For science lovers I would say this is the perfect romance book for you. In that respect it was unique and cute, but I guess it wasn't quite my cup of tea and what I could relate to.

The story itself seemed a little disjointed and a little bit predictable. The whole premise with the time capsule I absolutely loved, and its something I would love to do in the future.

Ok, I won’t lie to you. I was a bit confused by The Square Root of Summer. It was a very good story of a girl dealing with grief but it has a mathematical time travelling twist that I struggled to get my head round. I am just that dumb.

The story focuses on Gottie who is dealing with the death of her beloved granddad, the break-up of her first real relationship and the abandonment of her best friend. Due to this she has become introverted and seems to have also managed to open up some wormholes. She believes that if she can figure out the math of the worm holes maybe she will feel a little less broken.

Reuter Hapgood has written a good story that deals with grief on a different level. At times you get frustrated with the time travel element – or at least I did but then I have issues with time travel in general – especially doing the same thing over and over again. However, it really is a good read.

The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood is available now.

For more information regarding Harriet Reuter Hapgood (@hapgoodness) please visit www.iamnotashamed.bigcartel.com.

For more information regarding Pan Macmillan (@panmacmillan) please visit www.panmacmillan.com.

Thank you so much for approving me. Unfortunately I ended up not being able to finish this book.

This book is quite a difficult one to review because there were certainly things that I liked about it but there was also quite a lot that I was indifferent to. I know of some people who have loved this book and others who have not got on so well with it, I think I’m best placed in between the two of those extremes. Instead of my usual review I’m going to split this into the bits I liked and the bits that didn’t quite tickle my pickle!

Things I liked:

The writing style. I mean there are some scenes in this book that are so beautifully written and I could have reread some of these sentences over and over. The descriptions in this book are spot on.
The summery feel. I’m definitely glad that I read this book during the summer or some of its charm would have been lost on me.
I thought the way this book dealt with grief was really well written. Gottie is stuck in her own cycle of grief after her grandfather dies and I thought this was quite nicely represented and made a lot of sense by the end of the book.
The romance was okay. It’s not a couple I would fall head over heels for but it definitely had its moments where I thought it was completely adorable.

Things I liked less:

So I know this book is about time travel BUT there was just too much science for me. I couldn’t understand some of what was being said and as a result I found myself skimming sections of the book when I could see all the science jargon. I feel like I needed it to either be a contemporary or a science fiction, my brain couldn’t handle both concepts. But I’m sure plenty of readers will love this!
I felt confused sometimes. The time travel wasn’t always clear to me and then I couldn’t quite follow what was happening (my skimming won’t have helped here!)
I wanted more of a connection with the characters. There is a great cast of characters here but I felt like I never got to know most of them well enough to truly care about them. I just missed that connection that I so wanted.

There is plenty for people to like about this book; I think it just wasn’t quite for me. If you love Physics/Maths and romance then this is definitely a book you would like so I highly recommend it.

An interesting contemporary that tackles first love, family, friends and of course physics!

The Square Root of Summer had plenty of potential and no small amount of pre-publication hype. The premise is solid and its contemporary edging will appeal to fans of Emery Lord and Kasie West. Unfortunately, the writing style is baffling - confused, clunky, and completely unenjoyable. It made it difficult to invest in Gottie's time travel or scientific adventures as the suspension of disbelief just wasn't persuasive. The characters are forgettable and the plot gets lost in jargon and jumping from scene to scene. A disappointing discovery given it was so hyped.