The Summer I Remembered Everything coming April 29th, 2025 from Crown Books for Young Readers; 304 pages
Content Warning: Illness and memory loss
About the Author: “Catherine Con Morse is the author of the coming-of-age boarding school novel THE NOTES, which was shortlisted for the CRAFT first chapters contest. A Kundiman fellow, she received her MFA from Boston University, where she taught undergraduate creative writing for several years. Her work appears in Joyland, Letters, HOOT, Bostonia, the Racist Sandwich podcast, and elsewhere. Catherine was one of the inaugural Writers in Residence at Porter Square Books. In high school, Catherine attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a public arts boarding school, where she was as intrigued with her teacher as Claire is with Dr. Li. Catherine continues to play and teach piano today. Most recently, she taught English at Choate Rosemary Hall, and lives in the Connecticut River Valley with her husband and daughter” (Bio from author’s Goodreads profile).
Find Catherine Con Morse on the following platforms:
When her dreadful report card is opened by her parents, Emily Chen-Sanchez has already come to terms with her fate—one that involves being grounded for the rest of the summer. With the desire to escape the constant competition from her perfectionist sister and all the boy troubles chasing her, Emily begins a job hunt which leads her to the doorsteps of Mrs. Granucci. As she cares for her new companion, she finds herself growing more entangled in new stressors ranging from her childhood best friend’s love life to her mother’s new diagnosis. But, amidst everything, Emily has found her safe haven in the Granucci residence, which remains her final thread as her beloved Mrs. Granucci begins to slowly lose herself to dementia. What had once been a “simple job” no longer has the same meaning as Emily continues to explore where she best fits.
From the beginning, Emily’s character and personal struggles were clear. Much of her identity revolved around the pressures she received from her immigrant family and being a constant source of comparison to her sister, Tessa, which I could relate to through my own personal experiences. Emily’s desire to feel understood and seen in her life is a theme that is common to the teenage experience, and I can see how her challenges could resonate with a lot of young readers. Additionally, Morse did an amazing job of highlighting the ways in which Emily embraced her multi-cultural background given that her mother is Taiwanese and her father is Spanish. There were many moments in the Chen-Sanchez household that managed to both anger me and help me develop a soft spot for Emily’s family members and their individual issues, especially Emily’s sister Tessa during their mother’s cancer journey. While Morse’s writing drew me into all of Emily’s relationships, I felt disconnected from her journey as I found some of her day-to-day problems to be rather shallow. The pacing and transition between different scenes also felt slightly unnatural, as I found myself wanting more from her interactions such as the ones involving Mrs. Granucci. There were scenes involving Emily and Matt, her childhood best friend, that I also wished were expanded on as I felt that I didn’t have a great sense of their past together. If fixed, this could have added more depth to their dynamic after Matt gets involved in a new romantic relationship. However, I do think Morse’s strongest points in this novel are the strength, realistic qualities, and relatability of each of the characters. Overall, The Summer I Remembered Everything is a perfect read for anyone wanting to dig into a good slice-of-life that captures the struggle of a young girl in finding a true sense of belonging.
The Summer I Remembered Everything releases on April 29th, 2025.
Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for sending us an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change before final publication.
Alysa Jacob, Pine Reads Review Writer & Social Media