Book review - Song of Summer

Title: Song of Summer
Author: Laura Lee Anderson
Genre: romance
Similar books: Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
                     I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
 Rating:

better than I expected

Summary: Robin has always thought that her perfect man would have good taste in music. She's a folk musician and can't stand the thought of her boyfriend listening to pop music. Then Carter walks into the diner where she works. He's attractive, rich, kind, and a good tipper. He's also, she comes to realize, profoundly deaf. Carter never expected to have a hearing girlfriend. It's quite difficult for them to communicate. A hearing girl doesn't understand Deaf culture. Yet, when they meet, Robin and Carter forget all of their previous objections and expectations.

My Opinion: At it's heart, this isn't that unusual a scenario for a romance novel. Two different worlds come together. Can such different people find common ground...and love? I've seen several variations on this over the years, even in the vein of not being able to appreciate your loved one's passions. A few things make this book stand out. 1. Anderson gives us detailed description both of how it feels to create music and life as a deaf person. 2. The difference between deaf and Deaf. Often in a book or a movie a deaf person gets some miracle cure and is "fixed" or finds some way to appreciate the hearing world. Carter is very much a part of Deaf culture. He doesn't want to hear. Because of these two vastly different approaches to life we see Carter and Robin trying and ultimately struggling to fit in and understand one another's worlds. 3. (NOTE: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS) The ending. As expected, their differing views of the world lead to a vast misunderstanding and break-up. While both Carter and Robin have experiences that open their eyes both to how they've misunderstood one another and to some part of the world that is meaningful to them, they don't exactly reconcile. There is the idea that they might sometime in the future, but no promises. The ending is a little abrupt, but that mostly works in this context. 

More information: Song of Summer is available only as an e-book.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.