Invincible Summer - Hannah Moskowitz

Young Adult
Pages: 336
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: April 19, 2011

Across four sun-kissed drama-drenched summers at his family's beach house, Chase tries to come to grips with his family's slow dissolution while also finding himself in a chaotic love triangle, pitted against his own brother in pursuit of the girl next door. Invincible Summer is a gritty, sexy, page-turning read from a talented teenaged author that readers won't want to miss.

So... different. And weird. And yet so... REAL.  

I was truly blown away by this book. 'I loved this book' is an understatement. I had a tingling, unsettling sensation in the pit of my stomach throughout the whole story. I was literally transported to the confusion and drama of teenage years, but from inside a boy's mind. The male POV the author did was overwhelming—so accurate, it's scary. This book will mess with your head... an emotional roller-coaster for which you've better hang on tight.

Told in first person, we experience Chase's life and feelings and pain, while he struggles to understand life, and his role in his family which is falling apart. I knew close to nothing about sign language and people who deal with hearing disabilities, and the families who deal with deaf children. So reading about it was new to me, and I have to admit, kept me up at night. It was that good. Plus, Chase's emotions were so tangible... just, wow. I'm pretty sure I had never experienced such vivid distress and actual trembling while reading, especially in a contemporary read.

The characterization was utterly amazing. All the characters felt unbelievably real. The writing was fantastic, but as happens in such powerful books, it was awkward at times to serve the purpose of the story. As frustrating as it is —when one reads without understanding whats going on —I believe it's made to be that way to make the reader as confused as the character is. If that was the purpose, it pretty much worked perfectly with me.

In this very unusual read, sex is present and freely expressed. No sugar-coating at all.

If disturbing, mind-blowing, overwhelming and absolutely AWESOME books are your thing... you NEED to read this book. I highly, highly recommend it.

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