Endless Summer, Book 3

Endless Summer, Book 3 is the third and final book of the Endless Summer series. It succeeds its first two books, Endless Summer, Book 1 and Endless Summer, Book 2.

Summary
''The world has been hurled backward in time by the strange power of La Huerta! To set things right, you'll embark on your greatest adventure yet.''

Chapter 1: Time Escapes Me
"The world has been hurled backward in time by the strange power of La Huerta! To set things right, you'll embark on your greatest adventure yet..."

Chapter 2: Tricks of the Trade
"Everything's for sale at the Vaanti marketplace! Finding your friends will require mastering some unexpected skills..."

Chapter 3: What Doesn't Kill Us
"A mysterious woman has stowed away on the Dorado. Who is she? And more importantly, when will you get to experience your first pirate raid?"

Chapter 4: You've Come Into Your Own
"An old nemesis resurfaces, a new friend is made, and the true nature of a ghost is investigated..."

Chapter 5: The More Things Change
"The Endless has arrived with startling news! Can you enlist the help of Anachronists to stop Rourke's plan?"

Chapter 6: The Ties That Break
"The Island's Heart is the key to averting a great crisis, but Rourke isn't likely to give up the half he holds easily..."

Chapter 7: Where I Needed You To Be
"Rourke has sent you back in time! A fateful wedding is underway at Rosencraft Manor, and your actions could change history..."

Chapter 8: You Are a Warrior
"Cetus is all that stands between you and reuniting the Island's Heart. With pirates on your side, can you bring the monster down for good?"

Chapter 9: All Our Yesterdays
"You and your friends are getting ready to deliver the Island's Heart to Vaanu... but someone's stolen it in the night!"

Chapter 10: I Was Lost Until You Found Me
"You've returned to Elyys'tel on the eve of a very special occasion! Are you ready to be handfasted with the one you love?"

Chapter 11: Like There's No Tomorrow
"Darkness looms over The Celestial... Rourke has activated the diabolical Project Janus! The battle for La Huerta begins."

Chapter 12: You Mean the World to Me
"While trapped in Rourke's vortex, it's up to you to make a decision that will affect all of time."

Endings
While trapped in the vortex, you are faced with a life changing decision - you must finish Project Janus and alter history, stop Rourke and stay on La Huerta forever or sacrifice yourself to remove all the time anomalies. The Endless calls out to you and shows you several memories of past timelines, both humorous and serious. The Catalysts are shown to be divided on what course of action to take; half of the group wants to follow through with Rourke's plan to see their loved ones again, while the other half believes that they all need to accept that the world is gone. You can choose one of three endings:

Rourke's ending: You decide to power the Omega Mech from Vaanu's energy. While giving you a normal life, all the progress in your relationships has been demoted to the way they were at the beginning of the series. You discover that Lila is still alive, but that Rourke has become a tyrannical Emperor with Rex Lundgren as a general for his army. That night while crossing the quad, you see a statue of Rourke as Hartfeld's founder. As you furiously blame him for altering history, creating a dystopia, and destroying their friendships, Diego calls out to you and offers his friendship. With a renewed sense of purpose, you turn back to Rourke's statue and vow to reclaim their friends and beat him again. The next morning, Diego asks you about your summer, in which you start recaping the events of the series for him, gaining Quinn and Sean's attention. You think to yourself "Everything in its own time", hinting that you will successfully rebuild your relationships.

Endless' ending: You decide to stay on La Huerta and start draining the energy from the Omega Mech back into Vaanu. Furious, Rourke attempts to tackle you off the Celestial, but you kick him into the vortex, which ends up killing him. After spending the next day together, your friends spend time to mourn their loved ones and the lost future. As Diego wonders if they really made the right choice, Jake and your character state that the island has everything they need.

Vaanu's ending: You decide to sacrifice yourself in order to stop Rourke's plan and save the world. Before sacrificing yourself, you freeze time and leave a message on Diego's phone. Diego (or the love interest you handfasted) says goodbye, stating that they'll never forget you. Before your consciousness leaves earth, you successfully teleport the group away from the tumbling Celestial, while returning Kele to his own time. Rourke discovers that his inventions are destroyed and the crystals he has collected have vanished, causing him to break down and sob hysterically. The group is rescued by the Coast Guard while discovering the message that you left for them. While going through the message, it is revealed that everyone has gone back to their homes, Aleister and Grace have become valedictorians, Quinn and Michelle have adopted the Fox, and Rourke is placed on trial for his crimes. Five years later, the group reconvenes on La Huerta to celebrate their friendship and honor your sacrifice.

Dating:
The dating feature for the Love Interest characters: (Sean, Jake, Estela, and Quinn) is carried over onto this book. If you pursued one of them in the previous book, you could have potentially ended at 2 full hearts at the end of Book 2 (with the exception of Quinn). The hearts, as mentioned previously have six stages and the more relationship points you gain with them, the more the hearts will fill in. When you choose to date them, you will start with half of one heart. You will also have the opportunity to date all of them at once, but you will have to choose one of them in the end. Moreover, at the end of Act VIII a handfasting ceremony will be held. Handfastings are commonly used in Wiccan and Pagan ceremonies. Nowadays, however, the handfasting is more literal: a couple will bind their hands together during the ceremony (before, during, or after reciting their vows), often to symbolize their connection and devotion to one another.


 * .5 heart = You are now dating LI!
 * 1 full heart = LI is now official with you!
 * 1.5 hearts = LI is crazy about you!
 * 2 full hearts = LI is serious about you! (You have to at least be serious with the LI of your choice in order to handfast him/her, otherwise it costs 20 diamonds)
 * 2.5 hearts = LI is in love with you!
 * 3 full hearts = LI is now soulmates with you!

In Chapter 2, it is mentioned how after you've significantly developed your relationship with one of the four love interests your character has been dating, they'll be ready to take the next step. If your character accepts their proposal, then you'll have the opportunity to become handfasted in a lavish ceremony with all of your friends present. The song that served as inspiration for the handfasting ceremony is Can't Help Falling In Love by Ingrid Michaelson.

Embers of Hope:
Your character has the chance to collect the eleven "Embers of Hope" of your friends throughout the book that'll offer a bonus scene each. In it, the future of your friends if they had never left for La Huerta is revealed. Collecting all of them will reveal the origin of the main character and La Huerta.

Soundtracks
Visit the soundtrack page for more soundtracks from Choices.

Spoilers

 * On November 21, 2017, a blog post about the book was released.
 * In early sessions of brainstorming for the book, Kara Loo, one of Pixelberry's writers, has tweeted a photo of one of their brainstorming sessions, where the terms Malatesta, Ghoost??? (sic), and "Time Raiders" were written on a whiteboard, on the left side of a drawing of La Huerta.
 * On January 29, 2018, it was revealed that Endless Summer was going on a break and would return in a few weeks.
 * For the second time, the term "mid-season break" was used to describe the hiatus of Endless Summer once Chapter 6 was published. By the time Chapter 7 was published, it had been 3 weeks.
 * The last time Pixelberry previously used the term was to describe the hiatus of Hero, Vol. 1.
 * Pixelberry's "What's Next" blog has stated that it was due to the writers wanting to make the final book as epic and mind-blowing as possible.
 * On February 16, 2018, it was confirmed that after a 3 week hiatus, Endless Summer would return on February 23, 2018.
 * Also on February 16, 2018, Pixelberry shared the playlists of the Endless Summer team that covers all three books on Spotify.
 * Inspiration for book 3 came from the song, New Map by M83.
 * The link to the Spotify playlist is found in the Reference section.
 * Writing for the final chapter began on February 26, 2018.
 * On March 5, 2018, one of the writers for Endless Summer tweeted that if you haven't received a proposal from any love interests, you will have an opportunity to propose to Sean, Jake, Quinn, or Estela at the end of Act VIII, as long as you are already dating them.
 * On March 22, 2018, it was announced that the book would be going on another break that would last a "few weeks."
 * A few days later on March 28, 2018, it was confirmed that Endless Summer would return on April 6, 2018
 * On April 6, 2018, it was announced that the finale of Endless Summer would be out on April 13th, closing the book at 12 chapters, the shortest in the series as a whole.
 * On April 19, 2018, Pixelberry released the final blog about the series finale.
 * At the 4th annual Bay Area Book Festival, some of the writers present confirmed on April 29, 2018 that they didn't even know who Diego's crush was.
 * On December 11, 2018, Luke, one of the writers for Endless Summer and the Hero series, inadvertently confirmed he still works at Pixelberry (despite some rumors to the contrary) through a tweet and conversation with Kara, another PB writer.

Trivia

 * This is the first book of the Endless Summer series that features all four love interests and your character on the cover. It is also the first cover to depict Jake, Sean and Quinn in their normal outfits instead of in their swimwear, as well as the first cover to not feature the Fox.
 * In Chapter 2, Chris Winters, a character from Red Carpet Diaries, is mentioned.
 * Similar to the television show Lost, this book features flashbacks and flashforwards to potential futures via the Embers of Hope in this book and the "Catalyst Idols" in Book 2.
 * In Chapter 4, the "Old Note" clue is expanded further when the gang ends up at Neptune Cave, trying to find the other half of the island's heart.
 * In Chapter 5, The Warmest Winter, a movie from the "Red Carpet Diaries" series, is mentioned.
 * Diego's Catalyst Idol vision is referenced in Chapter 6.
 * Starting from Chapter 7, each of the Love Interests will propose to Your Character if you have at least 2 hearts with them. In Chapter 7, it is Sean who might propose. In Chapter 8, it is Jake who might propose. In Chapter 9, it is Quinn who might propose. In Chapter 10, it is Estela who might propose.
 * In Chapter 9, if all of the catalysts are at least friends with you, they will throw you a surprise party for acting as the leader and keeping the group together.
 * In Book 2, Chapter 9 of Perfect Match, the writers referenced the Endless Summer series when Damien talks about "a group of friends, a mysterious island and how they come for a vacation, but end up with a lot more stuff than they bargained for."
 * Even though this book, like Book 2, uses flashing lights that may be not suitable for players with photosensitive epilepsy (especially the sequences where the group fights Cetus), there are no disclaimers to advise player discretion, unlike other books such as Wishful Thinking and The Haunting of Braidwood Manor which also use flashing lights but do issue a warning - either during loading the chapters or at the beginning of the respective chapters.
 * Like Book 1 and Book 2, this books contains several references to pop culture. Apart from nicknames for several characters such as Ursula, Jason Mraz, Caped Crusader, Cap'n Crunch, Papa/Grandpa Smurf, Trinity, Ripley, Katniss, Tantrum of the Opera, and Beetlejuice, mentions and references include: The Matrix and Finding Nemo (Chapter 3); The Land Before Time, Casper and Harry Potter (Chapter 4); Star Wars (Chapter 5): I Am Legend (Chapter 7); Braveheart, Battlestar Galactica and Lord of the Rings (Chapter 8); Pokemon (Chapter 9).
 * The songs Somewhere over the Rainbow and Wonderwall are also referenced in this book.
 * In Chapter 8, depending on your choices, Aleister and Grace will quote from the poem Do not go gentle into that good night. Other literary works referenced are Frankenstein in Chapter 9, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
 * When Varyyn first meets your character in Book 1, he calls you "Anlashokk." This is likely a reference to the 90s sci-fi TV series Babylon 5. The show featured an elite fighting force called the Anla'Shok which was led by multiple major characters at different points throughout the series. Notably, one important plotline involved a potentially-catastrophic time travel anomaly. The situation was resolved with help from a mysterious spacesuit-clad figure, known only as The One, who was later revealed to be an older version of one of the Anla'Shok leaders. This has many similarities to the Endless's story.

Click here for the walkthrough of this book: Endless Summer, Book 3 Choices.