Welcome to The Summer I Remembered Everything by Catherine Con Morse book tour hosted by Toppling Stacks Tours. Things get messy, funny, awkward, and emotional in all the best ways.

About The Summer I Remembered Everything

In search of a summer escape from her overbearing family, an Asian-Latine teenager becomes the mentee to a chic elderly woman. But as her mentor’s memory starts to fade, the teenager is confronted with a choice that may jeopardize their friendship.

Emily Chen-Sanchez can’t do anything right. She’s been grounded for a bad grade; she can’t stop fighting with her perfect older sister; everyone’s tense because her mother’s just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer; and she hasn’t spoken to her best friend Matt in two weeks, four days, and about seven hours (not that she’s counting).

Her new summer job is the perfect as companion to an eclectic, lively, Super Southern elderly lady, Mrs. Granucci.  All Emily has to do is help Mrs. G ‘remember” her likes, dislikes, anything Mrs. G has a habit of forgetting, even Emily’s name. Emily feels closer to Mrs. G than everyone else until Mrs. G falsely accuses Emily. The betrayal will have ramifications for them both, and Emily must make a decision that will change their lives forever.

The Summer I Remembered Everything is a story of longing for an escape, finding yourself, caring for someone with an illness, and learning that sometimes the right decision is always the hardest.

Content Warning: Chronically ill parent, cancer, dementia

Review for The Summer I Remembered Everything

Looking for a perfectly bittersweet summer read? The Summer I Remembered Everything delivers all the nostalgic, sassy, heartfelt vibes you didn’t know you needed.

Emily Chen-Sanchez is grounded, not talking to her best friend, and her mom’s health might be in serious jeopardy—so yeah, life’s kind of a mess. To escape the pressure cooker that is her house, Emily lands a summer gig as a companion to an eccentric elderly lady. Sounds simple, right? Of course not. Things get messy, funny, awkward, and emotional in all the best ways.

This book totally transported me back to those complicated summers of my youth. Emily’s inner monologue? Gold. I adored being inside her head. The story balances real-life struggles with breezy, readable chapters that kept me hooked.

If you’re craving a coming-of-age story with heart, humor, and just the right touch of summer magic—this one’s for you.

About the Author

Catherine Con Morse’s debut novel, THE NOTES, was shortlisted for the CRAFT first chapters contest. A Kundiman fellow, she received her MFA from Boston University, where she taught undergraduate creative writing for several years. Her work appears in Joyland, Letters, HOOT, Bostonia, and elsewhere, and has been a finalist for the Beacon Street Prize and the Baltimore Review fiction prize. While writing THE NOTES, she was one of the inaugural Writers in Residence at Porter Square Books, where she enjoyed writing in the back office and eating croissants with her cafe discount.

Catherine attended college on a music scholarship at the University of South Carolina, where she received a B.M. in piano performance. She also holds an Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. In high school, Catherine attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a public arts boarding school. While there, she was as intrigued with her piano teacher as Claire is with Dr. Li. Catherine continues to play and occasionally teach piano today. Most recently, she taught English at Choate Rosemary Hall, and lives in the Connecticut River Valley with her husband and daughter.

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The Summer I Remembered Everything Book Tour

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