Until Summer Comes Around
By Glenn Rolfe

Love, loss, betrayal, and the undead…

I was first attracted to this title when I learned it was a coming-of-age story. That’s all it took - I didn’t know anything else, other than the fact that it was written by Glenn Rolfe (an author I’d been meaning to read for months). As I began reading the book the other day, I was surprised to find it was about vampires. Had I known this ahead of time, I honestly don’t know if I would have requested it. You see, I’m not a fan of vampires. The same goes for zombies and other traditional monsters of horror. I tend to avoid those stories, as a result. That being said, Until Summer Comes Around still called to me with its promise of a good coming-of-age story. Basically, someone falls in love with a vampire - what could go wrong? Yes, this has been done before. However, switch the genders around and set it in a beachside town of Maine, and you’ve got the potential for something in the vein of Joyland (an amazing summer read by Stephen King). 

It’s 1986 (another plus), and Rocky (perfectly named for this) is on the cusp of manhood. He’s learning to drive. He’s exploring the beach scene and music. He’s attending concerts and hanging out at the local amusement park (complete with a beachside Ferris wheel). He’s just met a sexy and mysterious girl that has the hots for him. This should be the summer of his young life, right? Well, it turns out his new love is a vampire, as is her family. This could be forgiven, surely, if not for her crazy and blood lusting brother, Gabriel. People start going missing on a daily basis. That’s not good, is it? But Rocky wants his girl, November, to be by his side as much as possible. She will, after all, leave with the summer (just like all the other tourists).

Rolfe has an easy and breezy way of writing; it’s uncomplicated and flows wonderfully. Until Summer Comes Around often brought to mind the reading of a YA novel. There’s very little adult content here, aside from a little sex and violence. Otherwise, it doesn’t come off as a dark and mature story. Maybe this impression was influenced by my previous book being a heavy read (Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling), but this was also a quick ride (less than 250 pages). I blew through it in two days without effort - that’s a good sign.

The story wasn’t as developed as I would have liked, but it moved well and offered a disastrous romance surrounded by death. I can see why so many early readers have enjoyed it - the concept is tried and true, and there’s a promise of a high body count. With more growth in the characters and their relations, I think things could have been much better. Plenty of secondary faces come and go in mere pages, which was understandable (given their existence was to die) but also a little distracting at times.

Until Summer Comes Around is a fitting title, considering how well it will read during the summer. It doesn’t have the power of Joyland, but it does have a draw to it that kept me interested and entertained from start to finish. Romance? Check. Blood and gore? Check. The beach and sun? Check. A Ferris wheel? The 80’s? Good tunes? Check, check, check. Radical! Also, these aren’t traditional vampire tropes, which was much appreciated. There are some valuable differences made from the vampires we are typically fed in the mainstream, so Rolfe did us good there as well. 

Ultimately, I do recommend this as an easy summer read for a weekend beach trip. It will do you some good.

Purchase Link – https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Around-Fiction-Without-Frontiers/dp/1787583929/ 

https://bookshop.org/books/until-summer-comes-around/9781787583924

Review by Aiden Merchant

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I received a paperback copy of this novel from the publisher, Flame Tree Press, for review consideration.