By: Abigail Prigge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ages: Probably pre-teens
When the author of One Summer's Desire, Abigail Prigge, offered her book to me in exchange for an honest review, I have to admit I was hesitant when I found out it was contemporary fiction - a genre I rarely ever read. But I accepted! I also felt rather honored to be asked! :)
This story is simple and short. It has some fun moments and some relatable happenings. I liked that it was staged in a summer camp, and the main character, Hadassah (cool name, by the way!), faced trials that I can see myself facing - wanting a friend was something that I was not too long ago struggling with. I liked the message of finding true satisfaction and joy in God - because, honestly, that's the only place where we can be satisfied: resting in His love and the knowledge that He is good and He has great plans in store for us.
I do think I would've liked more of an ending. It seemed too abrupt for me, somewhat making me ask: Is there going to be a sequel? I think the main thing was probably Espen. I know that the book ended with the main character putting her relationship with Espen - or her want of one - in God's hands, but there wasn't resolution to the prank that the campers played on Dassah, and I was kind of disappointed in that. I wanted to see them get together, kinda, but it's actually, come to think of it, good that they didn't, because that was one of the main points of the book: being satisfied in God. Plus, Hadassah is only 16, so that would've been slightly un-relatable or unrealistic in a sense. However, maybe if they would've talked again and smoothed things over I would've been happier! :)
I think the message and the writing were a bit too forced. Also, in the beginning especially, it was rather randomly placed together...one moment the characters are in one place and then all of a sudden you find out they've moved somewhere else, or it just completely switched to something new. That got better as the book progressed, however.
Overall, it had a good message and a diverse cast of characters, but the writing needed to be smoother and maybe not so forced.
*Thanks to the author for letting me review her book!*
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