Please take this review with a grain of salt because I just finished reading this book and I am pissed with the ending.

It happened one summer is a perfectly average romance book. It delivers just about what one expects from books of this genre and nothing more. I liked the characters and especially the growth that Piper had during the book. I have a soft spot for romance stories that have imperfect characters who are still capable and deserving of love. I loved the small town community and cozy vibes. What I didn't like was the actual romance/relationship. Dylan Joseph mentioned in one of his videos that straight romances seem to keep mistaking lust for love and I couldn't agree more. I could definitely see the characters being attracted to each other but it didn't really seem like love to me. Everything in this book happens in the span of five(-ish?) weeks and while it definitely is possible to fall in love during that time, I needed more convincing to believe these two were actually in love. Piper seems to just fall in love with the first man in her life who treats her with basic respect and is interested in her personality.

I wasn't a huge fan of the plot. The first half of the book was sweet and I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their chemistry but the entire latter half of the book was troubled with different conflicts and fear thereof. The sweet moments didn't feel nearly rewarding enough to read through all that. I did appreciate the surprising maturity the characters had with their issues (except the end, smh) and they actually talked about their issues and fears, which was cool. It just wasn't enough to make me really root for them.