Summer Unplugged (Summer Unplugged, #1) by Amy Starling Review

This review contains spoilers for Summer Unplugged. It is currently available for free on iBooks and other ebook platforms.

Bayleigh is boy-obsessed and critical thinking skills-lacking on so many levels. She does so many questionable things in the first five chapters that I felt as though I had whiplash. Bayleigh goes from sneaking out (unsuccessfully) to sending pictures of herself to her "boyfriend" in under twenty four hours, and is shocked that her mother does not approve of her behavior.

She is sent to spend the rest of the summer with her grandparents and with no phone, which we see her complaining about on every other page. And to get the attention of Jace, the boy next door, she breaks one of her mother’s childhood snow globes and does not even care. Bayleigh is probably one of the most unlikable characters I have ever read since she genuinely thinks she can do no wrong and that she does not deserve anything her mother has done to her.

Bayleigh has known Jace for all of maybe three or four days when she takes it upon herself to delete messages from his ex-girlfriend. I understand that she does not have any consistent contact with her friends or even her mom during the summer, but I do not think she had the right to do that, even if Jace's ex cheated on him.

Of course Ian, Bayleigh's situationship, is a "Can I get a hug?" boy, it totally checks out. When he visits her at her grandparents, he is so annoying and rude to Bayleigh that I was tempted to skip the pages he was on. The relationship between Bayleigh and Jace moved so incredibly quickly I felt as though I missed the entire thing -- it felt so rushed and not in a "love at first sight" kind of way, but in a "we are the only two people our age in this town, so let's make it work" kind of way.

If you are looking for a quick young adult romance read as a filler between books, Summer Unplugged will check that box. As a general disclaimer, the main character severely annoyed me with almost everything that she did. Yes, she is a teenager, but the way she acts towards her mother for doing the bare minimum when it comes to being grounded astounds me.

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