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Camp Silver Lake
Emily Williams has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. Her best friend in the world is a ninety pound Golden Retriever named Hank and her hobby of choice is reading alone in her bedroom. So when her parents drop her off on the dirt parking lot of Camp Silver Lake the summer before seventh grade, her world is turned upside down. When she meets her cabin mates, Sarah and Ashley, she has no idea that she is also meeting the best friends she will ever have. Set over the course of two summers as Junior Campers, the three friends learn to navigate bullies, ghost stories, food fights, camp fires... oh, and boys.
Over time, Emily learns Camp Silver Lake was never just a place... it was always a feeling. A feeling of belonging. A feeling of content. A feeling of home.
Camp Silver Lake is the first book of the Silver Lake Series, weaving the evolution of friendship with empathy, sympathy, and a lot of humor. Anyone who has experienced a meaningful friendship in their lives will know all too friendship is a form of love that is just as important as the romantic kind. It can fulfill us equally and last just as long. Sometimes even longer.
Over time, Emily learns Camp Silver Lake was never just a place... it was always a feeling. A feeling of belonging. A feeling of content. A feeling of home.
Camp Silver Lake is the first book of the Silver Lake Series, weaving the evolution of friendship with empathy, sympathy, and a lot of humor. Anyone who has experienced a meaningful friendship in their lives will know all too friendship is a form of love that is just as important as the romantic kind. It can fulfill us equally and last just as long. Sometimes even longer.
222 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 17, 2023
7 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 19, 2023
“Nostalgia- a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.”
Whether you’ve been to camp, want to or wanted to go to camp, or didn’t think you were interested in going to camp at all,,,this book, Camp Silver Lake, embodies the “sentimental longing” and “wistful affection” for a monumental time in everyone’s lives.
Growing up.
Throughout this book, the pivotal moments and rites of passage that happen to all of us at some point on our “growing up” journeys towards maturity and adulthood are described beautifully and in such a relatable way.
The relationships of new and enduring friendship are poignant, honest and heartwarming.
The awakenings of the yearning of romantic attraction is depicted so authentically that you feel like you are experiencing it for the first time.
The self reflection and musings of a young girl as she grows to know herself better is insightful and enlightening.
This book, the first in the series, is suggested for anyone 12 and older, I would agree and I’m well beyond that age and enjoyed it!
I look forward to reading more about these characters in future books. Well done!
Thankyou to Author Lindsey Carver for the opportunity to read an ARC of this new YA series.
Charlene 🌸📚🤗 @lastnownext
Whether you’ve been to camp, want to or wanted to go to camp, or didn’t think you were interested in going to camp at all,,,this book, Camp Silver Lake, embodies the “sentimental longing” and “wistful affection” for a monumental time in everyone’s lives.
Growing up.
Throughout this book, the pivotal moments and rites of passage that happen to all of us at some point on our “growing up” journeys towards maturity and adulthood are described beautifully and in such a relatable way.
The relationships of new and enduring friendship are poignant, honest and heartwarming.
The awakenings of the yearning of romantic attraction is depicted so authentically that you feel like you are experiencing it for the first time.
The self reflection and musings of a young girl as she grows to know herself better is insightful and enlightening.
This book, the first in the series, is suggested for anyone 12 and older, I would agree and I’m well beyond that age and enjoyed it!
I look forward to reading more about these characters in future books. Well done!
Thankyou to Author Lindsey Carver for the opportunity to read an ARC of this new YA series.
Charlene 🌸📚🤗 @lastnownext
April 8, 2023
The summer before 7th grade, Emily is going to Camp
Silver Lake where she will stay in the cabins with random girls her age and do fun activities. She is totally not excited or happy about these plans as she’s never been away from home or her parents.
At camp, she meets Ashley, who becomes her best friend. She also meets a boy named Matt, who takes her on adventures when they aren’t supposed to.
By the time the first year of camp ends, she misses Ashley and they both write to each other with a countdown until the following camp year.
How will year 2 end for Emily? Does she stay friends with Ashley? Does she make new friends? Does she still talk to Matt at camp?
This book was so much fun to read as it is fun and pretty innocent. It touches upon relationships with parents and peers, social interactions at that age, and how growing up can change things. My favorite part of the book are the nicknames given, especially before knowing the character’s actual name. This makes the book even more realistic because most people do not remember names when they first meet a bunch of new people. These little details make the book really special.
Silver Lake where she will stay in the cabins with random girls her age and do fun activities. She is totally not excited or happy about these plans as she’s never been away from home or her parents.
At camp, she meets Ashley, who becomes her best friend. She also meets a boy named Matt, who takes her on adventures when they aren’t supposed to.
By the time the first year of camp ends, she misses Ashley and they both write to each other with a countdown until the following camp year.
How will year 2 end for Emily? Does she stay friends with Ashley? Does she make new friends? Does she still talk to Matt at camp?
This book was so much fun to read as it is fun and pretty innocent. It touches upon relationships with parents and peers, social interactions at that age, and how growing up can change things. My favorite part of the book are the nicknames given, especially before knowing the character’s actual name. This makes the book even more realistic because most people do not remember names when they first meet a bunch of new people. These little details make the book really special.
May 9, 2023
A coming of age story involving friendship, teenage awkwardness, and discovering that maybe not all boys are yucky!
First let me say this book is beautifully printed. The cover is so sturdy for a paperback book and the pages are thick and smooth. The text was easy to read.
Ok now back to the story! It was so good. Emily, the main character, is strong, smart, and capable, but she isn’t perfect, and she makes mistakes - sometimes it’s her actions, sometimes it’s her words. Her adventures at camp brought me right back to my own childhood. And while I never went to camp (and I live vicariously through my children’s experiences), I could imagine being at right there at Camp Silver Lake: having hours of fun, building close friendships, having fights, feeling unsure of myself, getting into trouble, feeling a wide range of emotions in a given day and the thrill of toilet-papering!
I have a 12 year old daughter, and I think this book also helped me to remember what it’s like to be her age. It’s not easy growing up.
I am really looking forward to Book 2!
First let me say this book is beautifully printed. The cover is so sturdy for a paperback book and the pages are thick and smooth. The text was easy to read.
Ok now back to the story! It was so good. Emily, the main character, is strong, smart, and capable, but she isn’t perfect, and she makes mistakes - sometimes it’s her actions, sometimes it’s her words. Her adventures at camp brought me right back to my own childhood. And while I never went to camp (and I live vicariously through my children’s experiences), I could imagine being at right there at Camp Silver Lake: having hours of fun, building close friendships, having fights, feeling unsure of myself, getting into trouble, feeling a wide range of emotions in a given day and the thrill of toilet-papering!
I have a 12 year old daughter, and I think this book also helped me to remember what it’s like to be her age. It’s not easy growing up.
I am really looking forward to Book 2!
April 6, 2023
I adored this book! Wholesome, funny, and filled with the magic of summer camp, Camp Silver Lake will have you gushing and laughing out loud over the pages.
It was very Ivy & Bean meets Judy Blume and could very well become a necessary classic for middle grade readers.
This is only the first in the series, and I can't wait to follow these girls as they grow up.
It was very Ivy & Bean meets Judy Blume and could very well become a necessary classic for middle grade readers.
This is only the first in the series, and I can't wait to follow these girls as they grow up.
April 18, 2023
Camp Silver Lake had me wanting to turn the page the entire book! I loved the characters and their realness-espcially the pop culture references of Harry Potter and Lisa Frank. The friendships and love that grew in just 2 years of camp makes me want to attend Camp Silver Lake, too. I can't wait for the next book in this 3 part series!
May 11, 2023
Camp Silver Lake makes me long for summers at camp that I never got to experience. A sweet story about friendship and growing up that was lighthearted and easy to relate to. Looking forward to the follow up already.
June 13, 2023
I’ve never been to summer camp, but through this fun-filled story I feel, in a way, that I got to experience everything I missed out on as a kid. Though this is technically a middle grade book, the story is written in such a way that, as an adult, I could enjoy it just as much as the age group it’s intended for. If not more! I wasn’t a reader when I was younger so I can’t offer up any literary comparisons, but I did recently watch both parent trap movies so I can say that I really enjoyed all the camp-life parallels that come with this setting. I could see, smell, and feel this setting so vividly. It was transportive and nostalgic, even for someone who has none of my own nostalgia to pull from.
I can’t wait to share this series with my budding readers. I know that both my son and my daughter will enjoy these characters and their stories!
Read if you love:
🛶 powerful friendship
🛶 immersive setting
🛶 parent/child relationships
🛶 coming of age
🛶 fun nicknames
🛶 realistic and relatable characters
🛶 pop culture references
I can’t wait to share this series with my budding readers. I know that both my son and my daughter will enjoy these characters and their stories!
Read if you love:
🛶 powerful friendship
🛶 immersive setting
🛶 parent/child relationships
🛶 coming of age
🛶 fun nicknames
🛶 realistic and relatable characters
🛶 pop culture references
May 31, 2023
Camp Silver Lake is a nostalgic romp through summers’ past. The characters come to life and steal your heart from page one. I loved getting to revisit those angsty pre-teen years through Emily. Really looking forward to Book Two!
April 12, 2023
Camp Silver Lake is an adorable story about a twelve-year-old Emily who is being dropped off at camp for the first time by her parents.
The story spans two summers in camp.
I love how Emily starts off as a shy girl that would much rather be in her room with a book, then she grows into a girl that loves hanging out and meeting new friends. Emily even enjoys having crushes on boys for the first time.
She has her team leader and two other girls Sarah and Ashley in her cabin. I love how close they all got. I immediately liked Ashley. She seemed like such a genuine person and a good friend. At times she also reminded me of myself, always a nose stuck in a book. I was so happy to see her and Emily get so close by the end of their second season.
I never went to camp as a kid but this is absolutely what I would imagine camp to be like. I also loved the era it was based on starting in the late 90s.
I think this is a great book for anyone 12 and older.
I am so excited about the future of this series!
Thank you so much Lindsey Carver for an eARC.
The story spans two summers in camp.
I love how Emily starts off as a shy girl that would much rather be in her room with a book, then she grows into a girl that loves hanging out and meeting new friends. Emily even enjoys having crushes on boys for the first time.
She has her team leader and two other girls Sarah and Ashley in her cabin. I love how close they all got. I immediately liked Ashley. She seemed like such a genuine person and a good friend. At times she also reminded me of myself, always a nose stuck in a book. I was so happy to see her and Emily get so close by the end of their second season.
I never went to camp as a kid but this is absolutely what I would imagine camp to be like. I also loved the era it was based on starting in the late 90s.
I think this is a great book for anyone 12 and older.
I am so excited about the future of this series!
Thank you so much Lindsey Carver for an eARC.
July 26, 2023
Best Read of the Summer
A sweet introduction to friendships forged in summer and coming of age. Definitely a page turner! I couldn’t put it down. Finished it in one sitting. Anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.
A sweet introduction to friendships forged in summer and coming of age. Definitely a page turner! I couldn’t put it down. Finished it in one sitting. Anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.
July 25, 2023
A wonderful, feel-good story about camp life and coming of age! Loved it!
April 19, 2023
First off, I want to say thank you to Lindsey for the #gifted eARC of this amazing middle grade read!
This was SUCH a cute story. It follows Emily over a couple summers of camp & all the craziness that ensues. But more than that, it's a feel-good story about friendships and growing up (just a lil bit).
This is the first book in a series! So more to come here. I loved this one because I spent every summer going to camp. So I know all about the friendships/crushes/stories that come out of it. Reading this was so bittersweet for me!
I will say, I loved the character of Ashley ;) She's my fav.
This was SUCH a cute story. It follows Emily over a couple summers of camp & all the craziness that ensues. But more than that, it's a feel-good story about friendships and growing up (just a lil bit).
This is the first book in a series! So more to come here. I loved this one because I spent every summer going to camp. So I know all about the friendships/crushes/stories that come out of it. Reading this was so bittersweet for me!
I will say, I loved the character of Ashley ;) She's my fav.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews