”You’re not a catastrophe. You . . .” He shakes his head slowly and pulls me closer, brushing his lips against my forehead. “You’re the heart and soul of this place. For me, you’ve always been that. You are the summer, Margot. You are this entire season.”
My stomach flies up into my mouth. “Wait. D-does that . . . mean you like me?”
“I more than like you.”
“I more than like you too,” I whisper back, my voice trembling.
“I know.” Regret clashes with the adoration in his eyes. “You were trying to tell me. I’m not sure I deserve you after being too dense to figure it all out. The frog, the snakebite, the trees . . . the countless other stunts you pulled. All of them had meaning. A purpose.”
There’s something about using the phrase “like me” as someone in their 20s that feels a little gross. It’s almost like whenever they’re away from the camp, and each other, time doesn’t pass and they don’t age. So they’re technically still 13 and that’s why they act the way they do – it would explain the childish language and actions.
I knew there would be some spice in this as it’s a Tessa Bailey novel, I expect nothing less and I was going to say it didn’t make me cringe as much as her other books I’ve read, but then I remember the Eagle scouts sash and I want to block my ears and never listen to an audiobook again. It was more than a little awkward. As I’ve mentioned these characters felt way younger than they are and obviously this is a novella so you don’t get a lot of character development so my feelings towards them didn’t change by time it got to them getting steamy. Also, why must the woman always be a virgin in these situations? She likes this guy from a summer camp so much that she’s never wanted to be with anyone else? Give me a break. I hate this trope so much.
I’d love to say there was at least one part of S’more of You I enjoyed but there wasn’t – the only reason why I finished this is because it’s so short. Despite owning a lot of Tessa Bailey books, and having read three now, she never fails to disappoint me. Maybe her books aren’t for me – I think I’ll check out one more full length novel before I make that decision.
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