I received this book via Edelweiss. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Cold Summer by Gwen ColePublished by Sky Pony on 2017-05-02
Length: 334 pages
Reviewing eARC from Edelweiss
Rating:
Reading Challenges: #NGEW2022
Today, he’s a high school dropout with no future.
Tomorrow, he’s a soldier in World War II.
Kale Jackson has spent years trying to control his time-traveling ability but hasn't had much luck. One day he lives in 1945, fighting in the war as a sharpshooter and helplessly watching soldiers—friends—die. Then the next day, he’s back in the present, where WWII has bled into his modern life in the form of PTSD, straining his relationship with his father and the few friends he has left. Every day it becomes harder to hide his battle wounds, both physical and mental, from the past.
When the ex-girl-next-door, Harper, moves back to town, thoughts of what could be if only he had a normal life begin to haunt him. Harper reminds him of the person he was before the PTSD, which helps anchor him to the present. With practice, maybe Kale could remain in the present permanently and never step foot on a battlefield again. Maybe he can have the normal life he craves.
But then Harper finds Kale’s name in a historical article—and he’s listed as a casualty of the war. Is Kale’s death inevitable? Does this mean that, one of these days, when Kale travels to the past, he may not come back?
Kale knows now that he must learn to control his time-traveling ability to save himself and his chance at a life with Harper. Otherwise, he’ll be killed in a time where he doesn’t belong by a bullet that was never meant for him.
***DNF @ 36%***
I really wanted to like this one. I even picked it as my TBR read for this month’s prompt. However it just isn’t working for me. Cold Summer by Gwen Cole is a contemporary romance with time travel mixed in. Told in dual POV, Kale’s struggles unfold as he begins to lose his grip on the present.
Harper is the girl next door, who just moved in with her uncle. Kale is the troubled boy next door who doesn’t necessarily get in trouble but does disappear for days without warning. Where does he go? He time travels back to WWII. He’s a soldier there and in the present suffers from PTSD and depression. All of this sounds like the makings of a great book, but I cannot stay focused on it. I’m bored and that is never good when reading. The writing style is very easy to read, I fell right in with the characters. However there isn’t a lot of action or movement in the plot. It’s mostly telling me what has happened instead of showing me what is happening. Totally bummed about this one 😞
This month’s prompt was “After the War.” I knew I wanted to read Cold War for this month back in January when I joined the challenge. I’m really sad this one didn’t work out though. I guess at least it is now off my TBR *shrugs* Next month is “Vintage,” and I’m still thinking about which book I’ll choose. Right now I’m leaning towards either the second Outlander book or The Wheel of Time…and since I’m a mood reader this may change by the time I get around to reading 😆
Oh bummer! I have so many questions since he is in high school, doesn’t his parents wonder where he goes to?? I feel like making it YA is a big challenge for this kind of a shadow of Time Traveler’s Wife.
That was another thing I took issue with was how that aspect was handled. His parents were angry and trying to punish him for disappearing but also didn’t listen when he’d tell them the truth and basically ignored the fact that (mentally) their kid is drowning and needs a lifeline.
Well, this sounds a little better than I was imagining. I was thinking the parents were more placeholders who didn’t really notice, a’ la CW show or the like, lol.
I’m with WhiskeyInTheJar; this would require very careful writing to make it work, even as the premise sounds tempting. But by making the main characters teenagers, and apparently sticking it a genre romance label, it feels almost impossible to be workable.
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