I kind of figured going into this book that I would love it, based on the fact that I loved Ms. Layne's first book, Nothing Compares.
And yeah - I was RIGHT. Wow. While this book is on the shorter side (more novella-length), it packed a wallop. The two MCs, Melody and Axel, are so well-written, as are the side characters, that when the book ends, you want there to be more.
I won't give any spoilers, but there is a misunderstanding that happens between Melody and Axel at a party at the beginning of summer, and that's what sets off the chain of events between them. But don't think of this as the dreaded third-act breakup, because it's not.
The story moves quick, and you can't help but feel for both the MCs, for different reasons. Axel is the golden boy, the football and baseball player who just graduated with sports scholarships awaiting him. He's the guy all the parents trust, because he's too good to be bad. Melody is the girl whose parents have kept her under lock and key all summer, for a reason that I won't give away here. She yearns to be free of their constant supervision so she can be the person she wants to be.
The setting, a lakeside resort town, evokes for me our local tourist trap town, and I could see everything vividly in my mind. My favorite scene? The haunted house :-)
If you need a great YA contemporary romance but don't want a thick book, this is your read. You won't be disappointed!