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 The only reason why I was able to get this before it came out was because it was available for everyone on NetGalley, which is always nice. I was very excited to get started on my very first Review For Publisher (kind of)! 
 The Summer My Life Began is the cute, summer-y contemporary romance you'd expect it to be from the title & cover. 
 I liked it, but it was way too predictable. I'm not usually that person who knows at the beginning of a Law and Order episode who the killer was and what the murder weapon was, so it felt weird to already know what was going to happen. Towards the end, it gets a lot better though, when the whole family secret Em so desperately wanted to find out about, gets out. I did not expect that! (Well, I did, maybe a little.) 
 I quite liked Elizabeth Margaret, or Em--she is one of those rare characters that have passion & ambition, and that's one thing that I absolutely love in books. The only characters I didn't like were Em's parents and grandmother. They were so strict, and they didn't treat her like an equal at all. She wasn't even allowed to do the things she likes most, like cooking. I totally understand that she wanted to leave. While reading the book, I kept wishing for her to choose for herself, instead of listening to her mother and grandmother all the time. I swear, if I were her, I would've given them the finger much, much sooner. 
 I loved all the other characters--Cade, Frederick, Domino, Gwenny, Tilly... I can't even tell you which one I liked more, because they were all such good characters. 
 I could totally feel the atmosphere of a warm summer day, which is good. I also liked how the author described things, but you'll be able to read one of those parts in the excerpt I put under my review. ^-^ 
 The whole book reminded me an awful lot of Sarah Dessen's Last Chance. This one was better though, in my opinion. 
 Overall, The Summer My Life Began is a cute read for a day at the beach, but not one of those spectacular books that you will remember for a long time. Don't get me wrong though--I think it's totally worth reading. (It's just one of those love-or-hate books. You either love it, or hate it.)