I Love You S'more / Auriane Desombre / Book Review

I LOVE YOU S'MORE

After a devastating (and very public) breakup, Ivy Raines can't wait to escape to camp for the summer. Theatre camp has always been her escape, ever since she was a kid, and heading back there now as a counsellor is a dream come true as well as the first step toward her dream of becoming a teacher.

So of course her ex-best-friend Rynn is also a counsellor. And a counsellor that everybody already knows and loves. Probably more than they could ever love Ivy.

Rynn is bossy. She's a know-it-all. And she broke off their friendship years ago without any second thoughts. And now she's vying to direct this year's end-of-summer musical production. Something that Ivy had her own eyes on. Being co-director with her super annoying, super cute ex-bestie isn't the summer Ivy had in mind. Especially not when the drama of her breakup seems to have made it all the way into these mountains as well.

THOUGHTS

It was cute. It was fun. It was short and sweet. In other words, this book was everything is promised to be.

PROS

Beach Read	This book is the quintessential beach read. It's low stakes, a soft summer romance full of late nights and twinkling stars and stolen moments. It's a summer camp romance without the need for adult supervision (since they are, you know, the supervision). It's all the fun of being away from home and learning who else you could be for the summer. It's the ultimate escapist romance, cutesy and soft and just fun to sink into for a little while.
Short & Sweet	There's been a trend toward longer books in YA, and so it is always refreshing to find something short. This book didn't need to be dragged out to capture that warm and fuzzy, sunshine romance feeling. It's a soft and easy read, and I think it finds the perfect sweet spot for YA: excellent for the younger end of the market while not being too immature for older teens to appreciate as well. That's quite a feat!
Celiac Rep	Any time there's chronic illness representation, I appreciate it, and the inclusion of Ivy's Celiac disease is so wonderfully casual. This isn't a book about sickness. This book isn't about Celiac. Celiac is just something that's a part of Ivy's life, and so it does come up in the book. But it's not a burden, just a footnote, a part of her everyday life that bears mentioning but not belaboring the story. And I love that. This is a love story, after all, not a piece of sick lit.

CONS

Though the main romance in this book strikes a nice balance between appropriate-for-younger-readers and fun-for-older-audiences, I absolutely had a hard time reading the middle school drama that's happening in the background. These campers are middle schoolers. I get it. And they're theatre kids, too. And I know this drama between them was meant to push Ivy as a character, struggling to be a camp counsellor and in charge of kids. But the melodrama was too much for me. This isn't the main plot, but it sure is a plot. A big oof of a plot, too.	Unfortunate Dramatics
Ivy spends a lot of this book wallowing in the post-breakup blues. I understand why. She's fresh off her breakup. She's being constantly reminded of her ex. And the breakup wasn't exactly her idea. But boy was it annoying to listen to her wallow, in a personal-pet-peeve way. This wallowing of hers combines with a prolonged vehemence toward the story's love interest to make the we're-not-friends tension drag out longer than it needs to, at least in my opinion. But not everyone has so much against, you know, general romance plot angst. So this one might just be me.	Wallowing
Every once in a while, I'd stumble across a word in this book that felt like, well, a vocab word. Not necessarily difficult words but words that didn't fit the writing style otherwise. There's nothing wrong with using more advanced vocabulary, but sometimes the word choice felt out of place. It would throw me off, and I think that's worth mentioning.	Vocab Words

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7/10

Fans of Katrina Emmel's Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses will like escaping into this new summer romance. Those who liked Karen Bischer's The Secret Recipe For Moving On will like this story of finding new love after first heartbreak.

Details Publisher: Delacorte Romance Date: April 8, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.