ICYMI: Books of Summer 2023

So I think we should start with a book that's called Summer Reading by Jen McKinley.

Lauren, do you want to do the honors? What a perfect

beginning.

Okay, so Sam set out to spend the summer resurrecting her career as a chef, but instead has to chaperone her half brother to a robotics competition at the local library.

And naturally, because the universe hates her, the library's interim director, Ben, turns out to be the hot reader guy who's... book she accidentally destroyed on the ferry to the island sam doesn't do reading ben doesn't do romantic relationships but when ben inspires sam to create the cookbook she's always dreamed about they discover there might be more than just a creative spark between them will this be a recipe for disaster or love

I'd never read the synopsis before.

No,

neither

did I.

I didn't realise that the cookbook was that central to the book.

I just thought that was like a nice little thing towards the

end.

So as it said in the synopsis, Sam doesn't do reading.

And the reason for that is because Sam is dyslexic.

And so the book actually starts off with a letter from the author explaining that, you know, because of the main character she's written, she's actually made sure that the book has been printed in a way that's easier for people with dyslexia to read.

So it has wider margins.

Words aren't hyphenated across two lines.

And also it's in a different font that's more readable.

And we love to see

it.

Yeah, and she has some friends who are dyslexic as well, and she got them to proof the book at certain points as well to make sure that it was, one, doing what she wanted it to do from a reading experience perspective, but also, two, that the main character, there are points in the book where she's quite nervous about people not understanding her dyslexia or, you know... not bullying her for it, but making her feel less than for it.

So she got her friends to make sure that the language around that was true to their experience of having dyslexia as well, which I think was a nice little added bonus for the book.

I also found it so much easier to read.

Yeah.

did you