by KB Meniado

THE STORY

It’s not just a  weekend for Lux Castelo. She has a plan, of course.

Phase One: Escape to the beach for a music festival.
Phase Two: Deal with what she can’t control.
Phase Three: Return to reality whole and ready.

Nowhere in that plan is Micah Jacinto, self-proclaimed adventurer and the kind of boy with his head stuck in the clouds and the moon inked on his arm—everything her rational sense tells her to stay away from. And yet Lux finds herself welcoming the distraction. As they spend the entire weekend together, Micah leads her to rediscover the lost pieces of herself amidst the excitement and the confusion of a raving mosh pit.

But all weekends come to an end and Lux needs to return to the dreaded reality she’s running away from. Does being brave enough to leave summer behind mean being brave enough to ask Micah to stay? Read reviews: Goodreads

WHAT I LIKED

It’s not difficult to be attracted to this book. For one, the cover is undeniably pretty. Plus, what more could bring good luck to a reading year ahead than a book splashed in shades of 2017’s Color of the Year? The title’s not bad either—in three words alone, it already lays what’s down the road: music, sunshine and some splashing (of emotions, later I would come to find.)

But that’s only Phase One. Phase Two is even better. Lux and Micah are fascinating characters. They are both complicated yet still likable, and dream-like but still relatable. So are the rest of the cast (even Kara with the baby blue mermaid hair), what with other faces in the #romanceclass universe popping here and there. Getting to know them is like stepping on the water by the shore—you feel the desire to go deeper. (Or, if you prefer to reference music, it’s like hearing the first notes of your favorite song.) Frankly, that didn’t come as a surprise, as such is almost a guarantee in this author’s works. Six de los Reyes has a flair in bringing out what is important and relevant in the multidimensional characters, and worlds, she creates.

Phase III is, of course, the best. This is where you find yourself wading through chest-deep water, or if you may, singing that powerful transition between the bridge and the chorus of a song. This is where Sounds Like Summer hits you right where it hurts, and before you say I didn’t warn you, it is not just a simple case of running away and wanting a do-over. Lux has this constant dark cloud inside of her, something some of us might find too familiar. She’s perpetually worrying, fearing failure and needing to disappear. You know that feeling of accidentally stepping over that traitorous border of the ocean? Lux reminds me of that—nerve-wracking.

“I’m a walking grenade and I know it. And my factory defect is I have no fuse. I’m always at risk of combustion, so I have to keep it all in. If I let go, I’ll only burst into shatter glass. Because that’s what broken people do, they shatter.”

“Besides, if anyone really knew me, if anyone really knew the thoughts running through my mind, would anyone at all ever want me?”

“How am I supposed to leave what makes me unhappy when it’s inside my head?”

Speaking of, having somebody like Micah being there and the possibility of that somebody willing to help fill the gap (or merely understand you) brings a different kind of tingling. An adventurer, a musician and a romantic at heart, he sounds like love.

“He’s given me so much adventure than I could ever imagine in a weekend. He made me dance, he made me move, he made me feel. His songs are amazing, his lyrics are haunting. He’s sweet sensitive and smart. He’s also really very cute. At first, all I could think of is: Please, I hope I don’t fall in love with you. But now, I’m just: Shit, I could really fall in love with you.”

“If this is what it will feel like when he touches me, like a thousand waves crashing to the shore, like a million lights spiraling down from the sky, then I don’t think I’ll survive it.”

On the very top of all that? Micah is also a big believer in passion.

“The way I see it, you find something that makes you happy or maybe it finds you, then that’s what you do. You just do it. Told you, you got to make room for happy. Nudies and shells. We need more of that in your life.”

*kill me with kilig, thank you*

tl;dr

Sounds Like Summer is insightful, relevant and at times, funny. This story of courage and self-understanding blown in by music and sea breeze is worth reading any time of the year. ☁

Note: I received an e book in exchange for honest thoughts.