Release Date: June 4, 2013 | Contemporary YA | 453 Pages | Viking (Penguin)
It’s the summer after high school graduation and 18-year-old Emaline is doing what she always does; working at her family’s beach rental business, spending time with her boyfriend Luke and having general ennui about what it means to live in the summer town of Colby, North Carolina. You know, the standard Dessen fare.
But summer’s never go as planned and Emaline finds herself mixed up with a crew of New York filmmakers making a documentary about Clyde Conaway, a reclusive artist who lives in Colby. And if that isn’t enough her estranged biological father is suddenly back in town.
This is the first post-aughts Sarah Dessen book I’ve read and I was a little nervous going into it. At first the plot of this book felt kind of aimless but by the end, as the town has to come together for Clyde I was captivated and Dessen had me on board.
I was extremely apprehensive of Theo, the 21-year-old skinny- jean-wearing-New-York-City-film-student interning on the documentary who may as well have had Coastal Elite stamped on his forehead. Seriously, I read this during the time the podcast S-town came out and he reminded me of the way Brian Reed acted sometimes when he was with Southerners but Dessen makes it work
I didn’t love the audiobook narrator Allie Gallerani. She has this very sleepy, Daria-like affectless voice and with a book that was already slow paced it just wasn’t working for me. I ended up switching to reading the book part way through
A low tempo, but ultimately sweet novel about summer romance, identity, family and the people who will give you the moon and more.
I’ve never heard of a shrimp burger before I read this book and I’m still not sure what it is but imma need one.
I’m a lifelong reader who started blogging about YA books in 2011 but now I read in just about every genre! I love YA coming of age stories, compelling memoirs and genre bending SFF. You can find me talking all things romance at Romance and Sensibility.