loopyker's #CBR7 Review #06: Watermelon Summer by Anna Hess

I entered the generous Spring Fling 2015 book giveaway with no knowledge of any of the authors except, Selina Fenech from my previous review.  I was given many free ebooks from that and intend to read and write honest reviews on them all as a thank-you.   It is just taking more time than I had hoped.

Having no idea what to expect, I was very pleasantly surprised by Watermelon Summer.  It is just a nice, sweet book.  An easy, fun read.

18 year old Forsythia, decides she would rather know about her biological father's life and the intentional community where she was born than go on her planned trip to Europe before college.  It is a coming of age story where she decides what is really important in her life and  how to work hard for it.  But her idealism is also kept grounded by supportive family and friends.

Looking up author Anna Hess, you can tell that she draws on a lot of real-life experience in homesteading as her character Forsythia works to revitalize the intentional community.

Saying this book is "refreshing" seems to be cliché with a title like "Watermelon Summer".  And I do see it a lot in a glance at other reviews.  But, that is really the word I also jotted down when reading the book.  Especially refreshing to me was that there is a romance in the book, but it isn't rushed.  It isn't the over-the-top-all-consuming eternal love that seems to be so popular in young adult fiction these days.

This is a story about a girl wanting to get to know more about her roots, not because there is anything wrong with her current life - she just wants to know more about where she was born and what her biological father is like.  That she also meets a really nice guy along the way is just a bonus.  

It is written in first person with Forsythia telling us about her summer.  It worked well, with conversational humour thrown in.

3.5 stars

Note:  I'm not sure about the author.  I originally won Watermelon Summer as an ebook in the Spring Fling giveaway.   That was in Kindle format and listed the authors as "Aimee Easterling & Anna Hess".  However, the current listing on Amazon is only as a paperback and it is by Anna Hess alone, so that is what I'm listing it as here.

Title: Watermelon Summer
Author: Anna Hess (see Note above)
Paperback:  174 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; First edition (December 6, 2013)
ISBN-10: 1494405806
ISBN-13: 978-1494405809

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Rating system:
1 star (didn't like); 2 stars (OK); 3 stars (good); 4 stars (very good); 5 stars (favourite)

Also check out Cannonball Read for a variety of book reviews from many others.