Four Summers

De: Nyrae Dawn

Narrado por: Vanessa Johansson, Aaron Landon

A moment can change everything...Charlotte Gates is tired of being Charlie Rae. She loves the lake she was raised on, their rental cabins, and spending her nights under the stars…but inside she yearns for more. After his freshman year, Nathaniel Chase’s family spends their first summer at The Village. From the beginning Charlotte intrigues him. She’s the girl who always says what’s on her mind, wins at night games, and gets lost in the sky, each time she looks through her telescope. Over the course of four summers together, Charlotte and Nathaniel become best friends, share firsts, mend broken hearts, protect each other’s secrets, overcome tragedies…fall in love. And say goodbye…Charlotte wants out of The Village. Nate wants her to have her stars. And they dream of being able to do it all together. But life isn’t as easy as their summers. Each summer is told in alternating points of view between Charlotte and Nate. Journey with the pair, and their friends, as they share their story about growing up, discovering who they are, making tough choices, and falling in love again and again.

©2013 Nyrae Dawn (P)2013 Audible Inc.

Loved it

A touching, cute romance. Finding love, exploring sexuality and more. Good read/listen. Fairy tales and reality

Great

I loved this book, the story was great all the way until the end. Wish there was a sequel.

Pleasantly surprised

I don’t usually read youth romance but the reviews on this book intrigued me. This book was very well written and well performed. Although it was a youth romance, there was minimal teenage drama. These youth battled real problems with impressive maturity for their ages. The realism and character development was refreshing. I never really wanted to reach into the story and shake one of them as is sometimes the case in a romance. Kudos to the author for a well written and well presented young love story! The world does not only consist of whining teens! I am almost 50 and I know it to be true and can appreciate that!

Absolutely enchanting

I don’t even know where to begin with this mesmerizing book. It def started out slow and seemed like it was going to be just a typical, cutesy teen romance. But it is SO much more than that. I never heard of this writer or either of the narrators but I will def check all three of them out more. Vanessa did a fantastic job as Charlotte, especially her inner thoughts but I feel like she wasn’t great at distinguishing the other character voices. I preferred the male narrator overall but he too did not blow me away with changing up the voices. Regardless, the story is so spectacular that none of that matters. Maybe their narration was even purposefully done that way so that only Charli and Nate truly shined.

I really love the layout of this book and the dual perspectives. I personally loathe first person perspective and even more so first person PRESENT perspective. This often gives us sloppy writing riddled with run on sentences and gerunds galore. This tense was hard for me to swallow at first but the tale was so captivating that I was able to see passed it.

(Spoilers) Charli is so adorable and believable as a teenager and it was amazing to see her grow from 15-18. I kept saying “aw” aloud and she gave me such a nostalgic feeling. She was so relatable to me. I’m a grown woman but my life was very similar to hers. My parents made every decision for me and my life was pretty much laid out. This book brilliantly shows how toxic but also how vulnerable parents can be.

I was so torn in the beginning of the story if I wanted her to end up with Alec or Nate. I typically love romances that start early on but the writer clearly laid out that Charlotte did not want to end up with Alec, that was what their parents wanted. I felt so bad for her father but at the same time couldn’t stand him. I would have liked to have learned more about where the mother and Sadie left to and if and when they got divorced. The mother is painted to be so cold, especially when the dad gets sick. But I guess she never wanted this life with him. It was sad but apt to see how little bond there was between Charli and her mom and sister. Even her dad she seemed to have merely a symbiotic relationship with. Even Alec was technically using her for what he needed her to be.

I loved Charli and Nate’s meet cute and I adored watching her blossom into Charlotte. This whole book was like watching her grow from a seedling into a towering, glorious flower. I loved how much she loved the stars and the symbolism behind them, highlighting life’s infinite possibilities. My heart swooned every time he called her Star Girl, so freaking adorable!

The first summer, I def thought Alec was jealous of Nate and I guess he was in a way. This random stranger threatened to ruin the facade he had going. I thought it was believable that Alec had not made his romantic move yet since they were only 15 and was perhaps shy to go from friends to more. I started to suspect otherwise the second summer and by the third summer, my suspicions were confirmed before they were revealed by the characters. This is not to say that the writer made it obvious but as an english major and avid reader and writer, I was able to spot the subtle groundwork laid out that led to Alec and Brandon.

This twist of a plot weaves beautifully into the main story. Alec and Nate are important to Charlotte but in very different ways. We already know how much and how often she puts others needs in front of her own so it is no surprise that she keeps Alec and Brandon’s secret at the detriment of her bond with Nate.

My brother is gay and was very closeted until he was 20 so this book really spoke to me in that way. I was bawling at Brandon’s confession and so happy that Nate accepted him and also finally didn’t see Alec as a threat any longer. It is rare to see the main plot and subplot of a book interweave so seamlessly like this. Bravo!

The trials and triumphs of Nate and Charlotte are so well done and it was incredibly inspiring to see them champion through each one. This book touched on so many difficult issues like divorce, illness, crime, sexual orientation and just the general unrest of life. I am so impressed by this spectacular story and I was thrilled that it did not have a bittersweet ending as I feared it would. Even Charlotte’s poor father gets a happy ending! I’m so glad that Charlotte chose her own life for herself, just like I did.

Highly recommend this book to teens and readers of all ages. It can be an inspiration to both. It will make you laugh and cry! ♥️

Cute

This was a cute love story dealing with the passage of time and honoring friendships.

awesome

Best Book I've read or listened too in a long time. Awesome read highly recommended.

love love love

this book was so sweet and gave my stomach wonderful butterflies, the narration was perfect!!

loved it

I really enjoyed reading this book. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the near future.

Heartbreakingly sweet

This is a sweet but heartbreaking coming of age, I really wish we got more of a epilogue but overall it's a good story with some interesting twists, Narration is done well.

I didn’t like it at first but then LOVE

I have never wanted to leave a book review before this book. I like to read romance books, but was not feeling this one at first. I think it was because the characters were so young, and I couldn’t imagine where this was going. However, the beauty of this story is how it showed the slow and and steady —not just growth of love—but growth of emotional maturity in all the characters. So while the first part of the book featured puppy love, the emotions developed naturally from there— not just for the main characters, but all of them. That was amazing to read, and I loved it.