Summer Nights

Saturday Night #4

by Caroline B. Cooney

Is this really goodbye for the recent graduates of Westerly High as they get ready to start their new lives?


High school is over, graduation already fading into memory. Kip, Anne, Beth Rose, Emily, and Molly are getting ready for one last party before they head off in different directions.


Anne has a great new job that will take her all over the world. But it means leaving Con, the boy she loves, behind.


Kip is going off to college, a thrilling—and terrifying—prospect.


Emily’s engaged, but now Matt is making her think twice about marrying him.


Beth will be the only one staying in Westerly . . . with Molly, who never belonged to the in-crowd in the first place, and now there’s no in-crowd left.


For these girls of summer, their last night together has to be perfect. It will be a time of goodbyes and new romance as they all Will they ever belong to any place or person again? Ever have friends like these again? Ever see one other again? 

Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Fiction, Teen

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Caroline Cooney knew in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer when "the best teacher I ever had in my life" made writing her main focus. "He used to rip off covers from The New Yorker and pass them around and make us write a short story on whichever cover we got. I started writing then and never stopped!"
When her children were young, Caroline started writing books for young people -- with remarkable results. She began to sell stories to Seventeen magazine and soon after began writing books. Suspense novels are her favorites to read and write. "In a suspense novel, you can count on action."
To keep her stories realistic, Caroline visits many schools outside of her area, learning more about teenagers all the time. She often organizes what she calls a "plotting game," in which students work together to create plots for stories. Caroline lives in Westbrook, Connecticut and when she's not writing she volunteers at a hospital, plays piano for the school musicals and daydreams!
- Scholastic.com

Reviews

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of confused by this last book. Okay so the same girls are here and everything but I just sort of got a feeling that the last book didn't happen at all? I don't really know if I'm going to explain myself correctly or not so just bare with me people. There was stupid drama within this book dealing with Beth and who she is or isn't dating. I didn't really care and this kind of upset me because I was always a fan of Beth - until this book. Kip was kind of just meh to me. Molly was kind of just there for most the book and her story was the only one that continued from the last book which is just so freaking bizarre to me. A lot of the characters from the previous book just vanished. And when the book ends, you have no idea if Matt and Emily are still together or not. She threw away the ring, he gets a job, they talk, and then the freaking end.

This wasn't my favorite book in this series but it wasn't terrible either. It just confused the shit out of me.

[Sati Marie Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of all the books in this miniseries - which I love, btw - I like Summer Nights the least. Which is a shame, since a series you love should go out on a high note. I'm never quite sure whether this was written by Caroline B Cooney, or by someone ghostwriting for her. Some of the Cooney hallmarks that I love are there - choppy sentences, inner monologues of characters, a slight surreal tone - but compared to the first three, it feels like a Cooney book that's gone through a Picasso generator and come out skewed.

(Oddly enough, the picture on the front - of the Point Romance edition - feels much the same. Derek Brazell usually does gorgeous cover pictures, but in this one Anne looks like a wrestler in drag and Con looks out of proportion, like they, too, have been Picassoed.)

Very little of interest (to me) happens in this story. Set seven months after New Year's Eve, the class have just graduated. Anne's off to jet-set around the world as companion to a retired actress, Kip's going to college in NYC, and Emily and Matt are supposed to be getting married and setting up a home together. Con - whose relationship with Anne is still limping along - plans a last farewell for Anne on a riverboat. People fight and make up, Kip almost drowns, and new couples are made, but the whole thing feels forced to me, and lacking vitality. I didn't especially care for the new characters introduced, was VERY sad not to see the return of a couple of old ones (particularly Gwynnie, the Lady-Gaga-Prototype from NYE), and just can't get behind the whole friends-with-Molly thing that seems to have been thrown in just for that happy ending. Some people are just rotten, period, and I wouldn't befriend a girl who started a forest fire and tried to frame me for drug possession, just for the sake of being nice.

Even the description of those glorious 80s dresses didn't really capture me in this book the way they did in the previous three.

I dunno, maybe it's just that they graduated. I'm inclined to think that high school series should finish while the characters are still in school. Let high school continue forever. High School Musical 3 and Sweet Valley University always give me the sads too.

All in all, I'm inclined to think the series should have finished with New Year's Eve. That one finished on a lovely romantic note - Kip and Lee together, Anne and Con trying again, Emily and Matt looking forward to the future, Beth Rose with her choice of George (bleh) or Gary, and glorious Gwynnie adding humour and vibrancy. I think in future I'll think of the first three books as a trilogy, and try to forget this one.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely ending. Beautifully written, as always.

[Emma Beckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous and emotional finale, I loved this series.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first three books in this series - Saturday Night, Last Dance and New Year’s Eve - as a tween in the actual 80s. I remember almost nothing about them except the covers (the 80s editions) and the description of Molly’s hideous dress in NYE. I didn’t even know about this one until I hopped on the Nostalgia Express to Abe Books in search of long lost 80s teen classics. I don’t think I ever read it … and I kind of wish I hadn’t now. It seemed more like a novella, and nothing felt resolved; things happened that seemed unlikely or inconsequential. Caroline B Cooney’s writing style is still wonderful - so atmospheric and clever - but it was used to much better effect in the first three books. I found myself skimming toward the end. But still, I’m giving it three stars because it is still better than most other teen romances of this era.

BTW, the 80s photo covers are SO much better than this 90s monstrosity.

[Hope Broadway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, as I did the other three. So I'll round up to 4 stars. I originally read it back when it was first published. It seemed like a good cap to the series at the time, but now I have unanswered questions....
What happened to Lee? What happened to Gwynnie? What happened with Beth Rose and George? Why were all the girls so quick to forgive Molly after all the nonsense she put them through over the years? Why should MOLLY get the hot stranger Blaze and not Beth Rose?
I would love for there to be a reunion series where we see what's up with each of these girls. Like a book for each woman and then the reunion. Just to see where they all ended up.

[C.W. Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't feel like this book belongs in the series. I had so many questions. Where is Lee? Where is Gwen? What the hell is Molly doing? What is up with that ending? There is such a disconnect between this book and the other books. I honestly don't want to give this book a 1 (1.5), but I really didn't like this book. I think I will just stay with the first 3 books and leave it at that.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Erm, where is Lee? Where is Gwynnie? WTF was that ending with Molly?!

It's not a bad read by any stretch of the imagination but the continuity is not there. Kip, you are not going to miss Con, get a grip. You will forget he ever existed in a month.

I would just read the first two in the series, then skip this last two.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read these books in years - I think the last time was when I was a teenager.

I still like them 😃

[Melanie Wissel · Rating 3 out of 5]

YA Book 4 in the Saturday Night series. The high schoolers are embarking on after HS pursuits after one final goodbye party for Anne.

[Minty McBunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know a fourth book existed in this series until last year, the first three were huge YA favorites of mine through the years. I don't know if this one just lacks the nostalgia value of the ones I enjoyed as a youngster or if it really was a weaker story. It just felt like CBC wanted to tie everything up without having a real passion for the characters anymore. And reformed nice Molly is no fun!

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was okay...the characters were really nice and my favorite was Emily and Mat, but it still was my favorite

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final story in mini series - ends are tied up neatly