13 new YA releases that belong on your May reading list
By Lacy Baugher
May 2021 release: Hurricane Sumer – Asha Bromfield
The debut novel from Riverdale actress Asha Bromfield, Hurricane Summer is a story that means to explore the complexities of becoming a woman and all the pain, loss, and beauty that is inherent in the experience of growing up.
Eighteen-year-old Tilla is the Black Canadian daughter of Jamaican immigrants. When she and her sister Mia depart Toronto to spend two months in Jamaica with their father, Tilla thinks that it’s finally her chance to build a real relationship with the man whose affection she has desperately sought for most of her life.
Yet there’s more waiting for Tilla in Jamaica than even she realizes, and she at once experiences a sexual awakening and a cultural backlash intent on shaming her for it. When the threat of a hurricane cuts her off completely from the outside world, Tilla will have to learn how to survive and flourish in the middle of the destruction of everything she loves.
Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction.
The official synopsis describes the story as follows.
"Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica. When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him. In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane."
Hurricane Summer is available on May 4.