Narrator Rebecca Soler captures the self-confidence of 17-year-old Emma Saylor Payne. She is secure in her father’s love and remarriage, and she has made peace with the death of her mother from a drug overdose. But that’s before she learns she’ll spend three weeks at North Lake, her mother’s childhood home, with a large family she doesn’t remember. As these weeks open her up, Soler expresses Emma Saylor’s many transformations—her questions about wealth, her feelings of being overwhelmed by and then connected with family, her experience of first love, and her truer understanding of the romanticized stories her mother once told. Soler’s narration reflects the constancy of Emma Saylor’s wit, the many attitudes of the relatives who surround her, and the changes experienced by all the featured characters. S.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

There's no magic that lets us actually live in books yet, but plunging into the cold, clear waters of Dessen's slowly winding summer-spell, a tale of family lost and found, is pretty darn close.

There’s no magic that lets us actually live in books yet, but plunging into the cold, clear waters of Dessen’s slowly winding summer-spell, a tale of family lost and found, is pretty darn close.” — New York Times Book Review

“A beautiful addition to Dessen’s repertoire, and an examination of conflicting social classes, strained familial relationships, and delightfully evolving romance that is unforgettable.” — School Library Journal

“With one foot in her father’s world and one in her mother’s, Emma Saylor tentatively navigates issues of class, addiction, and identity. Hers is a summertime journey of self-discovery, family secrets, and first love, and it’s exactly where Dessen shines brightest.” — ALA Booklist

“A rich, patient story about a teen girl who craves family and an understanding of her roots after suffering a tragic loss.” — Publishers Weekly

“Dessen’s latest novel is largely about the ups and downs of family… [with] heartwarming reminders of the inherent connections, despite time and separation.” — Horn Book Magazine

With one foot in her father’s world and one in her mother’s, Emma Saylor tentatively navigates issues of class, addiction, and identity. Hers is a summertime journey of self-discovery, family secrets, and first love, and it’s exactly where Dessen shines brightest.

Dessen’s latest novel is largely about the ups and downs of family… [with] heartwarming reminders of the inherent connections, despite time and separation.

There’s no magic that lets us actually live in books yet, but plunging into the cold, clear waters of Dessen’s slowly winding summer-spell, a tale of family lost and found, is pretty darn close.

Narrator Rebecca Soler captures the self-confidence of 17-year-old Emma Saylor Payne. She is secure in her father’s love and remarriage, and she has made peace with the death of her mother from a drug overdose. But that’s before she learns she’ll spend three weeks at North Lake, her mother’s childhood home, with a large family she doesn’t remember. As these weeks open her up, Soler expresses Emma Saylor’s many transformations—her questions about wealth, her feelings of being overwhelmed by and then connected with family, her experience of first love, and her truer understanding of the romanticized stories her mother once told. Soler’s narration reflects the constancy of Emma Saylor’s wit, the many attitudes of the relatives who surround her, and the changes experienced by all the featured characters. S.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

2019-04-22
Prolific author Dessen (Once and for All, 2017, etc.) spends summer at the lake.

Seventeen-year-old Emma's dentist father has just remarried, 10 years after divorcing Emma's addict mother, who later died of an overdose. Between memories of her mother, her anxious father, and Nana, her wealthy, patrician, paternal grandmother, who helped raise her, Emma's grown up more than a little anxious herself. Unexpected complications mean she has to spend the three weeks of her father's honeymoon with her mother's side of the family in the resort town where they live. Emma's mother was raised there, but Emma hasn't visited in years. The family runs an inexpensive motel on the original, working-class side of North Lake; Emma's parents met when he taught sailing lessons at the more modern, highbrow resort area called Lake North. Emma finds a place in North Lake, working and playing with her idiosyncratic cousins and their friends, but her sense of belonging is disrupted when her dad returns and he and Nana force her to move to the rich side for two weeks. There's a mild romance, mild drama, and a large cast of teenagers having a good time. Most of the characters are reasonably well drawn, though Emma's anxiety never feels particularly acute. The rich kid/poor kid developments sometimes feel stereotypical, and excepting one secondary Asian American character, everyone defaults to white.

Not earthshaking but pleasant and an easy read. (Fiction. 14-18)