Blog Tour: The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood - Review and Author Q&A!

The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood 

Publishing Date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 304 pages
Young Adult Contemporary

The Premise from the Publisher: "This is what it means to love someone. This is what it means to grieve someone. It's a little bit like a black hole. It's a little bit like infinity. Gottie H. Oppenheimer is losing time. Literally. When the fabric of the universe around her seaside town begins to fray, she's hurtled through wormholes to her past: To last summer, when her grandfather Grey died. To the afternoon she fell in love with Jason, who wouldn't even hold her hand at the funeral. To the day her best friend Thomas moved away and left her behind with a scar on her hand and a black hole in her memory. Although Grey is still gone, Jason and Thomas are back, and Gottie's past, present, and future are about to collide-and someone's heart is about to be broken. With time travel, quantum physics, and sweeping romance, The Square Root of Summer is an exponentially enthralling story about love, loss, and trying to figure it all out, from stunning debut YA voice, Harriet Reuter Hapgood" (Roaring Brook Press). 

My overall thoughts and review: When I was first asked to participate in this blog tour, I was definitely intrigued by the premise of the book. As some of you may know, I'm a pretty big whovian so I quite like the time travel theme. This was a YA contemporary (one of my favorite genres) and it had time travel? I was in! This story follows Gottie who has experienced quite a lot in her past, the death of her mother, the death of her grandfather, Grey and also heartbreak with her brother's best friend, Jason. I loved learning about Grey and how important he was to Gottie and Ned. Family was a huge factor in the book and it was just nice having that as a focal point of a book. For example, Gottie's relationship with her father and Gottie's relationship with her brother. It tackled themes like the death of a loved one, but also in Gottie's case, what happens when an older sibling moves away. I also really enjoyed how the story handled the concept of "firsts" but also introduced, first, seconds and thirds and so on, and the order in which you do them (I thought this was super cute). I loved the romantic part of the story. I wasn't too interested in the story of Jason (tbh, when I read the premise of him not holding her hand at the funeral, I was already "meh" about him. But then when I read the book, I was even more "meh" haha). I LOVED Thomas, and it was so cool to learn that he was previously in Toronto and to have mentions of Toronto sprinkled throughout the text. He is such an interesting character and I loved how he challenged Gottie and questioned her at times. He is also a baker which is super cute. The only thing that kind of went over my head at times was all the science/math. Physics was never my strong suit, so quantum physics was a little difficult for me to grasp. It was nice to see a character who actually did some homework in a book and mention of schoolwork however. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I think it is a great summer read about love, loss and growing up. :)

My rating of the book: ✮✮✮✮ (4/5 stars) 

Now available for purchase at:
Chapters/Indigo, Kobo Books, Amazon and Book Depository (Free Worldwide Shipping)

And now for part of the book tour where Harriet took the time to answer a question for us book bloggers! :D Thank you so much, Harriet for taking the time to answer! 

Author Question and Answer 

1. What do you hope readers take away from the book?

Time. To take their time with everything – from making decisions about the future (even when school and parents and deadlines are putting the squeeze on you) to understanding that grief and healing, whether that’s a romantic heartbreak, or a friendship falling apart, or bereavement, can take a really long time. Not to beat yourself up about that, or feel you should be over it by a certain timeframe. But by the same token, life is short – I look back at myself when I was younger and wonder what I was afraid of, why I was unhappy or hesitant or unkind to myself a lot of the time, what a lot of time I wasted. So: be bold. Be fearless. Say yes.

 And that's a wrap! Many thanks to the lovely folks at Raincoast Books for organizing a blog tour. Be sure to check out the other stops on the blog tour because Harriet also answered questions on everyone's blog! :D 

Disclaimer: An advanced reader's copy of the book was provided by Raincoast Books for participation in the book tour. All opinions of the book are my own.