I just... couldn't finish reading this. Some of the characters were interesting, but some were so frustrating I started skipping over large portions of their tales. The book comes across as preachy, like it has a strong but subversive political agenda, so I put it down halfway through. Might try it again someday, but who knows. ( )

Summer of Love is a beautiful work of literature encapsulated within the science-fiction genre. It invites you on an emotionally jostling roller coaster ride.
Lisa Mason is a prolific author who weaves a time-travel story that delves into many underlying themes at a micro and macro level during the famous "Summer of Love" pandemic in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, in 1967.
The author also descends underneath the epidermis of the street's kaleidoscopic and "groovy" ambiance to reveal what is and what is not through each character's eyes -- and whether or not we can rely on hope to wake us up the next morning.
I felt the characters (even the secondary ones), the moments, the sights, the sounds and the smells of the time. As if I myself was time traveling. I found myself not only reading but tasting each word; sometimes going back to read a sentence, a paragraph or a page again.
This is a novel I will not hesitate to recommend. ( )

Not as bad as expected. A part of the Storybundle, I wasn't going to read it at all because I don't like time travels generally, and I don't much like romances either. TBH to get the most out of this 'you had to be there, man'. It's set in the Height-Ashbury during the 70s summer of Love, as the title implies. Quite a few of the references and famous moments probably went over my head. I do wonder if the author genuinely experienced time there, or is just going form second hand reports.

Anyway the plot is fairly basic. A time traveller has to ensure a 14yr old girl gets through the summer of love relatively unscathed as her descendants go on to become world president, but it's an era of flux, and the possibilities are high that the universe could collapse instead. He ahs very littel details about her, the first problem is finding her. We alternate between his and her viewpoints and experiences. Once you've got the gist it all flows fairly well if somewhat predictably - no great effort is made ot avoid paradoxes because this is the way it's always been. ( )

(Originally on Amazon)

While not the best book I've ever read, it is a good contribution to the alternate history genre. I do, however, find some fault with the closed time loop logic used as part of the plot line here.

I found the characterizations very real, but the historical name dropping (guest appearances by Janice Joplin and Bill Graham of Fillmore fame to name a few) a little annoying, but relevant nonetheless. I was a little older than some of the characters in the story during the time described and I felt that the characterizations were a true amalgam of the real Hippie movement of the time. Many genuine spiritual entrepreneurs were being replaced with monetary entrepreneurs by the late 1960's.

Chiron's message to the generations preceding him is also based on truth. It indeed will be a tragedy if we do not learn to use our technology to preserve our planet, not under domed preserves, but as a whole.

This is where I have some dissatisfaction with the book. If the story is to be a call for moral and ecological awareness, the message is not strong enough. The theme is found throughout the book, but is not brought out fully enough. The time travel tenets seem borrowed from an early Sci-Fi story, which I can't recall fully at the moment, and are not fully adhered to. I have a logical problem with someone being
both a progenitor and an ancestor of themselves.

All in all, the story is a well written fine read and I recommend it to all who enjoy some mental exercise.

(Note: since this was originally written, I've changed my rating of the book downward) ( )

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