Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication date: May 2009
ISBN: 9781416968290
Source: Won in a contest
Belly has spent every summer she can remember at the beach house with her second family. Every year, she's looked forward to her time spent there as the best of the year. She's been in love with Conrad for almost as long as they've visited, and best friends with his brother Jeremiah. But the summer Belly turns sixteen is special - things are different and she can feel it. It is a summer of romance and friendships and sorrow and joy.
Things I Liked: This was a perfect light read for summer (though, I read it in the middle of the cold spring - it made me long for the hot and lazy days of summer). Belly's casual and flirty summer reminded me so much of what I used to long for every summer as a teen. I loved how real she felt - falling for nearly every boy and simply wanting to be noticed and liked. I especially loved the flash backs to some of her previous summer experiences. It was a sweet story and a quick read.
Things I Didn't Like:
At times it was just a little too unbelievable. Belly was beautiful too suddenly (it's obvious from the title, but I hate those overnight make-overs) and attractive to any male. She was also really oblivious to some very obvious things going on during the summer. I found myself more interested in the past summers than in the present one. It was nice for a light read, but I definitely need to follow it up with something a little more complex.
Read-alikes:
Reminded me of Shug by Jenny Han
He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott
BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
some, nothing too strong
mrg-factor: X
some references, nothing actually happening
v-factor: none
Overall rating: ***
What do you read for a light end-of-summer read?
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage
