Summer Of No Regrets by Kate Mallinder (BEDM)

*The book discussed in this post was gifted by Firefly Publishing*

Summer Of No Regrets had been on my radar for a little bit of time prior to it’s release. During the summer, all i want to read is fun stories about friendship and enjoying life, and this seemed exactly what i wanted. Firefly were kind enough to send me a copy of Kate Mallinder’s new book for review, and i couldn’t be more grateful they brought this friendship group in to my life!

Summer Of No Regrets is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a fun filled book about a group of four friends who venture on a journey to the summer they won’t regret. Each character has a different ‘thing’ whether that be working at her foster parents shop, an overbearing mother or just really loving science, there’s something different about them all. They all take the challenge of not regretting anything in their summer, and saying yes to more things. Leading to a very adventurous summer for them all.

What i wasn’t expecting with this book is that quite a lot of it is the friends splitting up and being a part. One goes to science camp and one travels to Switzerland to be with her father, while the other two make the most of their time at home. I quite liked the fact that they all split up and you got to learn so much about the individual characters in the story. Summer Of No Regrets is from the point of view of all four girls, so you really get a good span and idea of what kind of personality each character has. I thought this was done really well. What i also appreciated about the book being written this way was that we got quite a good idea of each of the girls families. I feel like it’s something that lacks in YA fiction and to have four families characterised well was truly a blessing.

I really enjoyed the story of this book and the topics that were discussed. There was a lot of focus on foster families and trying to find your birth parents, alongside a lot of talk about anxiety and mental health issues. None of it was taken too lightly and i personally thought it was incredibly accessible for a younger YA audience.

My one downside to this book (which isn’t a downside) is that it just read a little young for me. It fills the gap that is very much needed in the YA market for younger teens, however as someone who is in her twenties, reading this just felt a little young. Which has nothing to do with the writing or characters or stories, it did exactly what it needed to do.

This is the book that i really wish i had when i was fourteen or fifteen. It’s so incredibly fun and has some great characters and references all thrown in to a very short and easily digestible book. I urge so many people to pick this up, especially if you love the works of Beth Garrod and Simon James Green.

Also, if you’re heading to YALC this year, make sure you go and say hi to Kate!