COOL FOR THE SUMMER
by Dahlia Adler
Wednesday Books
Young Adult Romance
272 pages
Lara's had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. He's tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and he's talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybe...flirting, even? No, wait, he's definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Lara's wanted out of life.
Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.
Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she's finally got the guy, why can't she stop thinking about the girl?
Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It’s about the things we want and the things we need. And it’s about the people who will let us be who we are.
Except she’s haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.
Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if she's finally got the guy, why can't she stop thinking about the girl?
Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. It’s about the things we want and the things we need. And it’s about the people who will let us be who we are.
MY TIDBITS
A Grease twist and first love...yep, I was intrigued.
This is a fun story for all those fans of tween drama, first loves, and learning more about ones self. It runs along two time lines as the love of past days meets the current situation. The characters act just right, the dialogue fits the age group very well, the feelings are more than understandable, and the scenes are very easy to connect with. It's a lovely read, which pulls along nicely and plays with the emotions well. Oh, and it puts a whole new twist on the ideas behind love triangles.
While all of this was well done and thought out, several things didn't sit quite as well with me, which threw off the flow and made it difficult to stay concentrated. Firstly, was the sudden interest of the guy and his flirtations. After years of crushing on him, of course the MC is thrilled to death that he's flirting with her...and her reaction fit so well! But it's never clear what caused this change in him, nor is it ever explained. Then, there's the 'check-list of characters'. I call it this because it seems to be a new danger books are falling into when it comes to diversity. It's as if authors need to bring in certain types of characters to make their tales socially acceptable...but these characters don't slide in right and feel as if they really are just being marked off. This hurt the character depth for me and jerked me out of the tale more than a couple of times.
But despite these problems, it's a well done book and was quite a bit of fun as well.
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