Book Review: Sounds of Summer

By Sara Steven

Ramona is ready to shake up Seaside, Oregon, with her all-'90s morning show. But her retro vibes clash hard with Quinn, the station's seriously uptight (and seriously attractive) manager. He's obsessed with "consistency," she's all about breaking the mold, and their battles over the playlist are legendary.

But beneath the surface, a bigger threat looms. A powerful corporation is circling, ready to swallow up their beloved local station and replace it with a cookie-cutter format. And this media giant plays dirty, armed with slick tactics and deep pockets.

As the pressure mounts, Ramona and Quinn must find a way to work together, even as their undeniable attraction sparks a whole new kind of static. Can they save the station – and maybe even their hearts – before the music fades out for good? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

There are so many fun things to love about Sounds of Summer! One of the biggest draws for me had been the location of where the story takes place. I’m from Oregon, and having been to Seaside several times growing up, I thought it was awesome to have Ramona’s and Quinn’s experiences take place in such a charming, small-town atmosphere. Then you have the radio show that they both work for. It offered up a more unique plotline that really worked with the nineties music that Ramona plays. But one of the biggest draws had been the intense connection between the two primary characters! It’s the classic love to hate, hate to love scenario that really worked for the both of them.

Ramona can’t stand how regimented Quinn can be. He doesn’t want her to play the music she wants to play, preferring to have her play from a list that is formulaic and devised, yet at the same time, Quinn is annoyed that Ramona never listens to what he wants. His methods are tried and true–why can’t she follow the rules? But as the chapters unfold, both characters begin to see that while Quinn is more disciplined, he has deep reasons as to why he has to see the local station succeed. And even though Ramona doesn’t follow any particular list of songs to be played, she has a method to her madness that seems to pay off, every time. Respect begins to form, which leads to deeper understanding.

But there are forces at play that are out of their control, with the powerful corporation worming its way into the radio station’s bases, without anyone even knowing it. How it’s discovered was pretty clever and what followed was pretty clever, too. I felt tied to seeing the survival of the fledgling station, with a lot of undertones that fed into the need to see something that is more mom and pop surviving a conglomerate’s obvious need to destroy and carry on, leaving in its path a devastating reality for the employees of the radio station.

Sounds of Summer provided a lot of tension between its two main characters, a plotline that included a well-played David vs. Goliath-type scenario with the radio station, and an ending that truly felt fitting for everything involved. It was a worthy five-star read!  

Thanks to Tracy Krimmer for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Tracy Krimmer:

All That Glitters

Something Just Like This

Dating for Decades

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