Review: Feels Like Summer by Six de los Reyes

11:22 AM

One fine day in January, I received an email from Six asking for schedule and rates for editing. I tried to be "professional" and answered her questions politely, but I was actually over the moon! 

Sent to my best friend
Sa excitement ko nashare ko to sa thread ng iba pa naming friends ni Clare Marquez
I love this girl's brain so much that I gushed to my friends with all caps and exclamation points!

Summary:
Five-minute girlfriend. That's what Jett signs up for when she meets Adrian and his band Arabella at beach music festival Summer Storm. One kiss and the attraction is too electric to ignore, but Jett has no room for love and Adrian is Mr. Relationship who's getting over his recent breakup. The solution? Keep it simple. Keep it casual. For three months (that's the rule about breakups, right?), Jett helps Adrian move on and Adrian shows up on Jett's bed whenever she wants.

Then the three months are up and neither of them are in a hurry to be the first to leave. Does Jett walk away from a potential disaster or does she finally let someone into her closely-guarded heart?

Both Jett and Adrian were haunted by past relationships, and this had major repercussions on their story. In romance, we usually see emotionally detached men, while women were depicted as clingy. But here, these assumptions were reversed.

Jett is now one of my absolute favorite heroines because she is the epitome of an independent single woman.​ She is a damsel who doesn't need a prince to save her. She is someone who is not afraid to be alone. She looks great, she works in a science museum, and she kicks ass in computer games. Can she be any cooler? Throughout the story, we were given an in to her introspection and we see how she slowly unlocks the handcuffs that hold her back from pursuing a relationship with Adrian. How she dealt with things with her snarky humor and snappy comebacks was much appreciated. True to her character, she says she doesn't need Adrian in her life, rather she says, "I don’t just want someone. I don’t just want the feelings. I want you." We were always told to distinguish between our needs and wants, to prioritize our needs even. But in relationships, we need to go beyond practicality. Jett could easily just go after Michael Brian, she's attracted to his abs anyway, but she wants Adrian and she chooses to be with him. That for me is absolute kilig.

After Nero, I've read Micah (Sounds Like Summer) and Isaiah (Just For The Record). Though both stories were wonderful and awesome and made me hahahuhu, I thought there is no way she can write a character that would be better than Nero. But never have I been happier to be proven wrong. At first, Sniffles (Rhys's nickname for Adrian) seemed brooding and said some things that made him seem like a jackass, but gahd, how he redeemed himself. His character was a well-developed paradox and I love it. He was shy but also confident, you'll see this at the part where Ziggy *rolls eyes* tried to intimidate him. He was subtle in his ways, but was described as intense at the same time. He was patient with Jett but also bossy with his band mates. I also like what he does when he's stressed and angry, I want to invite him over at our house. HAHA. But that time when he took care of Jett's bloody mess felt most intimate to me and made me fall so in love with him.

The large cast of side characters were also interestingly authentic. They were quirky and all different to each other. Six made these characters so amusing and endearing that I wish they'll get their own books too. Maybe not Ziggy, because I don't want to meet him ever again, but I'm definitely looking forward to books about mischievous Franklin, hottie Michael Brian, the rest of Arabella boys and Perry!!!

Six has a knack for cleverly incorporating unconventional details and using them as plot devices. Jett's job in the science museum, how she suffers from painful monthly menstruation, Adrian being a nurse -- all these seemingly minor details were used effectively in the story. I also love how she tells her stories in a humorous way. Read: Lightsaber. haha.  Franklin playing with Jett's name and using it for different puns really made me laugh. Dialogues were well-crafted as well and if you like banter as much as I do, then you'll adore this book to bits.

Feels Like Summer provided a lens through which I was able to see dynamics. Arabella was less-than-a-month-new band, but we see how the guys were loyal to Adrian. We see how cute they were when they stood up for him when Jett was groveling. Jett, despite her cool girl image, was not exactly socially savvy. Her only close friend was Ceci, and theirs was an internet-based friendship. We see how this changed as she navigated through friendships with Raven, James, and the Arabella boys. I also adored how she said she was rooting for Ellie, how she didn't judge her and automatically hated her just because she was Adrian's ex. Their moment towards the end is a rare gem both in fiction and in real life and I loved every bit of it. Our world would be way less dramatic if women aren't pitted against each other.

​I was so ​addicted to Adrian and Jett that I've read this til the wee hours. I only slept for a bit​ and when I woke up, I've read it again to proofread it. It was such a fun read that I wanted to write the review for this as soon as I finished working on the manuscript.​ I wanted to share all my feelings but no one would really know what I'm talking about so I waited til others were able to read it. That's part of the fun when you're reading a #romanceclass book. Aside from character cross-overs (which you'll get here), you also​ get to share all the fangirling and love with the community. Check out the hashtags #FeelsLikeSummer and #FLSNovel to see other people's ~feelings.

If you want your sexy scenes going beyond the innuendos, then this book is for you. If you've experienced summer in the Philippines (which is the setting of the story), then you'll know exactly how reading this book feels like.

You may now read Adrian and Jett's story and meet the rest of Arabella. Feels Like Summer is now available through Amazon.

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