Summer Days and Summer Nights

Twelve Love Stories

By: Stephanie Perkins, Nina LaCour, Libba Bray, Francesca Lia Block, Leigh Bardugo

Narrated by: Cherise Boothe, Christopher Gebauer, Michael Bakkensen, Jessica Almasy, Erin Moon, Stina Nielsen

Maybe it's the long, lazy days, or maybe it's the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by 12 best-selling young adult writers and edited by international best-selling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair, and grab your sunglasses. You have 12 reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

Full list of authors includes: Tim Federle, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, Brady Colbert, Cassandra E. Clare, Jennifer Smith, and Lev Grossman.

©2016 Stephanie Perkins, "Head, Scales,Tongue, Tail." ©2016 Leigh Bardugo. "The End of Love." ©2016 Nina LaCour. "Last Stand at the Cinegore." ©2016 Libba Bray. "Sick Pleasure." ©2016 Francesca Lia Block. "In Ninety Minutes, Turn North." ©2016 Stephanie Perkins. "Sourvenirs." ©2016 Tim Federle. "Inertia." ©2016 Veronica Roth. "Love is the Last Resort." ©2016 Jon Skovron. "Good Luck and Farewell." ©2016 Brandy Colbert. "Brand New Attraction." ©2016 Cassandra Clare, LLC. "A Thousand Ways This Could (P)2016 Recorded Books

An acceptable addition to the collection

What did you like best about Summer Days and Summer Nights? What did you like least?

With both short story collections I liked the Stephanie Perkins story best. In the holiday collection, I found it was the most relatable (to me personally) and there was something special and low key about it. This time, however, I was just relieved to find something I could count on.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Honestly, I'm not sure what disappointed me this time around. Maybe it's because we all experience the holiday season in such different ways that the stories are naturally easier to differentiate, but this time it felt like, as a whole, they were trying too hard. I want to be clear that a few of the stories -- Last Stand at the Cinegore, Inertia, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things -- with strong concepts were very good and really helped propel me through the book; unfortunately, they were few and far in between.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I have no complaints about the performances.

Any additional comments?

While not as good as its predecessor, Summer Days and Summer Nights is a totally acceptable way to spend a warm weekend in June.

Enjoyable summer read

usually, I don't enjoy short stories ( I like big books and I can't lie ) but I found this book was refreshing and cute with all these short love stories it really made the summer a lot easier for me .. I want to read the other book in this series during Christmas hopefully .. the narrators did a very good job capturing each story and they really added to the whole atmosphere .. so, yeah it was a nice read and I would recommend it if you are suffering from the summer heat :)

Diversity!

I liked the mix of stories from different authors. I particularly liked that some of the stories weren’t the standard heterosexual neurotypical romance stories and we had a mix. They were fun and varied. If one story didn’t catch you, another would.

Summer Loving

Despite loving some of the authors, I struggled with My True Love Gave to Me when that first came out – I have a bizarre and strong aversion to all things christmassy, it’s a whole thing that I’m not going to get into. But because of my meh experience with the holiday anthology, I never picked up its warmer counterpart. Boy oh boy, I was missing out! There is a lot to like about Summer Days and Summer Nights. There is a really diverse group of characters across stories, and none of them feel like forced inclusions (which happens all too often in popular YA for my taste). The romances are sweet and heartwarming, fluffy and yet full of substance. And the range of stories, gosh – from folklore to horror and everything in between. The premise reminds me very much of my creative writing classes in college. These authors were all told to write a summer love story, and what they came up with is quite special.

“Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail” by Leigh Bardugo 5/5
“The End of Love” by Nina LaCour 3/5
“Last Stand at the Cinegore” by Libba Bray 4/5
“Sick Pleasures” by Francesca Lia Block 2/5
“In Ninety Minutes, Turn North” by Stephanie Perkins 4/5
“Souvenirs” by Tim Federle 2/5
“Inertia” by Veronica Roth 5/5
“Love Is the Last Resort” by Jon Skovron 2/5
“Good Luck and Farewell” by Brandy Colbert 3/5
“Brand New Attraction” by Cassandra Clare 3/5
“A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong” by Jennifer E. Smith 3/5
“The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” by Lev Grossman 4/5

“Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail” by Leigh Bardugo was my favorite story of the bunch, and I say this as one of the rare YA readers who is not into all things Grishaverse. I would suggest picking up this anthology just to read this story alone, it is that excellent. There is something so familiar about this story, like a retelling of all the water folk tales, but it’s also wholly new with the most magical ending. All. The. Stars.

“Last Stand at the Cinegore” by Libba Bray was a complete surprise. It was like Marisha Pessl’s Night Film meets “Kindred Spirits” by Rainbow Rowell – which I know is like saying ketchup and mac n’ cheese…BRB. Yeah that was a brilliant example confirmed by science. This story just really worked for me when it probably shouldn’t have. My first Libba Bray and I’m not disappointed.

“Inertia” by Veronica Roth is straight out of Black Mirror with a very strong 13 Reasons Why vibe. I *almost* skipped to the next story at the very beginning, but by the end was quietly crying at my desk. I definitely did not expect to be moved to quite this degree. Ooph, so many freaking feels and a really powerful message about depression.

“The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” by Lev Grossman…modern Groundhog Day anyone? Ok, something weird about me – being stuck in an endless time loop is among my worst nightmares. Yeah, I know the probability of this happening is like zilch, but still the thought seriously freaks me out. Unlike the movie, this story was sweet. I kind of love the idea of being able to read everything on your bonus days and going hunting for perfect moments in the endlessness.

If you’re treating yourself to the Romance Package on Audible (which you really should be!) opt for this one on audio. Each story is read by a different narrator adding a cherry on top to the collection.

Great anthology of narrators and stories

I listened to this during the summer months and it was just the right amount of YA loveliness I needed. I definitely enjoyed some stories more than others, but there were all fantastic. Short stories on audible are a great way to find new author favorites as well as new narrator favorites! Plus, Stephanie Perkins is BOMB! AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

I loved this!

4.8 stars

My favorite stories in order from BEST:
A Thousand Ways This Could All Go Wrong - Jennifer E Smith ***
Brand New Attraction - Cassandra Clare **
Head, Scales, Tongue, Tale - Leigh Bardugo*
Love is the Last Resort - John Skovron
In Ninety Minutes, Turn North - Stephanie Perkins
Inertia - Veronica Roth