Summer Reads - What Are They, Anyway?

(A photo from my cottage vacation last summer up in beautiful, peaceful Combermere, Ontario)

Now that the summer is here (perhaps not officially as per the calendar, but to me it is), everyone is asking for/recommending/talking about their summer picks. Working in a bookstore has me hearing about summer reads every day, but I have a confession:

I don't have any 'summer' picks. I don't want to strictly read 'beach' books (light romances, quick reads, etc). I read whatever piques my interest, and the time of year doesn't change that. I also find the term 'summer reads' to be very confusing. Do the books have to be about summer? What defines a book as a 'light' or 'beach' read, anyway?

(Me, in apparent deep concentration as I rock red pants and a sweater and read The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore. Taken - without my knowing until I went through my camera later - last year on my summer cottage vacation. Do aliens count in the summer reads category? Because they were a part of my summer!)

As a (preferably) YA reader, I walked up and down the YA shelves at the bookstore, reading synopses of books that I thought might qualify as a summer read. The few I found I picked because they were romance-y reads (some that take place during the summer). But as I read the back, all I could think was

I'd rather read this in the winter when I'm missing the summer.

The YA 'summer' reads all felt like novels that would raise my expectations of summer. If I spent my summer living vicariously through the characters finding summer love in between the pages of these so-called summer books, I'd finish the summer with a lump of disappointment in my stomach. *insert whiny voice here* How come I didn't go on a road trip/camping adventure/meet a hot guy on the beach who swept me off my feet?

It might sound ridiculous - I mean, I don't think like this when I read whatever else I usually read any other time of the year (probably because I don't often read books that are strictly romance-y - I like some fantasy/paranormal/etc to my reads).

I should add that not all 'summer reads' lists are entirely composted of contemporary romance novels. I've seen some novels I'd enjoy on these lists, but that just further confuses me on this topic. What exactly makes a book fit into a 'summer read' category?

Some people act as if these novels are great reads during the summer months especially. Why? What makes these books different from others that make them seemingly more enjoyable in the summer? Is it just a marketing thing? If so, it really doesn't make much sense to me.

Perhaps I'm looking too much into it since the term is surrounding me. I have customers coming in asking me to recommend them beach reads, and most of them walk away with something from the romance section, or a contemporary novel from the fiction section (usually a Sophie Kinsella novel or an Emily Giffin - chick lit, anyway).

I don't have the males of our species coming in asking for 'beach' reads, so is this just a female thing? When guys come in asking for books for their vacation, they want something they'd normally read. Some walk away with mysteries or thrillers or biographies or true crime novels. Some with sci-fi or horror or fantasy. So maybe the question I should be asking is is it just a women thing?

I'm sure there are females out there who are like me and read any and every genre any time of year. So maybe that's what is confusing me. Maybe it's just because it's summer and people are going on vacation and thus have more time to read, someone coined the term summer read and publishers and bookstores and book buyers have bought into the idea of a summer read?

This post has gone absolutely no where, but it was not really meant to.

What I want to ask you, whoever is reading this word-vomit of a blog post, is what the heck do you consider to be a summer read? And is that what you like to read in the summer? What are you reading now?

I'd love for you to weigh in on this, because I've no answers. Perhaps there isn't one. It's likely that the definition of 'summer/beach reads' is entirely subjective. But there you have it.
So. What do you think?

Review: The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

Title: The Power of Six
Series: Lorien Legacies or I Am Number Four series
Author: Pittacus Lore
Blurb: Goodreads description
Rating: 4/5

Review:

(Caution: Some spoilers below)

From a lot of reviews that I've seen about this series, it seems people either love it or hate it. I'm on the positive end of the spectrum: I thoroughly am anjoying this series and this book.

I saw the I Am Number Four movie before I read the book (Ugh, I know. What kind of a person am I?), but don't fret. I loved the book a whole lot more. And I enjoyed the sequel just as much. Perhaps moreso, come to think of it.

I really enjoyed how the book went back and forth between Four's perspective and Seven's. It tied nicely together later and there was some important stuff going on with Four, Six, and Sam that we readers needed to know instead of just focusing on Seven and her take on what was going on with Four based off of news articles. Since both Four's and Seven's perspectives were written in first person present, it helped a lot that Four and Seven have their own fonts. So when you turn the page and see the new font, immediately you know whose perspective you will be reading from. I had no problem with this and I felt it helped move the plot along smoothly.

Though the writing may not be the greatest, there is nothing wrong with it. The way this book is written helps move the plot along nicely. Especially when there is so much action going on, as there is in this book. Characters are fighting for their lives, so it would be silly to expect them, from a first person present perspective, to stop to tell us just how the fiery inferno surrounding them looks and how the sun is shining but the fluffy white clouds above sometimes cover it up for a few moments. That would disrupt the flow. So to sum that weird paragraph up (haha), the writing matches the tone of the book.
I felt the action sequences (and there were many) were well-done and kept me very interested. I felt like I could see it right in front of me. The description during the actions scenes was great. And by description I mean just exactly how a character positioned themself before launching at an alien creature. It worked. It was great. Well done.
(Caution: Slight spoilers in the following paragraphs)
I had kind of assumed that each Garde and their Cepan would all trade their Lorien crystals for a lot of money so they could live easier like Four and Henri, and like Six and her Cepan seemed to, but then we were introduced to Seven. What she had to go through with her Cepan and the life they ended up living is crazy. It makes me wonder how the others all live(d), and I can't wait to hear more of their stories in The Rise of Nine (assuming they are all told, like how Six told us hers).

And then there was the twist towards the middle... I refuse to spoil it or really hint too much at it, but it might happen, so if you're like me and hate any sort of spoiler, just stop reading the review now. Seriously. Okay. You had better be gone because that's all the warning you are getting.
There was this one character that I never really believed. Never really liked. But he/she was all right. Tolerable. I went with it. And then now he/she proved to me just why I did not like them. I mean WOW. What a betrayal. What a twist. I honestly did not see it coming until a few paragraphs before it happened. That was just... well done. I'd like to see that revisited later so that that character can see just what a stupid mistake they made. They deserve that much. I mean, really. It made me angry. I was literally reading the book and repeating 'wow' for the next chapter, and shaking my head and rolling my eyes like you idiot, how could you?

Brilliant.

As I got closer and closer to the end, and the climax was still in the middle of the climax, I knew we would be left hanging. And again I don't want to spoil anything so let me just say this: I love and hate cliffhangers. I love the effect they have, but when I have to wait to read the next book... Painful! It's painful. So I loved the ending of The Power of Six for that gut-wrenching ending, especially since it affected a favourite character of mine, but... Next book, please?
Thank goodness it comes out soon!


So I'm curious: Have any of you read this series? What did you think? Loved it, hated it, thought it was okay, leave your comments below! We're all allowed to have our opinions!