Perfect Summer

by Karen King

Set in the future in a society obsessed with perfection, 15 year old Morgan can't help being a bit envious of her best friend, Summer. Summer is beautiful, rich and seems to have an effortlessly perfect life. Whereas Morgan isn't so rich, or beautiful and her younger brother Josh has Down's syndrome, which according to the government, and society in general, is a crime. Then Josh is kidnapped and the authorities aren't inter-ested, so Morgan and Summer decide to investigate. They, along with another teenager Jamie whose sister, Holly, has also been kidnapped, uncover a sinister plot involving the kidnapping of disabled children and find themselves in terrible danger. Can they find Josh and Holly before it’s too late?

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Karen King is an Amazon international bestselling author of psychological suspense and women's fiction.

Her 7th psychological suspense novel, Don't Trust Him, was published on 3 April 2025 by Bookouture and her 'golden years' novel, The Runaway Wives, was published by Boldwood on 24th March 2025. This was her 12th woman's fiction novel.

Karen has also had 120 children’s books, two young adult novels, and several short stories for women’s magazines published. Her early writing career was spent working on various teenage and children's magazines.

Her suspense novels The Mother In Law, The Perfect Stepmother and The Stranger in my Bed and her romantic novel The Cornish Hotel by the Sea all became International Amazon bestsellers.

Reviews

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 3 out of 5]

King's debut YA novel is an emotional story which deals with a contemporary issue most teens and adults face almost every day.

Read full review in the 2013 June issue of InD’tale Magazine.

[Hayley Hemming · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was brilliant and made you think about perfection and what's beautiful and what isn't.

Full review to be on my blog later and on here...
Gotta go to work!

FULL REVIEW

My creative writing teacher is called Karen King and I was so thrilled when she gave me a copy of her YA Book Perfect Summer to read and review for her. I'd already read the back when she brought it into class and I was desperate to read it :)
I mean it was such a good topic to write about. Especially seeing as society now is obsessed with perfection and being perfect and beautiful and Karen gave an insight into what the future could be like.

Morgan is such a likable character and the fact that she thinks the same things as normal teenagers do, makes you take her into your heart. She has the whole doubt... of not being perfect in a perfect society and how she compares her self to her best friend Summer, because everyone has self doubt at times.
And I really liked Jamie and his background story was sad. I like to think a relationship grows between him and Morgan
And Summer... well... at first I thought oh great she's going to be a stuck up bitch but she actually wasn't that bad. She helped Morgan and Jamie at first until circumstances happened. And yeah she's obsessed with perfection too and she does know she's beautiful and I actually liked her but at the end of the book I think her true colours showed a bit.

For a first YA novel it was very thought provoking and it really made you think about how we perceive ourselves and others because everyone is perfect, whether they are disabled or not... okay so people do have their flaws but disabled people don't know any different. They are perfect, to their families and to the people who love them.

I'm just so glad Karen wrote this book and that I got to read it because its really made me stop and think about my life.

I hope Karen writes more YA and I get to read them.

Karen in a brilliant author and an even amazing person and I'm lucky I got the chance to meet her and to be taught by her.

A definite 5 out of 5

Its only available on e-reader at the moment and here's the link to buy it: 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00B4...

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect Summer is a YA Thriller. The story opens with your normal teenager stuff with Morgan and her friend Summer. Summer seems to have the perfect life and perfect family. The author hints that there may be danger ahead. Then Josh, Morgan’s brother that has Down ’s syndrome goes missing. My stomach was in knots worry about what they were doing to Josh and was he still alive. I was holding my breath as Morgan and Jamie were running from the LEF. Morgan appeared to be a normal teenager. I felt her character was authentic (worrying about boys, makeup and her image). Then you see her realize how trivial those things are when her brother is missing. She meets Jamie who’s sister with cerebal palsy has also gone missing. Jamie was very resourceful and I loved how Morgan’s image of him continued to change throughout their time together. The story line was fascinating and kept my attention. Could also be a good book club discussion book. What role does the government play with the ‘imperfect’ people using the government’s insurance, what is morally right to do in the name of research, etc.
You can see my full review at More Than a Review dot com where I rate the level of sex, violence, language and drug/alcohol use in books.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for the Wicked Reads Review team.


I found this book slow going, it could be because I am not used to reading books that are written in first person. So I found the whiny tendency of her thoughts in the first chapter rather annoying, once I got past that first chapter this story started to take off. The more Morgan and Jamie dug around looking for their missing siblings the more I was interested in this. Trying to figure out right along with them why nobody seemed to care about these missing kids.
This is ended up being a really good story, I enjoyed the ending. The growth of Morgan through out the story.

With all this being said this story has a lesson in it. Nobody can truly decide what perfect is, that conforming to society is not a good thing.A good lesson wrapped up in a good story with some mystery and danger.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that really needed to be written, dealing with the pursuit of physical perfection in today's society and the damage it can cause, especially to teenagers. It's set in a future world not too far away from today, and very realistic- you can easily see society heading this way!

Such a low price for a fast-paced, memorable story with engaging characters and a hard-hitting storyline. Has a lot of heart and optimism to combat the heavy issues it deals with. No excuse to not download this one and get stuck in, no matter what age you are, and it'll leave you with a lot to think about.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.

amazing synopsis, but I was, I was very disappointed in the end. The book read like a task list and there was no real emotional connection for me between any of the characters. There was no action for over half the book and once the action final got there it was so lack luster. The final just UGH moment for me was that in the end it was all so predictable.

[E.L. Irwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast paced book that really grips you and makes you think. What is perfection after all?

[Katrina Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review of Perfect Summer by Author Karen King

Wow what a book! I spend the night reading Perfect Summer after being inspired by author Karen’s reason for writing this book. It’s an emotional and chilling story about perfection at the extreme end of the line. Where the world doesn’t want those who are different, instead they want to change them as soon as possible into a perfect human with perfect family and a perfect life.

The story itself follows Morgan, Summer and Jamie. Morgan lives with her parents and her brother Josh who has down’s syndrome. Her parents love them both very much, but are being hounded to put him into a home because he doesn’t fit in a perfect world. Whereas her friend Summer seems to have it all, perfect parent and a rich life. However, one day Josh is kidnapped and Morgan soon finds out after meeting Jamie that her brother was not the only one. Will Jamie and Morgan find out what happened to Josh? Will they ever see him again? Read this book to find out.

I loved Josh’s character. I could just picture him while reading this book. I also thought Author Karen did a great job at highlighting what the need to be perfect could turn our world into. Also how important it is to be yourself and not let other find problems with you or your loved one, to the point it makes you chance because it’s socially expected.

Also, I found this book very gripping and emotional as well as chilling. Sometimes I could feel myself go cold when reading some of the scenes. I also thought the end was very emotional, unexpected and fitted this story perfectly.

I would recommend Perfect Summer if you enjoy books with a very strong storyline with great characters that you’ll want to travel with until the very end. Go check out this book.

[Chantelle Atkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read and one I think kids aged between 12 and 15 would really enjoy. Set in the future obsessed with perfect looks, teenager Morgan is envious of her best friend Summer, who appears to have it all. She's beautiful and rich and her brother and parents are all flawless. Morgan lives a more modest life, and her little brother Josh has Downs Syndrome. The Ministry is forever hassling her parents to put him in an institution, as society shuns those who are not perfect. One day Josh goes missing, and after the authorities barely bother to look for him, Morgan decides to take matters into her own hands. Teaming up with Jaime, whose little sister Holly has also gone missing, they discover that thirty disabled children have been potentially kidnapped and no one seems to care. Their fight to find out who has taken their siblings and why, leads them to a sinister discovery and a life threatening situation. This is a very fast paced book which didn't give me too much time to get to know the characters, but other than that, it made a really great read.