Adults look back on adolescence and see it as the beginning of their lives when you can be hopeful and make good decisions that can lead to a good life. But even teenagers in the best of circumstances rarely look on this time as a positive and opportunistic experience. They have a lot of fears, worries, and pressures that make this part of life tough to handle. And they find comfort in knowing that others feel the same.
Summer’s Second by Jeff Billington is a YA novel that plays on the fears and insecurities of adolescence. Piling a laundry list of problems on a fictional character and watching them navigate through these hurdles can be comforting to the average reader who is going through their own list of problems, whether bigger or smaller than the ones faced by the characters in this book. Below is my review of Summer’s Second followed by an interview with Billington.
Summer’s Second plot summary
Asher Summer is a high schooler trying to survive life in a small, dead end town where his mother drinks to excess, his father has disowned him, and his half-brother is constantly trying to kill him. On top of that, he has gotten his girlfriend pregnant, stalling his long shot plans to earn a scholarship to give him a way out of his life.
Asher has support from his co-worker, Sally, his extended family, and his English teacher who helps him look for ways to foot the bill in college. But when day-to-day life consists of not always having enough to eat, wearing ripped and used clothes, and running from his bullies, any chance at freedom from his miserable life seems too distant to even consider.
The story
Summer’s Second is, admittedly, a depressing tale. It’s tough to watch Asher suffer through the issues that he deals with both before and during the events of the story. He moves through life timid and waiting for the ax to drop on the next problem that he faces, most of which are beyond his control.
You’ll find yourself tensing up while reading, ready for the next challenge that Asher has to take on. And you can’t blame his pessimism at thinking that things are never going to get better. The story is told entirely from his point of view. So, anything that goes on with any of the characters outside of his presence is merely hinted at as he is too wrapped up in his own problems to pay attention to what’s going on around him.
The characters
Billington populates his story with distinct and three dimensional characters who interact with Asher. Asher himself is very passive and accepting of his situation, despite wading through with gritted teeth. He dreams of a better life, but it’s his distant yet strong support system that give him any hope or help.
Like most people, Asher is hesitant to give up the little good in his world for a chance at a much greater happiness. His life is not great, but it’s predictable. And his mother isn’t there for him, but he feels obligated to be there for her.
He lets others walk all over him, and the only person he pushes back on is his father, Tom Summer. His father made the mistake of getting two women pregnant and having to choose which one to support. And that choice left both sons bitter and one neglected.
The message
Asher’s life is the product of many bad decisions that were made by others beyond his control. And as a result, he’s afraid to make any choices on his own. It’s not until he dodges a few bullets that he begins to take action, first in small steps, such as cleaning up the yard and making himself look more presentable. This then leads to larger changes, such as asking his extended family for help with larger projects and eventually coming to terms with the idea that he is gay and how it opens him up to a more accepting and comfortable world.
My recommendation
I recommend Summer’s Second to adolescent readers who are going through a rough time and looking to connect with someone who is truly in a hole and has trouble finding a way out. I rooted for Asher throughout the book, but his pessimism and the piling on of troubles did start to get to me at a certain point. A few moments of levity could have helped with that. But the purpose was to build intensity and pressure in order to make the turn of events in the story much more satisfying.
I was also hoping for a more definitive ending. It ends with a ton of exposition rather than action, but it seems to steer towards a hopeful future for at least some of the characters. So, if you’re looking for angsty teen story with real stakes and relatable characters, definitely check out Summer’s Second.
My rating
An interview with Jeff Billington
Did you outline the story in advance, or did the events play out as you wrote?
An outline existed in my head, though I never wrote it out. I have a habit of thinking through the stories I’m working on right as I go to sleep at night. That’s when I built this one out, thinking about it even years before I finally started writing it.
What was the easiest part of writing the book? The hardest? What did you do if/when you become stuck in order to get back on track?
The easiest was putting the plot together. It naturally unfolded from my mind, largely pulling from some of my observations and experiences of growing up in a rural area.
The hardest was making sure the characters had depth to them. For example, the character of Jessica started as pretty one-dimensional, so I needed to give her more sympathy and understanding.
Any time I got stuck writing, I just powered though, realizing my transition or plot arc might be rough at that point, but I feel if I can keep moving, I can smooth out those issues in the revisions process.
Do you have a favorite character?
Yeah, it’s Asher, the main character. While the story if fictional, I admit to instilling some of my own reflections from that age, as well as broadly my hopes and dreams from that time. I didn’t personally deal with most of the issues he does, but I did imbue him with some of my own reasoning for the challenges I did face at that age.
Asher is a very timid character except when dealing with his dad. Why do you think his dad brings out his aggressive side despite being one of the least threatening characters?
That’s tied to his need to protect his mother. Throughout the book, the points where his anger or willingness to confront emerges is always tied to what he feels as slights against her. It also happens when his grandmother suggests he come and live with her and his uncle’s family. But to him there is no one else in the story who treated his mother more unfairly than his father.
Do you have any dream casting in mind if Summer’s Second ever becomes a movie? And/or do you have a dream narrator for the audiobook?
I’d love to see Noah Schnapp (Stranger Things) as Asher, but for the rest I don’t have specific thoughts. For an audiobook I’d love to have someone like Chasten Buttigieg (husband of U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg), as he has an even, sensible tone to his voice and has personally had to face the struggle of being a teenage outsider.
You wrote on your website that you draw from everyday observations to use as details in your stories. Is the town in the book drawn from any place in particular, or is it formed from several different places?
The town is a conglomeration of several of the towns around the corner of the Ozarks where I grew up, places like Cassville, Monett, Aurora, Mount Vernon and Bolivar in Missouri.
What advice do you have for readers who may feel hopeless like Asher or are going through any of the issues that he has to face?
Look for someone to talk to, such as reaching out to the folks at the Trevor Project or some other hotline, if there is no one in their life that they feel comfortable talking to about these topics. Sometimes, all you need is to talk through your problems to help you come to terms with what you can’t change and set a path forward for facing the challenges that you do have the power to overcome.
What is the best compliment you’ve received about your book?
One of the reviews on Amazon refers to it as a “coming of age novel for the modern era,” and I hadn’t thought about it that way until I read it. But it made me realize that is exactly what I was wanting to write, and I really appreciate someone else saying what I hadn’t quite placed yet.
Are there any plans for a prequel or sequel to Summer’s Second or a story about another character in the book?
I have a yes and a yes answer for this question. I have a follow up book in the early stages of drafting, set 15 years later when Asher returns to the town with his husband. It will see him as an adult who is finally able to heal some of the wounds of his rough childhood.
Additionally, I have a second novel releasing on June 20th of this year, Chicken Dinner News, which is set in the same fictional town as Summer’s Second. The only notable crossover character between them is schoolteacher Connie Donovan, who is a secondary character in both books.
Author links
Links will open in a new tab.
Buy it!
Pin it!
