Blog Tour (Review): The Summer Set by Aimee Agresti

I loved this book about first acts and second chances. Honestly, I was predisposed to love it because it is set at a summer Shakespeare camp, where I could happily live in real life. The rest is just gravy. There are so many things I enjoyed about this book.

I attended and worked at camps just like this through college, so everything seemed familiar. I liked that the camp had a history that involved the characters. The familiarity of returning to a place that was so influential in their backstory added dimension to their interactions. Memories clashed with the present. The challenges of camps like this were also well-described and accurate.

I instantly related to the awkward meeting of roommates, the nerves of auditioning, and the competitive nature of “friends” that occurs at these camps. All of the characters were realistic and recognizable. I’m 99% sure I worked with Nick more than a few times. 😊

I especially appreciated that the author was so matter-of-fact about the people who worked with the theater. The author didn’t feel the need to hammer alternate lifestyles or preach about tolerance and acceptance. They were just characters like everyone else. This was refreshing, as sometimes authors can be heavy-handed around this subject. It’s exactly how I remember my theater days. People didn’t need to announce or lecture; they just…were who they were and were accepted as such.   

I loved the parallel story Nick/Charlie and Ethan/Sierra plot lines. The author captured the uncertainty that actors feel at all points of their careers. It illustrated that even the best actors (in this case, Charlie, who could be a stand-in for any real-life actresses) are often insecure and worry about being appreciated. This drive for recognition often clouds their judgment when it comes to actual relationships, which was certainly the case with Nick and Charlie.  

I also enjoyed the little Easter Eggs that were hidden in the story. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but from Charlie’s balcony to the lark tattoos (and several other instances), I loved the little nods to Shakespeare throughout.

I do wish a bit more attention had been given to wrapping up Sierra and Ethan’s story. I felt they got a little bit shortchanged at the end. I suppose that’s not surprising considering the way it DID end. But I did enjoy the way the author summarized Charlie (and Nick’s) story as a kind of postscript.

As I said at the beginning, I was predisposed to like this book regardless. Given the author’s background, an E! version could have been expected. But I was heartened to see that the author took the time to do some real character exploration and draw the parallels between Shakespeare and real life. I highly recommend this for a fun summer read.  

Author Bio
Aimee Agresti is the author of Campaign Widows and The Gilded Wings trilogy for young adults. A former staff writer for Us Weekly, she penned the magazine’s coffee table book Inside Hollywood. Aimee’s work has also appeared in People, Premiere, DC magazine, Capitol File, the Washington Post, Washingtonian, the Washington City Paper, Boston magazine, Women’s Health and the New York Observer, and she has made countless TV and radio appearances, dishing about celebrities on the likes of Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, E!, The Insider, Extra, VH1, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and HLN. Aimee graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and lives with her husband and two sons in the Washington, DC, area.