Spring Break (Summer #4) by Katherine Applegate

In the next book in the Summer series, Summer heads back to Florida for Spring Break. She'll be with Seth, Marquez, and Diana for a week and it should be perfect. But on the plane she meets Austin, who changes the way she looks at her life. **SPOILERS AND PROFANITY AHEAD**

I had many problems with this book. First of all, Seth is the "love of Summer's life". They have been together nine months and are already thinking about college and marriage. A little unrealistic, but sure. Then Summer goes ahead and kisses Austin? Well Summer, that is called cheating. You are a slut and do not deserve Austin or Seth. I really don't think your infidelity should let you have any guy because you're not worth it. If you are "so happy and in love" with Seth as you claim, then you should have no problem staying devoted to him. I don't care what you say about Austin and how he's sick or whatever, it doesn't matter. A kiss is a kiss. The tarot card lady and Seth on the plane I could handle, but it seems a little unrealistic how she meets ANOTHER hot guy on her plane ride is just too ridiculous. 

Okay, now to Seth. Seth, Seth, Seth. You don't deserve Summer either. YOU CHEATED ON HER WITH HER COUSIN. And worse? You couldn't even tell her at the end of the story. You are a terrible terrible boyfriend and I think Summer should have just gone with Austin rather than be with a jerk and a liar like you. 

Diana... You are a terrible person as well. You are a bad cousin and a friend to Summer. I don't care what feelings you have for Seth, he is your cousin's boyfriend and you have to respect that. I understand that you "did the right thing" in the end, but that still gives you no excuse for what you did. And don't even try using your depression and whatnot as an excuse. There is no excuse for cheating.

Marquez... You are more of the more redeemable characters in this story. However, you get to angry and afraid and run away from all you problems. I thought you had learned this before, but apparently not. You need to grow up and deal with the shit in your life.

JT... I had kinda liked you in the last summer, but not anymore. You don't deserve any girl in your life.

Diver... You're my favorite character because you haven't done too many things wrong. You also run from your problems, but I think that you have a better reason too.

In case you couldn't tell, this book made me very angry. I found it to be unrealistic with terribly flawed characters. Also, this book is supposed to represent Summer's spring break, but there really wasn't too much other plot going on besides who cheated on who. K.A. Applegate, I still love you with all my heart. And maybe it was your purpose to anger me, but I just wanted to throw this book across the room. 2 out of 5 stars.

August Magic (Summer #3) by Katherine Applegate

This is the last book in Summer's summer. I think this was a nice conclusion to the series and wrapped up things nicely.

The longer I kept reading, the more these characters' flaws showed through. Summer is a bit of a slut. I mean, she says she and Seth are official, and then she's kissing Sean. Yet... she "loves him"? Excuse me, they've known each other for 2 months. But whatever, I will pretend that that is forgivable. Diana annoys me because she feels like revenge is justified. And Marquez, she draws back every time she feels too emotionally involved. It just begins to feel a little bit unrealistic.

Despite that, I think that this is a fun summer series (no pun intended) and if you're looking for a really easy read, try this. 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

July's Promise (Sumer #2) by Katherine Applegate

July's Promise is the second book in the Summer series. It picks up the story right where the first leaves off. 

I felt like the this book had more excitement than the first one but I found it to be pretty unrealistic. The dialogue is great and the plot is good, just sometimes it made me roll my eyes. As I'm writing this I've already read the third book and I get the 2nd and 3rd confused. So I'm just going to review my overall thoughts there!

In conclusion, I still think this is a cute series. The characters are easy to relate to and all have very different personalities. If you liked the first book in this series, I definitely recommend you read the second. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

June Dreams (Summer #1) by Katherine Applegate

This book is about Summer, who hails from Minnesota, who comes down to live in Florida with her aunt and cousin for the summer. On the plane a lady tells her about three boys she will meet. One will seem to be dangerous, one will seem to be right, and one will seem to be mysterious. With that in mind, she meets 3 guys: Diver, Adam, and Seth. Summer tries to figure out her relationships with them as well as with her cousin Diana, who seems to have some stuff going on. 

I read this a few years back and loved it. Now, I still think it's a good story but its definitely not the best story I've ever read or anything haha. I find it to be unrealistic most of the times but its a cute, cheesy story. It's a little dramatic, but fun and simple. All the characters are very likable.

It's a little addicting and if you're in the mood for a bit outdated, cheesy, summer series, read this! 3 out of 5 stars. Also, please note that I did not give this 3 stars because I disliked the story. I gave it 3 stars because I don't believe it was exceptionally great and thought provoking.

The Invasion (Animorphs #1) by K.A. Applegate

Animorphs! What a blast from the past. These novels were seriously my 3rd grade life. I only got up to number 37 for some strange reason though. I don't know why I never got farther than that lol. A few days ago, my boyfriend mentioned a hawk. The mention of the hawk reminded me of Tobias, one of the Animorphs who was stuck in a red-tailed hawk form. And then as I was remembering all the characters and the battles and the covers and the aliens and everything I began to get very excited! So then I ran upstairs to retrieve the few Animorph books I had purchased at used book stores and such. And then I promptly began reliving my childhood and reading #13, which had Tobias on the cover. And I sat there, just reading my beloved Animorphs book while my boyfriend fell asleep. Lol.

I'm not sure why I had loved these books so much, considering they were science-fiction, the type of books that I didn't and still don't read. Maybe it was the appeal of the Yeerk invasion and how "real" it all seemed. Like, what if they were real?! And how they were just normal kids but they were given special powers and it's all just so amazing! Haha anyways the next day I took a trip to the library and went to the children's section and behold, there were the books that I had loved so much. I did some research on the Animorphs when I got home and found out that they were being re-released! The fangirl in me is very happy because these books were literally my life. I've read that they're making small changes to make them more timeless, because pop-culture has definitely changed since the 90s! Haha so anyways...

The Invasion is about 5 kids, about middle-school age, who walk through a construction place when they see a dying alien (an Andalite). He tells them about the Yeerks, an invading parasitic alien species that crawl into people's ears and control their mind and body. He gives them the ability to morph into other animals after they have absorbed their DNA. The only thing is that they have to morph back into their human form before 2 hours or they will be stuck that way forever. Until the Andalites can come to Earth and save everyone, it's up to the Animorphs to protect their planet.

This is really awesome series, and maybe I'm just biased because I'm living in nostalgia, but I recommend that you try out this series. And if you're too old for it, recommend it to someone in middle school. Or just read them anyways because they're amazing. 5 out of 5 stars.