Title: Summer

Author: Audrey Grey

Pub. Date: April 15, 2021

Pages: 438

Pub: Starfall Press

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads

Welcome to Evermore Academy where the magic is dark, the immortals are beautiful, and being human SUCKS.

After Hellebore Narcissus exposed my secret, he claimed me as his, a pawn in a deadly Faerie game I’m only just beginning to understand.

Now, I’m caught in a complex web of bloodthirsty courts, ancient feuds, and the lust for ultimate power. To expose Hellebore and recover the Darken’s soulstone, I must become an expert at navigating the cunning world of the Fae and my new life at the academy—all the while resisting my true mate, the Winter Prince.

Win this game, and I regain my freedom while saving humanity—lose and the entire mortal world will fall to the Fae.

But what if the only way to win involves giving up my soulmate forever?

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible. Overall, I enjoyed this trilogy and I’m still a fan of whatever Audrey writes! If you’re interested, I’ll link my reviews for books 1 and 2 – Winter and Spring – so feel free to check them out!

I knew the moment that this hit audio, that I would be downloading it and inhaling it. I’ve been anxiously waiting to find out what happens next. I really enjoyed the first two books, so I definitely wanted to find out what’s next for Summer.

I love Audrey’s books, and this was such a fun series. I’m kind of bummed that this is the last one, as I was hoping for 4, but I’m glad Audrey didn’t drag it out. While the very ending left a bit to be desired, everything leading up to it was really enjoyable. So much happens in this book – Summer goes through a lot.

And I mean a lot.

The emotional journey she goes on is intense and pretty traumatic. The bullies in her life wont give her a break, her mother is stifling, her fiancé is a dick, and she can’t be with the one person she wants to be with. The one person who her heart calls out for.
As the reader it’s lowkey exhausting and heartbreaking, so I can only imagine how it feels for her.

I was definitely invested in Summer’s emotional journey and how just about every time she’s knocked down, she finds a way to stand back up. She learns how to play the game and nearly succeeds a few times.

It’s good.

And then there is Ruby – and omfg that girl is a mess. She 100% steals the show – she’s a chaotic little thing, but incredibly loyal and strangely competent…when she wants to be. I feel like she and Tink from JLA’s Wicked Series would get along swimmingly. 

I can’t forget about Valerian. He suffers so much, and in some ways more than Summer. I have such a weakness for dark broody characters who only want to protect the love of their lives, but something (or someone) gets in the way. The torture it causes – I shouldn’t like it, I shouldn’t want the characters to hurt, but it makes for such a good book.

There are legit scenes of characters in some kind of pain – emotional or physical – that are still playing in my head. Then there’s usually some tender or sweet moment to take away the pain. Ugh. I love it.

As for the other characters, I’m still so in love with them…well most of them. The good guys anyways. But there were some good redemption arcs that I didn’t see coming, and overall, it was a pretty decent ending. I just really didn’t care for the epilogue. It felt a little too neat and too picture perfect happy. I don’t know…I usually like slice of life stuff – like what comes after saving the world, but for this series, it just felt weird. Like, I wasn’t as invested. It was cute and deserved, but I just didn’t find it satisfying as I figured I would.

Overall, I wasn’t upset with the ending – just that it’s the ending. I would totally read a spin-off series if that’s what Audrey ends up doing. I’m definitely looking forward to reading her next upcoming releases, so I’ll just have to wait anxiously for those!