Perfectly Summer

Perfectly Summer by Robin Daniels is the third installment in The Perfect Series, and this time focuses on Levi London and his crush on his best friend Summer. I’m a sucker for best friend romances anyways so it wasn’t a stretch for me to fall in love with Levi and Summer. Fraught with drama, Perfectly Summer is a sweet read that will leave you smiling long after you finish it.

The book begins with Levi excitedly getting off the school bus on the last day of school only to find both his parents at home. His mother is upset, locked in the bathroom. His father is in a state of undress, and an unknown young woman is leaving their house. You can connect the dots from there. His mother tells him and his brothers to pack their bags that they won’t be coming back. Devastated and confused at what has occurred, Levi and his brothers do as asked, and their summer vacation to their grandparents is not what it usually is since their mother plans to stay.

The entire story is told from Levi’s perspective, and I found that refreshing. There isn’t enough YA contemporary from male perspectives in my opinion. Levi is smart, kind and compassionate. As the middle child, he plays peacekeeper between his older and younger brothers. The only person he lets his guard down with is his best friend Summer, who happens to be his grandparents’ neighbor and the reason he looks forward to summer break at their house every year.

Summer is a year younger than Levi, a little immature, and completely clueless to her best friend’s crush. Though I’m not totally convinced that she doesn’t feel the same from the get-go. She’s sarcastic, an instigator, and the perfect compliment to Levi. I really like her, even if she is crushing on Levi’s older brother Lucas.

The plot of this book is two-fold as it focuses mainly on Levi’s crush. He has competition with his brother Lucas who has finally taken notice of Summer. But rather than feel defeated at the prospect of losing her to him, Levi decides to let his intentions be known subtly. I liked this. Summer has to choose between her longtime crush and best friend and it isn’t easy. Not to mention the prank war that she came up with to cheer Levi up. It brings levity to an otherwise sad plot revolving around infidelity.

Overall I really enjoyed Perfectly Summer. I liked Levi and Summer, their sweet friendship, and his infatuation with her. I found myself rooting for him, laughing at the pranks, and even tearing up at the parents’ situation. I highly recommend this book (and the entire series) to anyone that enjoys sweet, YA contemporary romance. While this book can be read as a standalone, characters from the previous books do pop up in this one so I recommend starting with book one, Perfectly Misunderstood.