This One Summer follows Rose, a young teenage girl as she and her family go on their annual getaway to the fictional Awago Beach. There, Rose gets to see her longtime best friend, Windy, and the pair find out more about each other and what they want out of life.

I initially read this book because I heard it was banned due to its inclusion of LGBT characters, amongst other topics. However, there's no explicit inclusion of any LGBT characters. Allusions were made of Windy being lesbian/bisexual (ex. her saying that she doesn't want a husband; going to the 'lesbian camp'; showing slight jealousy when Rose shows interest in the boy who works at Brewster's, etc.), but it is never explicitly stated. 

Other reasons why the book ended up being banned are because of the profanity and sexual comments that the children make, including Rose and Windy. They overhear two workers at Brewster's call the girl's they're hanging with

sluts

, and Rose and Windy begin to repeat it. Even after Rose's mom overhears the two using such language and tells them it isn't appropriate, they repeat it later on in the novel. On top of that, the two Brewster's workers

actively talk about sex

and one of the girls they mess around with goes on to

get pregnant

. Those themes make a little bit more sense as to why some parents weren't happy with the novel.

Overall, I liked the book. This is the second book I've read by the Tamaki cousins; the first one being Roaming. I do like This One Summer much better, because the characters actually feel like they have some sort of depth (albeit minor).  

The story was essentially about a summer at a beach cottage. It didn't feel like much happened.

This is a really cute book that talks about some serious topics.

I was surprised by the amount of cursing that was in this book, but it's accurate to how kids react to hearing such words and how much adults/teens actually curse. 

I did, however, feel a little bit lost on the plot.

A really solid and kind of depressing read (although not in a bad way). The story feels so personal and real, to the point that it genuinely feels like gazing in on someone’s actual life. There are a lot of layers built up in the narrative too: the parental tension, childhood love, the isolation felt when transitioning into a teenager etc and all are treated with a very grounded tone that make it feel uncomfortably genuine. The illustrations are also BEAUTIFUL and give a very wistful “old memories” type of vibe that compliments the story well. Overall, definitely worth a read if you’re in the mood for a solid coming of age story that doesn’t shy away from the discomfort of childhood.