Two Friends, One Summer

by kate-le-vann

Best friends Samantha and Rachel are spending the holidays with two families in France. They're used to doing everything together, but suddenly they're living in different worlds. Rachel's family is glamorous, vivacious, and right in the center of everything, but Samantha is stuck with a strict family who live in the middle of nowhere. Samantha is shaken—she's used to being the outgoing one, and now their roles are reversed. As new experiences and boys threaten the trust between her and Rachel, it looks unlikely that their lifelong friendship can survive this turbulent summer.

Genres: Young Adult, Travel

172 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[Sar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love

[Deni Murillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading France study abroad books before going to study abroad at France.

Soon I will be traveling to France to start my study abroad, and I thought it would be fun to read novels about study abroad to get mentally prepared, excited and also to see how realistic the novels are hahaha

This one grabbed my attention because bff breakup? We’ve all been there.

I started reading and saw this took place in Normandy (north to Paris) and got excited because it’s where I’m going!! So it was incredible reading about places I’ll visit (def recommend doing this before traveling).

Is this realistic? Actually kind of! It surpassed my expectations!!

Super fun, light, summer read with girl drama and study abroad struggles/experiences.

[Edi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having had a painful friendship breakup much like Rachel and Sam, I could really relate to this one. It made me laugh and cry , jealous of Sam and Bruno’s perfect relationship and reminisce over past experiences with boys like Lucas. Sam is relatable and funny. The book makes you want to jet off to Normandy for the summer!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really love how the story goes through, its more to cute romance than friendship i guess? its is a cute story between sam and bruno but it's a sad ending for her and Rachel's friendship. The only thing i dislike about this book is the ending. I wanna know more about Sam and Bruno but yeah its a good book for a beginner too. I'll give 5 star <33

[Narissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an enjoyable read. I can't talk much cause I read this book like...last year? Last two years? Hahaha. I can't really remember how's the story goes on. But, I love it. So much. Cute !

[Neylan Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing i could say this would make a good movie

[Roda ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a fun light read, good writing but the characters were annoying sometimes. I would prefer an alternative ending but it’s good

[Ruth Mestel · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10

Incredible teen fiction

Cried, laughed, sobbed, gasped

Thank you Kate Le Vann 💖

[Lyndsey O'Halloran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two Friends, One Summer is another of the books that I read which was set in France although not Paris this time around. The descriptions in this though, compared to the others I read were not nearly as good unfortunately. Samantha is living pretty much in the middle of no where in a run down house but I think a bit more time could have been spent on describing just how bad the situation was. Also, the towns that the girls visit did not give me a clear image in my mind of the places they were walking or what they were seeing so the magic of a new destination was missing in this book.

I really enjoyed the friendship between Samantha and Rachel. It was obvious from the start that these two girls had been through a lot together over the years and had each others’ backs when it was needed. As the synopsis says, these girls go through some problems when they are in France in the way that the dynamic of their friendship works. Samantha is the more outgoing girl while Rachel is quieter are more reserved. Their roles are quickly reversed once they move in with their host families as the teenage girls they have to live with are the opposites of each other and this has a huge impact on their time in France.

There is quite a lot of drama in this book and that was something I loved about it. Not only is there conflict and tension between Samantha and Rachel but also between the girls and their new friends, between them and boys and the families they are living with. Considering this is such a short book, there sure is a lot going on all of the time. This kept the plot interesting and entertaining and Le Vann doesn’t give the reader any chance at all to be bored with what is going on. However, I think some of this could have been drawn out more or spaced out a little better as sometimes, there was too much happening.

The romance was what really let this book down. While it showed a lot of promise, the book just wasn't long enough for me to really believe in any of it. The characters aren't given enough page space to really get to know each other or for that build up to happen which is something I really like in a book. It kind of felt like the characters were just thrown together for the hell of it at times instead of there being true romance happening. I wish that the romance had been better in this book as it would have made it go from OK to great for me.

While Two Friends, One Summer wasn't the perfect summer read for me, it was still entertaining and different and it does have good points about it as well as the bad.

[Beata Krajcer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because it fitted into one of the compartments of the bingo board.

this covered a book that related to our subject. Friends.

it was a interesting sought of book because it wasn't your usual book, it had a very interesting plot, but it was still good.

my favorite quote from this book was "if my friend was happy with her life, then I should be happy with mine" I liked this quote because it was true, you should be happy to be yourself, and if you friend is happy, then you should be too, well at least try.

something I learnt from this book is that you should always be comfortable to be yourself, no matter what others think.

the character that was interesting to me was Lucas, he was always serious and never smiling, and he was a mean character for making the bet on Sam and Rachel, I didn't like him at all.

[Kitty Golden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and was so unhappy with the ending of the book as it was left on such an emotional scene and note I could have done with a few more pages! However for a contemporary book and as my first experience of this genre I am very happy I read this one first because I liked it so much. Two friends go on a holiday to France by themselves and have set themselves up to live with a family in a remote french village a few miles away from Paris. They are hoping for the holiday and adventure of the lifetime hoping to create new memorable moments togethe-will their wish come true read to find out...

[Grace Rossiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book would be a simple girly book full of boys and crap like that, that I like reading sometimes because they are relaxing and easy to read.

This book had that, but more and was written beautifully. The friendship drama felt real and every problem the main character Samantha faced, were all problems that a teenage girl could face. There was nothing far-fetched in this story and the ending surprised me, as it wasn't what I thought would have happened at all.

I thought that this book was different, insightful, relate-able, and I enjoyed it more than I thought possible when I picked it up at the library.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two friends, One Summer
By Kate Le Vann

This book is in the category of written by a female.

I decided to read this book because it looked fun, French, about friends and the cover and writing look amazing.

What i liked about the text was that i got to learn french even know i did not understand it that much. I also like how there plan worked and they both got to go to France and learn French as well as stay / sleep there for a whole summer.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too young and predictable, I usually enjoy a good YA read, but this one really wasn't designed for a crossover audience, I might have really liked it if I'd read it 10-15 years ago, but as it was the constant references to snogging annoyed me, as did the petty teen angst and jealousies, and the ending really pissed me off!

[Natalya]

This book was good....mostly. I wish there had been a second part to the story though - a sequel. If you don't like cliff hangers then don't read this book and.....it is not as I expected to be...and not in a good way either.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit young and predictable for me.

[Varsha Seshan]

I simply don't like this genre. Whenever I pick up chick-lit, always by mistake, I'm left wondering why I read it.

[Paula Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samantha und Rachel haben mich genervt und die einzigen Charaktere, die ich mochte, waren Bruno und Chantal. Außerdem hat das offene Ende mir nicht gefallen.

[Tashi wangmo]

SPOILER ALERT

I read it a long time back. the way the two friends take eachother's place and how they changed is really realistic.

in the end they became strangers after that trip and that is how life is. people change, priorities change and they they dfrit apart. That isn't the worst case scenario. the worst thing that can happen is that you end up in bad terms and come to hate the person whom you once called your best friend.