Book Review: Cruel Summer

Last week I read Cruel Summer by Morgan Elizabeth, which is part of her Season of Revenge series that I really enjoy. The first book is Tis the Season for Revenge and then last Christmas I read Big Nick Energy, which isn’t technically part of the series, but is a spinoff that I loved.

Cruel Summer follows Camile Thompson and Zach Anderson. Camile or Cami is one of Abbie’s best friends (from Tis the Season for Revenge) and an event planner. She gets a job at an exclusive beach club in Long Beach Island for the summer planning events for the club and also its wealthy clientele. On the night before her new job begins, she has a girls’ night with Abbie and Kat at The Fishery, a local bar and restaurant across the street from the Beach Club. Cami gets drunk with the girls and is completely oblivious to the fact that the bartender who has been catering to them all night is really into her.

In no time at all, Cami finds herself escaping to The Fishery for her meals and a break from the rich girls at the club that are trying to make her life miserable and confiding in Zach who is not only the bartender but owner of the restaurant. Zach is older, but very charming and seems to understand her in a way that no one else does. He is her escape from the drama at work with the “bitch pack” as they are known. Adding to the drama? Her new intern for the summer is her boss’s granddaughter, Olivia, who wants some experience in the business before starting her own PR firm. Olivia seems really nice, but is inadvertently part of the bitch pack since her soon-to-be twin stepsisters via her mom are the ringleaders. Can she trust Olivia? And to add to that – after starting to fall for Zach she learns Olivia is his daughter!

I really enjoyed this book and loved Zach. Cami was a little immature at times, especially with her need for revenge that seemed a little childish at times. I liked Olivia and actually really want to read her book so it’s on my fall tbr.

This is an age gap romance (Cami is 28 and Zach is 45), which is fine but I thought sometimes the mention of the ages didn’t make sense in some ways. For example, the bitch pack girls are around 23, which is only 5 years younger than Cami, but they call her old and things like that constantly. And then Cami acts like she’s a lot older than these girls, acting like they’re kids but again they are only a few years apart.

Anyway, I didn’t love Cami, but I did love the story between her and Zach! I’m looking forward to continuing on with the series!

Read this if you want a spicy romcom with the age gap trope.

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