Book Review: The Summer I Saved the World...in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz

Summary:

It's summertime, and thirteen-year-old Nina Ross is feeling kind of lost. Her beloved grandma died last year; her parents work all the time; her brother's busy; and her best friend is into clothes, makeup, and boys. While Nina doesn't know what "her thing" is yet, it's definitely not shopping and makeup. And it's not boys, either. Though . . . has Eli, the boy next door, always been so cute?
   This summer, Nina decides to change things. She hatches a plan. There are sixty-five days of summer. Every day, she'll anonymously do one small but remarkable good thing for someone in her neighborhood, and find out: does doing good actually make a difference? Along the way, she discovers that her neighborhood, and her family, are full of surprises and secrets.
   In this bighearted, sweetly romantic novel, things may not turn out exactly as Nina expects. They might be better.

Release Date: April 8, 2014

Age Group: YA
Source: Review copy from publisher
Reviewed by: Madi B

Review:

This book was so cute/adorable. No cute AND adorable! It was so well done! From the character development to the plot, everything was well thought out and well executed. It’s a great book to give to girls going into high school.

STUFF I LOVED:

The whole random acts of kindness theme is KICK-BUTT-AWESOME-SAUCE! I’ve always loved the anonymous (Man that’s hard one to spell) kindness thing so to have a whole book of it? Kick-butt-awesome-sauce. Sadly I’ve never read a book like this before. (Sad because kindness towards others is a theme not that common in YA) I LOVED IT!

The romance. It was so sweet and adorable! And the guy was so sweet and adorable! It was just AGHH! (Happy AGHH)

I liked that even with all the sugar sweetness of the plot, there was still substance. There’s Nina trying to grapple with dealing with her grandmother’s death and her parents who are also trying to grapple with the death.

I liked the camaraderie of the neighborhood. (Okay it was a very quiet camaraderie but still) It kind of reminded me of my childhood. (YAY for nostalgia!)

The whole book was so well done, I can’t think of anything that I didn’t like!