Summerween 2025: Wrap-Up (+ Mini Reviews)

Hello, everyone! I can't believe that Summerween is already over. This was the first time that I took part in this readathon, and I've had an amazing time reading my picks. As I've told you on my TBR post, I selected 5 books to read during this week. And I'm happy to announce that I managed to get to all of them. As a general observation, I have to say that it was a good week, as I didn't hate any of the books. In this post, I'm going to go through my thoughts about each one of them. 

#1 We Live Here Now - Sarah Pinborough

The first book I picked up was We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough. Even though I haven't read the author's biggest successes, I've read The Language of Dying a couple of years ago. That novella was so amazing that I've been wanting to explore more of her work. Therefore, Summerween gave me the excuse to pick up her latest book, which was published in May.

We Live Here Now is a haunted house story. And what the author did the best was to create an eerie atmosphere, even from the very first page. Was everything that Emily experienced post-sepsis hallucinations and old house noises, or was there something more sinister going on? 

However, the atmosphere and the house's story/power were ultimately the most enjoyable parts of the book. My main issue with the book was that I didn't care about Emily and Freddie as a couple that much. And I couldn't especially stand Freddie as his character was doing one of the most annoying things for me - since almost the beginning, he constantly mentioned that he had a secret, that he hoped that Emily wouldn't find etc. When the revealed came much later, it was underwhelming to say the least.

Ultimately, I'm not mad at reading this book. My issues aside, I still believe that reading it in the dark was a great experience. 

My rating: 3.75*

#2 To Be Taught If Fortunate - Becky Chambers

The next book I picked up was To Be Taught If Fortunate. I cannot describe how much up my alley was this book. I'd originally selected it for the "sky in the cover" prompt, but it could easily fit the "in my TBR over a year" one, as I've been meaning to read it for quite some it. And it was one of the cases that, in retrospect, made me wonder what took me so long.  

To Be Taught If Fortunate is a sci-fi book, focusing on exploration. In this book, we are following a group of scientists that visit four exoplanets with indications they contain life to study them. I don't want to say much about the story as it is a pretty short book and I don't want to spoil it for you. You will have to trust me when I tell you to just read it. 

However, what I can say is that it has a cozy feel, just like the other books I've read by Becky Chambers. We follow these characters approach these new planets, becoming the first humans on them, setting up their equipment, and studying the new creatures they find there. But with this backdrop, the book also becomes a conversation starter about space exploration and what we can learn from it, our relationship to our home planet, and the moral dilemma of keeping up space exploration when the Earth is going through a climate crisis (or a crisis in general). When I read the epigraph at the end of the book, I couldn't hold my tears.

My rating: 4.75* (honestly thinking of raising it to 5*)

#3 Carrie - Stephen King

The book I chose to read for the "more than one year on my TBR" list was none other than Carrie by Stephen King. It's a horror classic that I was interested in reading for so many years, being an influential work in the genre and pop culture in general. 

What can I say about Carrie? Honestly, what new can I offer to the conversation? I can't believe that this was Stephen King's debut! The book was gripping from the very beginning, with a scene that will certainly get engraved in your mind. And as the story progresses, you get to feel about Carrie and understand what drove her to do what she did.

What I enjoyed the most about the book was its format. Carrie uses a mixed media format, containing witness interviews, excerpts from books and studies, along with parts where we follow the characters' thoughts. This way, the narrative becomes so interesting as we can see the lasting effects of Carrie's actions, and the fear of the TK gene.

The only thing that I would have loved more in this book is a bit more horror elements. Yes, the story and Carrie's actions are horrifying, but we could honestly use some more. 

My rating: 4.5*

#4 This Is Where We Talk Things Out - Caitlin Marceau

For the horror novella prompt, I had selected This Is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau. And let me tell you that I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Even though, this novella was published in 2022, I've only recently heard about it. After reading it, I'm very interested in finding whether the author has published anything else.

This Is Where We Talk Things Out is all about a weekend, where Miller will spend some time with her estranged mother. Sylvie, the mother, takes Miller to a cabin up in the mountains, where there is poor reception. On top of that, a snow storm takes place during the weekend.

This novella impressed me by how intense it felt. Even though, I can't say that I relate to the theme of the book, I could understand where Miller comes from and her complicated relationship with Sylvie. With each scene, more and more horrifying things were happening, and I could feel the isolation and despair.

Up until 2/3 of the book, I thought that this would be a 5*. However, one of the major twists of the book was predictable since early on in the book, and the ending felt a bit disappointing. But it's still an amazing horror novella.

My rating: 4*

#5 Strange Pictures - Uketsu

At this point, I had already completed all 5 prompts, as I'd read parts of the previous books and the entirety of the novella in the dark. But I still wanted to read the fifth book on my TBR, Strange Pictures by Uketsu. This is a translated book from Japanese, and it's not a secret that I love Japanese literature. 

Strange Pictures is a mystery novel, containing four different cases that are seemingly unrelated to one another. What they all have in common is that all victims (in most of the stories) have left a strange picture (or multiple ones in some cases) behind that reveal the true circumstances of their murder. 

There is no denying that the concept is very clever and quite unique. However, I can't say that I enjoyed the execution all that much. In some of the cases, I was interested in seeing who the culprit was, and that's what kept me reading. And the connection of the stories was definitely an element that saved some of the stories for me. 

But, I can't hide that I found the writing a bit too simplistic and repetitive. The writer chose to repeat some parts to make things as detailed as possible, a thing that became pretty tiring after a while. Moreover, I found some elements of the stories to not add up that well. How can a 64-year-old woman pass a young woman just with enough makeup? Plus, some of the conclusions drawn from the pictures seemed like an overstretch to me. 

In any case, I'm glad that I've finally read this book, and I would still give Strange Houses a go to see if I like it better. 

My rating: 2.5*

This was it for me! 

How did Summerween go for you? Which books did you end up reading during the readathon?