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Summer #1
The Summer of Skinny Dipping
There Are Some Summers You'll Always Remember
Sometimes I wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I'm jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life.
My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything
Sometimes I wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I'm jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life.
My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 672 reviews
September 22, 2013
It's 2:54 am
I shouldn't be up since I'm waking up in just a few hours.
I'm still sobbing.
You know how sometimes you start a book with high expectations
and then as you slowly sink into the first chapters, you just have
the feeling it's just not gonna be as good?
That's what happened to me.
Although I was completely blown away by how much alike Mia and I were,
I just wasn't thrilled, I was just bored for the first 50, maybe 60 pages.
But then I got to know Simon, who is a character I'm gonna remember, believe me;
and he was the one that led me to understand Mia (and myself) better,
and the story got fascinating, I didn't even realized I was hooked 'till I glanced at
the clock and saw it was 1:30 in the morning.
I loved a lot of quotes from this book, mostly by Simon, but also Mia, and her cousin,
and her dad, and her aunt; one example:
“You talk a lot of crap, you know that?”
“I thank you for appreciating my verbal stylings,” Simon replied,
with a formal bow
and I just have to say, it was a BEAUTIFUL book, and that I didn't see it coming,
I still can't believe it; much like Mia, I cannot conceive how is the world supposed
to continue after this. But that's what books are all about, touch your soul. This book did that
and that I ended up enjoying it SO much.
4 stars only because of its slow start.
This is definitely a book worth reading *sobs*
It won't dissapoint. Especially Simon, you WON'T, EVER, forget Simon.
I shouldn't be up since I'm waking up in just a few hours.
I'm still sobbing.
You know how sometimes you start a book with high expectations
and then as you slowly sink into the first chapters, you just have
the feeling it's just not gonna be as good?
That's what happened to me.
Although I was completely blown away by how much alike Mia and I were,
I just wasn't thrilled, I was just bored for the first 50, maybe 60 pages.
But then I got to know Simon, who is a character I'm gonna remember, believe me;
and he was the one that led me to understand Mia (and myself) better,
and the story got fascinating, I didn't even realized I was hooked 'till I glanced at
the clock and saw it was 1:30 in the morning.
I loved a lot of quotes from this book, mostly by Simon, but also Mia, and her cousin,
and her dad, and her aunt; one example:
“You talk a lot of crap, you know that?”
“I thank you for appreciating my verbal stylings,” Simon replied,
with a formal bow
and I just have to say, it was a BEAUTIFUL book, and that I didn't see it coming,
I still can't believe it; much like Mia, I cannot conceive how is the world supposed
to continue after this. But that's what books are all about, touch your soul. This book did that
and that I ended up enjoying it SO much.
4 stars only because of its slow start.
This is definitely a book worth reading *sobs*
It won't dissapoint. Especially Simon, you WON'T, EVER, forget Simon.
February 9, 2017
I started reading this book because I was in the mood to read something light. I ended up crying my eyes out.
The main character is 16-year-old Mia Gordon, whose family is going to spend the summer with their rich cousins in Hamptons. Mia can’t wait to see her cousin Corinne. But when they arrive, she realizes that Corinne has changed (turned into a snobbish bitch). Corinne’s sister and friends are even worse. Mia feels out of place until, at a rich kids party, she meets Simon.
I thought the first few chapters were not written as well as the rest of the book is. It took some time for the book to impress me. I admit I started enjoying it more when Simon showed up. I really liked the first meeting between them. It’s not love at first sight (thankfully). The development of their relationship works really well with Mia’s personal development. At first, she had no confidence, said things she didn't mean because she was scared of not fitting in, and all the while she felt fake because of that. But than she stated fighting for herself and Simon helped her, because he went through the same thing so he knew what it was like. I really didn't expect him to be such an awesome character. His story quite surprised me.
It’s a great book about learning to accept yourself. Often, when I read a book where some character changes a lot in a short period of time, I don’t like it, because it seems rushed. But in this book, it all felt so natural.
Definitely one of my favorite YA books :)
The main character is 16-year-old Mia Gordon, whose family is going to spend the summer with their rich cousins in Hamptons. Mia can’t wait to see her cousin Corinne. But when they arrive, she realizes that Corinne has changed (turned into a snobbish bitch). Corinne’s sister and friends are even worse. Mia feels out of place until, at a rich kids party, she meets Simon.
I thought the first few chapters were not written as well as the rest of the book is. It took some time for the book to impress me. I admit I started enjoying it more when Simon showed up. I really liked the first meeting between them. It’s not love at first sight (thankfully). The development of their relationship works really well with Mia’s personal development. At first, she had no confidence, said things she didn't mean because she was scared of not fitting in, and all the while she felt fake because of that. But than she stated fighting for herself and Simon helped her, because he went through the same thing so he knew what it was like. I really didn't expect him to be such an awesome character. His story quite surprised me.
It’s a great book about learning to accept yourself. Often, when I read a book where some character changes a lot in a short period of time, I don’t like it, because it seems rushed. But in this book, it all felt so natural.
Definitely one of my favorite YA books :)
January 26, 2018
I HAVE FINALLY READ THIS BOOK!
Although it isn't summer and I've never gone skinny dipping ever in my life - I actually liked this book! WOOHOO! Finally a good book among the bad reviews I've been writing.
Okay, first I love summer books because it makes me kind of want summer but not the nasty over 100 degree you're basically sweating after you showered kind of summer. NO, I WANT A NICE BREEZY DAY KIND OF SUMMER. Like 80 degree weather would be nice.
Then I finally dove into this book and I loved everything about it - from the characters to the storyline. Oh, and look at the cover. It just makes me want to go to the beach right now! Because it's like 20 degrees where I am right now.. and I'm thinking beach in Hawaii sounds like a nice day trip.. or a weekend trip... or a FOREVER trip.
Seriously, I never like summer and now I'm all hyped for this upcoming summer. It's weird but then again it's all because of this book - SO THANKS AMANDA!
Okay, about this book. The MC is name MIA - and no, not that whiny twat from the princess diaries. Oh no, you will actually end up liking this Mia. Anyways, this whole entire book is basically about her finding herself and where she fits in with her cousin and best friend. WHY? Well they are moving up into the adulthood and of course everything changes when you outgrow being a child. Honestly, it's such a cute book and again, I loved everything about it. I can't wait for the next book.
If it ever comes out.
Although it isn't summer and I've never gone skinny dipping ever in my life - I actually liked this book! WOOHOO! Finally a good book among the bad reviews I've been writing.
Okay, first I love summer books because it makes me kind of want summer but not the nasty over 100 degree you're basically sweating after you showered kind of summer. NO, I WANT A NICE BREEZY DAY KIND OF SUMMER. Like 80 degree weather would be nice.
Then I finally dove into this book and I loved everything about it - from the characters to the storyline. Oh, and look at the cover. It just makes me want to go to the beach right now! Because it's like 20 degrees where I am right now.. and I'm thinking beach in Hawaii sounds like a nice day trip.. or a weekend trip... or a FOREVER trip.
Seriously, I never like summer and now I'm all hyped for this upcoming summer. It's weird but then again it's all because of this book - SO THANKS AMANDA!
Okay, about this book. The MC is name MIA - and no, not that whiny twat from the princess diaries. Oh no, you will actually end up liking this Mia. Anyways, this whole entire book is basically about her finding herself and where she fits in with her cousin and best friend. WHY? Well they are moving up into the adulthood and of course everything changes when you outgrow being a child. Honestly, it's such a cute book and again, I loved everything about it. I can't wait for the next book.
If it ever comes out.
July 24, 2010
My ratings were all over the board with this book. I finally settled with two, even though I wanted to just give it one a few times. It's funny, because for a while there I briefly tried to decide between 4 or 5 stars.
In the first half Mia tries to fit in with her beautiful and rich cousins but doesn't do a good job. She tries to understand why she even cares about what they think. This part of the book was ok. Nothing really happens, but I'd rather be in Mia's head, than Beth's. I didn't like the way Mia (who is supposedly nice) treated her little sister. I felt she could have made more of an effort to connect with her. She was nine, she could tried harder.
The second half focuses on her meeting and hanging out with Simon, who also doesn't fit in. I thought Simon was kind of weird but also sweet. I liked this part. They go to beach, swim, kiss, rinse, repeat. They talk about life. Other than that, nothing happens, but it's still just a nice, normal, non-paranormal read.
I don't recall any bad language, but there's a lot of underage drinking, some implied drug use, and smoking. Simon smoked like a smoke stack. I think every time he was around he was smoking. I'm pretty sure he managed to smoke while swimming underwater.
Was Mia chubby or wasn't she? The cover didn't show her as someone who needed to "suck in her tummy" as her mom suggests at one point. (Really is it so hard to get a cover that goes with the book?) She apparently was very active and a strong ocean swimmer. I couldn't see where she would need to diet.
Too much describing! The descriptions were too flowery/poetic/beautiful/epic at times.
What the heck kind of ending is that???? It's like you're reading and everything is going fine and then WHAM! Here's a whole 'nother storyline for you. What? Did all that ridiculousness really have to happen? I felt cheated. All of a sudden it turns into a crappy ABC Family special. Not believable at all! You don't understand how much I hated that ending. So much so that I can't even recommend the book to anyone. They'd probably hate me if I did.
In the first half Mia tries to fit in with her beautiful and rich cousins but doesn't do a good job. She tries to understand why she even cares about what they think. This part of the book was ok. Nothing really happens, but I'd rather be in Mia's head, than Beth's. I didn't like the way Mia (who is supposedly nice) treated her little sister. I felt she could have made more of an effort to connect with her. She was nine, she could tried harder.
The second half focuses on her meeting and hanging out with Simon, who also doesn't fit in. I thought Simon was kind of weird but also sweet. I liked this part. They go to beach, swim, kiss, rinse, repeat. They talk about life. Other than that, nothing happens, but it's still just a nice, normal, non-paranormal read.
I don't recall any bad language, but there's a lot of underage drinking, some implied drug use, and smoking. Simon smoked like a smoke stack. I think every time he was around he was smoking. I'm pretty sure he managed to smoke while swimming underwater.
Was Mia chubby or wasn't she? The cover didn't show her as someone who needed to "suck in her tummy" as her mom suggests at one point. (Really is it so hard to get a cover that goes with the book?) She apparently was very active and a strong ocean swimmer. I couldn't see where she would need to diet.
Too much describing! The descriptions were too flowery/poetic/beautiful/epic at times.
What the heck kind of ending is that???? It's like you're reading and everything is going fine and then WHAM! Here's a whole 'nother storyline for you. What? Did all that ridiculousness really have to happen? I felt cheated. All of a sudden it turns into a crappy ABC Family special. Not believable at all! You don't understand how much I hated that ending. So much so that I can't even recommend the book to anyone. They'd probably hate me if I did.
January 31, 2012
I love reading books that take place in the summer because they are light, refreshing and an absolute joy to read. While I have read a ton of fantastic "summer" books in the past, the Summer of Skinny Dipping is one that I have never encountered. I was prepared for a really light and fun read ... but instead I got an intense and incredible novel that had my emotions all over the place.
This story follows a girl named Mia who is going through a tough breakup. Her boyfriend Jake dumped her and she is looking forward to putting that behind her as she goes to the Hamptons to stay with her cousins for the summer. Mia looks forward to reuniting with her cousin Corinne and spending time with her, they haven't seen each other in three years. The time that has passed proves to be what changes her cousin. Corinne has changed into a girl Mia struggles to be with. Corrine became apart of the crowd that Mia cannot fit into; the girls are superficial. Their world revolves around clothing, tanning, boys and more boys. Mia is devastated at her cousin's new identity and has a hard time dealing with jealously. She can't help but become envious of her perfect life and her perfect family. As her mother pressures her to become something she is not, Mia is insecure with herself and has troubles settling in to an environment where she can't truly belong to.
As Mia longs to forget about Jake and their relationship, she meets someone new. Simon, the boy who lives next door to her aunt's house, is who she meets at her cousin's party. Simon is witty, hilarious and charming. Their relationship will have your heart racing and your eyes glued to the page. I cannot begin to explain how amazing Simon is as a character. He brings out the best in Mia, which was completely magical to read about. The two of them are incredibly special, making this book an unforgettable experience. It isn't necessarily the romance that is special, but it's the way they grow together and get to know one another. Amanda truly crafts a relationship where it seems truly lifelike.
As the story picks up, Mia's relationship intensifies with Simon. He has her taking chances and doing things she has never done before, like skinny dipping. Aside from their relationship, Mia discovers more about her cousin and what her family is like behind closed doors. Turns out they are not as perfect as she thought.
This is Mia's story as she meets new people, discovers more about herself and grows into a more confident teenage girl. I still marvel at the fact at how impacting this book was. Thinking back to it, I still get that heart wrenching feeling that makes me feel as though I read this book yesterday. This is not just any summer book, it reaches a whole new level. It had me speechless, in awe and completely emotional as I flipped the pages. Amanda Howell's gives an experience like no other. I truly feel that this is a book that should be read by everybody. Now, summer books have a whole new meaning to me. Summer of Skinny Dipping is now my definition of what a summer book is all about.
This story follows a girl named Mia who is going through a tough breakup. Her boyfriend Jake dumped her and she is looking forward to putting that behind her as she goes to the Hamptons to stay with her cousins for the summer. Mia looks forward to reuniting with her cousin Corinne and spending time with her, they haven't seen each other in three years. The time that has passed proves to be what changes her cousin. Corinne has changed into a girl Mia struggles to be with. Corrine became apart of the crowd that Mia cannot fit into; the girls are superficial. Their world revolves around clothing, tanning, boys and more boys. Mia is devastated at her cousin's new identity and has a hard time dealing with jealously. She can't help but become envious of her perfect life and her perfect family. As her mother pressures her to become something she is not, Mia is insecure with herself and has troubles settling in to an environment where she can't truly belong to.
As Mia longs to forget about Jake and their relationship, she meets someone new. Simon, the boy who lives next door to her aunt's house, is who she meets at her cousin's party. Simon is witty, hilarious and charming. Their relationship will have your heart racing and your eyes glued to the page. I cannot begin to explain how amazing Simon is as a character. He brings out the best in Mia, which was completely magical to read about. The two of them are incredibly special, making this book an unforgettable experience. It isn't necessarily the romance that is special, but it's the way they grow together and get to know one another. Amanda truly crafts a relationship where it seems truly lifelike.
As the story picks up, Mia's relationship intensifies with Simon. He has her taking chances and doing things she has never done before, like skinny dipping. Aside from their relationship, Mia discovers more about her cousin and what her family is like behind closed doors. Turns out they are not as perfect as she thought.
This is Mia's story as she meets new people, discovers more about herself and grows into a more confident teenage girl. I still marvel at the fact at how impacting this book was. Thinking back to it, I still get that heart wrenching feeling that makes me feel as though I read this book yesterday. This is not just any summer book, it reaches a whole new level. It had me speechless, in awe and completely emotional as I flipped the pages. Amanda Howell's gives an experience like no other. I truly feel that this is a book that should be read by everybody. Now, summer books have a whole new meaning to me. Summer of Skinny Dipping is now my definition of what a summer book is all about.
October 14, 2013
For anyone ages 9-16, "The Summer Of Skinny Dipping" is a perfect preface to their summer vacation. Seriously, start this book with about two weeks left in school and follow the very sound protagonist (Mia Gordon) as she struggles to understand her relationship to her cousin and best friend as it, and they, move from childhood into young adulthood, as she works out her feelings about herself, her body, her family, her fervent effort at shaping her own identity, and as she traces her experiences to explore the boundaries of her personal, moral code. Of course, there's a fantastically youthful and energetic love story in the middle of it all, a wise map for young folks exploring their own maturity while maintaining their sense of boundaries yet open to amplifying the present moment. The book covers a wide range of curiosities any teenager can relate to including love, anger, resentment, shame, adventure, tragedy, but mostly, growing up. It's written with a solid whit, humor, imagery, realism and perspective, and I won't hesitate to send copies to several of my nieces.
August 25, 2020
Quotes coming soon and SPOILERS AHEAD
"A terrible summer that almost makes me want to forget. Until I remember it was also the greatest summer of my life."
I knew Id cry, but I didn't think that I would cry this much. This wasnt supposed to be a sad book!
And you know what my sister said to me?
She said, "It's just a book."
No words. Absolutely no words. Screw you, sis! (Not actually)
It's NOT just a book!! I felt truly connected to the charatcers, that's the main reason why people cry over dead characters. It's more than a work of fiction. It's so much more. Open your eyes!
Simon's death was unexpected until it was actually happening. I'll sob until my lungs give out. No one, NO ONE will make of me for crying over a book again! Funny thing is, I'm writing this when I have 11 pages to go. It's too much for me at 1 in the morning.
It's not just connection, it's downright sad when someone you love dies. It's more than sad. If my sister's (future) boyfriend died while she was trying to save him, would she be crying?
Part of me wonders why Mia just stood there for a second...
Is it actually partially her fault?
Questions and answers always lead to more questions and never enough answers.
The real question is: Why?
"When we first met
I never thought that I would fall
I never thought that I'd find myself
Lying in your arms, mm, mm
And I wanna pretend that it's not true
Oh, baby, that you're gone
'Cause my world keeps turnin', and turnin', and turnin'
And I'm not movin' on
Don't wanna feel another touch
Don't wanna start another fire
Don't wanna know another kiss
No other name fallin' off my lips
Don't wanna give my heart away
To another stranger
Or let another day begin
Won't even let the sunlight in
No, I'll never love..."
-I'll Never Love Again by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
(Reminds me a lot of this book)
"Lady, running down to the riptide
Taken away to the dark side"
Riptide by Vance Joy
(Reminds me of the death of Simon Ross)
-Becca da SOBBING 😭 Queen<3
"A terrible summer that almost makes me want to forget. Until I remember it was also the greatest summer of my life."
I knew Id cry, but I didn't think that I would cry this much. This wasnt supposed to be a sad book!
And you know what my sister said to me?
She said, "It's just a book."
No words. Absolutely no words. Screw you, sis! (Not actually)
It's NOT just a book!! I felt truly connected to the charatcers, that's the main reason why people cry over dead characters. It's more than a work of fiction. It's so much more. Open your eyes!
Simon's death was unexpected until it was actually happening. I'll sob until my lungs give out. No one, NO ONE will make of me for crying over a book again! Funny thing is, I'm writing this when I have 11 pages to go. It's too much for me at 1 in the morning.
It's not just connection, it's downright sad when someone you love dies. It's more than sad. If my sister's (future) boyfriend died while she was trying to save him, would she be crying?
Part of me wonders why Mia just stood there for a second...
Is it actually partially her fault?
Questions and answers always lead to more questions and never enough answers.
The real question is: Why?
"When we first met
I never thought that I would fall
I never thought that I'd find myself
Lying in your arms, mm, mm
And I wanna pretend that it's not true
Oh, baby, that you're gone
'Cause my world keeps turnin', and turnin', and turnin'
And I'm not movin' on
Don't wanna feel another touch
Don't wanna start another fire
Don't wanna know another kiss
No other name fallin' off my lips
Don't wanna give my heart away
To another stranger
Or let another day begin
Won't even let the sunlight in
No, I'll never love..."
-I'll Never Love Again by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
(Reminds me a lot of this book)
"Lady, running down to the riptide
Taken away to the dark side"
Riptide by Vance Joy
(Reminds me of the death of Simon Ross)
-Becca da SOBBING 😭 Queen<3
May 17, 2010
Don't let the title fool you. This is not the light read it seems to be. Sure there are cute summer moments that make you go "awww," but it also deals with serious issues. Lots of disfunctional family issues in this read.
The Summer of Skinny Dipping is about finding yourself, even when you're not comfortable in your own skin. While it's about summer love, it's also about loving yourself. The real you, not the one you portray to others. It reminds you that it doesn't matter what other people say or think. The people who matter are the ones that love the real you.
With all this said, I have to say that I 100% hated the ending. Why? Why did that have to happen? Why did it have to end like this? I'm seriously heartbroken. It doesn't make sense to me. I get The Great Gasby parallels, but why? The ending is the reason I will not reread this book.
The Summer of Skinny Dipping is about finding yourself, even when you're not comfortable in your own skin. While it's about summer love, it's also about loving yourself. The real you, not the one you portray to others. It reminds you that it doesn't matter what other people say or think. The people who matter are the ones that love the real you.
With all this said, I have to say that I 100% hated the ending. Why? Why did that have to happen? Why did it have to end like this? I'm seriously heartbroken. It doesn't make sense to me. I get The Great Gasby parallels, but why? The ending is the reason I will not reread this book.
February 27, 2012
***SPOILERS****
Lets start with the very intreging begginning, I liked the whole consept of the story. A niave girl sets of for a summer of fun with a great cousin.
The first few chapters were hard to get into. I found myself reading one chapter a night - and that meant I was totally uniterested. I wanted a book that kept me reading at school, under the table. Reading at dinner and god forbid, reading on the toilet.
Mia's character was someone I could relate too, very behind the scenes, not wanting to get involved with the teen drinking and drugs. As I continued and met Simon as a character, i'm ashamed to say at first I thought 'creep' but as I continued I started to get his character more and more.
Simon wants to travel the world, he's rebelious but not it the 'just because i'm a teenager' kinda way. More like 'i need to escape from reality' kinda way, and I liked that.
Many people have an issue with the cover of this book. Mia supposedly struggled with a bigger body. But I always imagined an ordinary looking girl, and that the only reason she feels big is due to her cousins total obsession with the 'perfect' body. In this picture she is ordinary, but also if she is 'bigger' she isn't here, she's just beautiful - just like she feels when she's swimming.
After getting past the middle of the book I lived for the night time esceludes with Simon and kept saying "just do it!" when Simon asked Mia each night to skinny dip.
I have to say I was slightly dissapointed with the ending. I wish it could have been more dramatic. I mean I shed a few tears. But I wanted more. I wanted to break down in tears and chuck the book at the wall. Where was the break down. I know some people just close off when someone dies but I wanted Mia to chuck herself into the sea and try drown herself, or soemthing to that notion. I wanted drama. But overall I so enjoyed reading this book.
Lets start with the very intreging begginning, I liked the whole consept of the story. A niave girl sets of for a summer of fun with a great cousin.
The first few chapters were hard to get into. I found myself reading one chapter a night - and that meant I was totally uniterested. I wanted a book that kept me reading at school, under the table. Reading at dinner and god forbid, reading on the toilet.
Mia's character was someone I could relate too, very behind the scenes, not wanting to get involved with the teen drinking and drugs. As I continued and met Simon as a character, i'm ashamed to say at first I thought 'creep' but as I continued I started to get his character more and more.
Simon wants to travel the world, he's rebelious but not it the 'just because i'm a teenager' kinda way. More like 'i need to escape from reality' kinda way, and I liked that.
Many people have an issue with the cover of this book. Mia supposedly struggled with a bigger body. But I always imagined an ordinary looking girl, and that the only reason she feels big is due to her cousins total obsession with the 'perfect' body. In this picture she is ordinary, but also if she is 'bigger' she isn't here, she's just beautiful - just like she feels when she's swimming.
After getting past the middle of the book I lived for the night time esceludes with Simon and kept saying "just do it!" when Simon asked Mia each night to skinny dip.
I have to say I was slightly dissapointed with the ending. I wish it could have been more dramatic. I mean I shed a few tears. But I wanted more. I wanted to break down in tears and chuck the book at the wall. Where was the break down. I know some people just close off when someone dies but I wanted Mia to chuck herself into the sea and try drown herself, or soemthing to that notion. I wanted drama. But overall I so enjoyed reading this book.
April 20, 2010
There are a lot of spoilers with one big spoiler.
The main gist of the book is about Mia becoming comfortable with who she is and sticking up for herself when she feels pressure to blend in with her cousins. It does a good job of showing how she changes parts of herself so that she isn't mocked and so she is accepted. Simon helps her to overcome that urge to bury parts of herself. And he also helps her accept her body.
Their friendship develops into trust which develops into love. So their nightly swims develop into skinny dipping which develops into making out naked on the beach which probably develops into more, but we're not given details.
Another main chunk of this book is that looks are deceiving. Mia's parents argue a lot, but they really love each other a great deal. Mia's cousin looks so happy with her parties and friends, but she's really miserable. Mia's aunt and uncle appear to be happily married, but they're on the brink of divorce and have been for a long time. Mia discovers this and reevaluates what she's always thought.
There were three things I didn't like about this book. First, Mia and Simon's physical relationship. Second, Simon smokes. He's seventeen and he's SMOKING regularly. Horrible, smelly, life-sucking habit. And Mia kisses him repeatedly when he's in the middle of smoking. Uck! Third is a
****SPOiLER****
After Mia learns all she can from Simon and he finally has found peace with his father and hope in his future, he dies. HE DIES!!!! In a riptide when they're out swimming at night. How stupid is that! When I've grown attached to the chain-smoking punk he DIES!!!! I was not happy. Which is why I probably wont recommend this book to anyone. I have nothing against characters dying, just not the main character or the love interest or my spunky sidekick.
****SPOiLER COMPLETE****
The main gist of the book is about Mia becoming comfortable with who she is and sticking up for herself when she feels pressure to blend in with her cousins. It does a good job of showing how she changes parts of herself so that she isn't mocked and so she is accepted. Simon helps her to overcome that urge to bury parts of herself. And he also helps her accept her body.
Their friendship develops into trust which develops into love. So their nightly swims develop into skinny dipping which develops into making out naked on the beach which probably develops into more, but we're not given details.
Another main chunk of this book is that looks are deceiving. Mia's parents argue a lot, but they really love each other a great deal. Mia's cousin looks so happy with her parties and friends, but she's really miserable. Mia's aunt and uncle appear to be happily married, but they're on the brink of divorce and have been for a long time. Mia discovers this and reevaluates what she's always thought.
There were three things I didn't like about this book. First, Mia and Simon's physical relationship. Second, Simon smokes. He's seventeen and he's SMOKING regularly. Horrible, smelly, life-sucking habit. And Mia kisses him repeatedly when he's in the middle of smoking. Uck! Third is a
****SPOiLER****
After Mia learns all she can from Simon and he finally has found peace with his father and hope in his future, he dies. HE DIES!!!! In a riptide when they're out swimming at night. How stupid is that! When I've grown attached to the chain-smoking punk he DIES!!!! I was not happy. Which is why I probably wont recommend this book to anyone. I have nothing against characters dying, just not the main character or the love interest or my spunky sidekick.
****SPOiLER COMPLETE****
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2012
Reviewed by hoopsielv for TeensReadToo.com
Mia can't wait to spend the summer in the Hamptons. After all, she just got dumped and there's nothing like the beach to make everything better. Plus, she'll be with her cousin, Corinne, and they've been inseparable every time they're together. It's bound to be a fabulous time!
Right away, Mia sees a big change in Corinne. Everything is "boring" to her and she would rather be anywhere else. Corinne's friend, Gen, has also been invited this summer, and Mia feels like a third wheel. Where does she fit in?
Mia doesn't want to change herself for these girls and their lifestyles. She is who she is. The ocean has always welcomed her with open arms and she finds her place in the water and the beach, gazing as far as she can see.
Yet she's not the only one who finds the beach to be an escape at night. Simon is different, also, and together they feel like they are on the outside looking in on the world. They spend many nights together watching the tide, sharing thoughts and dreams. When the sun comes up and they have to deal with daylight, can they still find the inner peace and strength to be themselves and not what others want them to be?
This is a touching novel about falling in love, being independent, and learning to believe in yourself. It's definitely bittersweet at times but very realistic. This a terrific summer read!
Mia can't wait to spend the summer in the Hamptons. After all, she just got dumped and there's nothing like the beach to make everything better. Plus, she'll be with her cousin, Corinne, and they've been inseparable every time they're together. It's bound to be a fabulous time!
Right away, Mia sees a big change in Corinne. Everything is "boring" to her and she would rather be anywhere else. Corinne's friend, Gen, has also been invited this summer, and Mia feels like a third wheel. Where does she fit in?
Mia doesn't want to change herself for these girls and their lifestyles. She is who she is. The ocean has always welcomed her with open arms and she finds her place in the water and the beach, gazing as far as she can see.
Yet she's not the only one who finds the beach to be an escape at night. Simon is different, also, and together they feel like they are on the outside looking in on the world. They spend many nights together watching the tide, sharing thoughts and dreams. When the sun comes up and they have to deal with daylight, can they still find the inner peace and strength to be themselves and not what others want them to be?
This is a touching novel about falling in love, being independent, and learning to believe in yourself. It's definitely bittersweet at times but very realistic. This a terrific summer read!
July 20, 2016
I liked most of the book--nuanced parental/family relationships, non-shallow portrayals of complicated girl friendships, and believable Hamptons lifestyle setting. Too often you read this stuff and you can tell the author's never set foot in anything fancier than a nice Hyatt, but that didn't feel like the case here.
But I was pretty so-so on the love interest, so that kind of made the story stall for me. And man, did I NOT love that ending. It felt a little out of left field, even though I could tell it was going to happen shortly beforehand. Bleh. I'd read another book by this author in the future, though.
But I was pretty so-so on the love interest, so that kind of made the story stall for me. And man, did I NOT love that ending. It felt a little out of left field, even though I could tell it was going to happen shortly beforehand. Bleh. I'd read another book by this author in the future, though.
March 1, 2013
oh, dear. What a train wreck of a book. I got it for my teenaged daughter, and decided to read it first (what agony!). I found a review that describes the atrocity so well, that I must repeat it here for all to see, so they do not waste their time and money on this author.
Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen
Recommended for: Frankly, no one, but if you must, 13 and Up
One Word Summary: False
Nothing can save a book whose characters don’t ring true, and that’s sadly the fate of ‘The Summer of Skinny Dipping.’ Not a glossy location like The Hamptons, not a frighteningly accelerated summer romance, not a bunch of ‘cool’ kids raiding the liquor cabinet and posing as cardboard cutouts of every parent and After School Special’s worst nightmare of youth gone awry. There’s a riptide out there alright, but it has less to do with sea currents and more to do with disingenuous dialogue and broad brushed stereotypes that pull this book down to the murky depths.
Mia is 16 and spending another summer with her parents and little sister at the Hamptons summer home of her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousin Corinne. Mia and Corinne had always been best friends during the summer, and managed to keep the relationship up during the school year, in spite of the fact that Corinne lives in New York City and Mia’s from Georgia. But as soon as her family arrives, Mia can tell that something has changed. Most notably, Corinne has turned into some kind of Cosmopolitan Magazine inspired social zombie, spouting nauseating slang, smoking cigarettes, screaming at her mom, and doing all the things you might quickly jot down on a piece of paper if someone asked you to list traits of an obnoxious and snobby teenager. We’re meant to believe that she wasn’t like this before, but we’ll just have to take Mia’s word for the fact that she’s gone through some sort of abrupt soul lobotomy in the last few months.
Worse than Corinne is her crowd of hip friends. All the children of the Hamptons elite swill about with fancy clothes and vacant attitudes, and Mia feels completely out of place. She’s not nearly as trendy as the other girls, isn’t into drinking or smoking, and has nothing to talk about with all the rich kids who seem only to talk about nothing. But one night at a party, Mia meets an odd fellow in old fashioned clothes named Simon who prattles on about ‘The Great Gatsby’ and how hollow all the rich kids are, in spite of the fact that he and his family are currently renting the mansion next door, and he briskly wins Mia’s purportedly reluctant heart. Most of her nights are spent sneaking out of her bedroom window, poised conveniently over a trellis (when will parents ever learn, don’t put anything with foot holds beneath your teenager’s window) and swimming au-natural in the ocean with Simon who talks a lot about ‘letting go’ and ‘just living in the moment’ and other clichéd one-liners that have been getting teenagers pregnant for centuries.
It’s tempting to criticize Mia for making blanket judgments about all individuals with money, but Amanda Howells seems be the guiltier party, depicting every single person who is neither Mia nor Simon, nor Mia’s ho-hum simple dad who, aw-shucks, just owns a humble hardware store, as a predictable, pretentious bore. But with Simon uttering phrases like “You should try night swimming sometime. It washes away all of your sins” and his explanation of what he does during his sun-shunning days as “Listen to music. Paint. I mess around with oils. I like the light, but I like to see it from a shady place. Under a tree. Or sitting in my bay window…I can really see myself next year just drifting, in search of soft light. Going to Italy, sitting in cafes and painting,” his eye-rolling at all the elitist artifice is a little hard to stomach.
It’s just far too convenient that every single one of these privileged teens are superficial and arrogant, giving Mia the chance to look nuanced and sensitive with her body-image problems and willingness to date a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (and the wrong side of the racks is where exactly, East Hampton? If Howells really wanted to go there, couldn’t Simon have been a waiter at a country club, just there for summer work?) The cookie-cuter stereotyping of the wealthy smacks only of laziness, and all the waffling about class distinction and the conflict between Mia’s desires to fit and ‘just be herself’, to use the vapid and erratic Corrine’s often used term, is “tedious”.
There are just too many departures from plausibility in this story to give it any kind of grounding. Really? Mia’s been sneaking out of her bedroom window every night in a house containing seven other people, and no one noticed once? Really? Simon steals his father’s treasured yellow convertible on several occasions to go joy riding with Mia and no one in his house is alerted by the sound of an engine firing up outside? Really? Two sets of parents can leave a herd of entitled teenagers alone in the house for an unchaperoned, yet lavishly catered rager with an unlocked liquor cabinet, not once, but twice, and still have the nerve to come home and act surprised when they find all the kids are drunk? I don’t know who is more naïve, the parents, or Howells for believing that the reader will go with the notion that all six parents, Mia’s, Corinne’s and Simon’s, could have their heads buried that deep in the sand.
And then there is the ending. In real life you can look at sudden, violent deaths and say “What a senseless tragedy” and content yourself with the cruel randomness of life. Unfortunately in fiction, there is an architect crafting the fate of the characters, whose name is emblazed right on the front cover, and when an ill-fitting, disproportionately dramatic and quickly leapt-to climax stops the story in its tracks, leaving all of the previously developed plot threads that we’ve been unraveling for the last 250 pages to just flap in the wind with no resolution, there is someone to blame. A sad denouement for Mia, indeed, but to the reader it comes as mercifully as euthanasia.
Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen
Recommended for: Frankly, no one, but if you must, 13 and Up
One Word Summary: False
Nothing can save a book whose characters don’t ring true, and that’s sadly the fate of ‘The Summer of Skinny Dipping.’ Not a glossy location like The Hamptons, not a frighteningly accelerated summer romance, not a bunch of ‘cool’ kids raiding the liquor cabinet and posing as cardboard cutouts of every parent and After School Special’s worst nightmare of youth gone awry. There’s a riptide out there alright, but it has less to do with sea currents and more to do with disingenuous dialogue and broad brushed stereotypes that pull this book down to the murky depths.
Mia is 16 and spending another summer with her parents and little sister at the Hamptons summer home of her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousin Corinne. Mia and Corinne had always been best friends during the summer, and managed to keep the relationship up during the school year, in spite of the fact that Corinne lives in New York City and Mia’s from Georgia. But as soon as her family arrives, Mia can tell that something has changed. Most notably, Corinne has turned into some kind of Cosmopolitan Magazine inspired social zombie, spouting nauseating slang, smoking cigarettes, screaming at her mom, and doing all the things you might quickly jot down on a piece of paper if someone asked you to list traits of an obnoxious and snobby teenager. We’re meant to believe that she wasn’t like this before, but we’ll just have to take Mia’s word for the fact that she’s gone through some sort of abrupt soul lobotomy in the last few months.
Worse than Corinne is her crowd of hip friends. All the children of the Hamptons elite swill about with fancy clothes and vacant attitudes, and Mia feels completely out of place. She’s not nearly as trendy as the other girls, isn’t into drinking or smoking, and has nothing to talk about with all the rich kids who seem only to talk about nothing. But one night at a party, Mia meets an odd fellow in old fashioned clothes named Simon who prattles on about ‘The Great Gatsby’ and how hollow all the rich kids are, in spite of the fact that he and his family are currently renting the mansion next door, and he briskly wins Mia’s purportedly reluctant heart. Most of her nights are spent sneaking out of her bedroom window, poised conveniently over a trellis (when will parents ever learn, don’t put anything with foot holds beneath your teenager’s window) and swimming au-natural in the ocean with Simon who talks a lot about ‘letting go’ and ‘just living in the moment’ and other clichéd one-liners that have been getting teenagers pregnant for centuries.
It’s tempting to criticize Mia for making blanket judgments about all individuals with money, but Amanda Howells seems be the guiltier party, depicting every single person who is neither Mia nor Simon, nor Mia’s ho-hum simple dad who, aw-shucks, just owns a humble hardware store, as a predictable, pretentious bore. But with Simon uttering phrases like “You should try night swimming sometime. It washes away all of your sins” and his explanation of what he does during his sun-shunning days as “Listen to music. Paint. I mess around with oils. I like the light, but I like to see it from a shady place. Under a tree. Or sitting in my bay window…I can really see myself next year just drifting, in search of soft light. Going to Italy, sitting in cafes and painting,” his eye-rolling at all the elitist artifice is a little hard to stomach.
It’s just far too convenient that every single one of these privileged teens are superficial and arrogant, giving Mia the chance to look nuanced and sensitive with her body-image problems and willingness to date a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (and the wrong side of the racks is where exactly, East Hampton? If Howells really wanted to go there, couldn’t Simon have been a waiter at a country club, just there for summer work?) The cookie-cuter stereotyping of the wealthy smacks only of laziness, and all the waffling about class distinction and the conflict between Mia’s desires to fit and ‘just be herself’, to use the vapid and erratic Corrine’s often used term, is “tedious”.
There are just too many departures from plausibility in this story to give it any kind of grounding. Really? Mia’s been sneaking out of her bedroom window every night in a house containing seven other people, and no one noticed once? Really? Simon steals his father’s treasured yellow convertible on several occasions to go joy riding with Mia and no one in his house is alerted by the sound of an engine firing up outside? Really? Two sets of parents can leave a herd of entitled teenagers alone in the house for an unchaperoned, yet lavishly catered rager with an unlocked liquor cabinet, not once, but twice, and still have the nerve to come home and act surprised when they find all the kids are drunk? I don’t know who is more naïve, the parents, or Howells for believing that the reader will go with the notion that all six parents, Mia’s, Corinne’s and Simon’s, could have their heads buried that deep in the sand.
And then there is the ending. In real life you can look at sudden, violent deaths and say “What a senseless tragedy” and content yourself with the cruel randomness of life. Unfortunately in fiction, there is an architect crafting the fate of the characters, whose name is emblazed right on the front cover, and when an ill-fitting, disproportionately dramatic and quickly leapt-to climax stops the story in its tracks, leaving all of the previously developed plot threads that we’ve been unraveling for the last 250 pages to just flap in the wind with no resolution, there is someone to blame. A sad denouement for Mia, indeed, but to the reader it comes as mercifully as euthanasia.
March 2, 2013
After reading this book I am rather disappointed. If you've been keeping up with my progress, then this is no surprise to you. I grabbed this book thinking it would be a fabulous beach read. It seemed light, but with spice as I read the back cover, inspected the title, and was drawn in my the image on the cover. However, it was really lack luster. The main character was boring and even her summer romance was boring. There was not enough spice in this book for me to even recommend it to anyone. The plot isn't rising, but a slow and steady line. I was not shocked by anything in this book, and I really feel like it has given me no greater knowledge after reading it. The worse thing about this is Simon dies. It makes no sense at all. The biggest clue that this book was no worth it for me is that in the end I did not cry. I felt no emotional pull at all. I was not surprised by his death or moved by it. I felt numb, no happiness, no fulfillment like I usually have. I'm just very disappointed.
November 14, 2019
Dear Vickey,
It is going to take a lot for me to ever read a book that you recommend to me again. This book was TERRIBLE and I'm not just talking about the ending (we'll get to that later). There was barely a plot to this story AT ALL. It was just a story of a girl spending her summer with her rich side of the family and not knowing where she fit in, until she meets a boy *dramatic gasp*....*eye roll*. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for cliches, but only when done right.
Now, that ending. UM???? There was literally no need for that and I honestly can't tell if I'm mad or sad or even kind of "eh" about it. Probably all three. And the painting at the end was so anti-climatic beyond so many levels.
Anyway, I am mad that you made me read this book and then went on vacation when I finished it so I can't yell at you in person but just be prepared for when I see you next.
Sincerely, A Very Confused But Yet Disappointed Allie
It is going to take a lot for me to ever read a book that you recommend to me again. This book was TERRIBLE and I'm not just talking about the ending (we'll get to that later). There was barely a plot to this story AT ALL. It was just a story of a girl spending her summer with her rich side of the family and not knowing where she fit in, until she meets a boy *dramatic gasp*....*eye roll*. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for cliches, but only when done right.
Now, that ending. UM???? There was literally no need for that and I honestly can't tell if I'm mad or sad or even kind of "eh" about it. Probably all three. And the painting at the end was so anti-climatic beyond so many levels.
Anyway, I am mad that you made me read this book and then went on vacation when I finished it so I can't yell at you in person but just be prepared for when I see you next.
Sincerely, A Very Confused But Yet Disappointed Allie
March 8, 2012
this book broke my heart .. :((
it's been 12 hours since i finished this book and i'm still crying ..
i really can't help myself .. the story was so sad .. :((
after reading the book, i texted my friends about it and asked them,
"WHY CAN'T SOMETHING PERFECT LAST FOREVER???"
'cause that's what i feel about what happened to Mia and Simon ..
their love story was perfect, but then, it had to end, tragically ..
i will forever remember SIMON ROSS, i promise..
his character gave me hope, just like what he did to Mia ..
because of him, i realized that it's not that scary to dream and expect for things to happen,
'cause even if they don't come true, you can tell yourself that at least,
you were brave enough to try ..
and also, as what Mia learned in the end,
"IT IS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL" .. <3
it's been 12 hours since i finished this book and i'm still crying ..
i really can't help myself .. the story was so sad .. :((
after reading the book, i texted my friends about it and asked them,
"WHY CAN'T SOMETHING PERFECT LAST FOREVER???"
'cause that's what i feel about what happened to Mia and Simon ..
their love story was perfect, but then, it had to end, tragically ..
i will forever remember SIMON ROSS, i promise..
his character gave me hope, just like what he did to Mia ..
because of him, i realized that it's not that scary to dream and expect for things to happen,
'cause even if they don't come true, you can tell yourself that at least,
you were brave enough to try ..
and also, as what Mia learned in the end,
"IT IS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL" .. <3
August 12, 2011
Wow...this book was incredibly romantic and just perfect. However, *spoiler alert* if I had know Simon would die at the end, totally devastating, I actually cried, I wouldn't have read it. Ahhh I really don't understand why they couldn't live happily ever after...that's why it gets 4 stars, instead of 5.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2010
Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen
Recommended for: Frankly, no one, but if you must, 13 and Up
One Word Summary: False
Nothing can save a book whose characters don’t ring true, and that’s sadly the fate of ‘The Summer of Skinny Dipping.’ Not a glossy location like The Hamptons, not a frighteningly accelerated summer romance, not a bunch of ‘cool’ kids raiding the liquor cabinet and posing as cardboard cutouts of every parent and After School Special’s worst nightmare of youth gone awry. There’s a riptide out there alright, but it has less to do with sea currents and more to do with disingenuous dialogue and broad brushed stereotypes that pull this book down to the murky depths.
Mia is 16 and spending another summer with her parents and little sister at the Hamptons summer home of her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousin Corinne. Mia and Corinne had always been best friends during the summer, and managed to keep the relationship up during the school year, in spite of the fact that Corinne lives in New York City and Mia’s from Georgia. But as soon as her family arrives, Mia can tell that something has changed. Most notably, Corinne has turned into some kind of Cosmopolitan Magazine inspired social zombie, spouting nauseating slang, smoking cigarettes, screaming at her mom, and doing all the things you might quickly jot down on a piece of paper if someone asked you to list traits of an obnoxious and snobby teenager. We’re meant to believe that she wasn’t like this before, but we’ll just have to take Mia’s word for the fact that she’s gone through some sort of abrupt soul lobotomy in the last few months.
Worse than Corinne is her crowd of hip friends. All the children of the Hamptons elite swill about with fancy clothes and vacant attitudes, and Mia feels completely out of place. She’s not nearly as trendy as the other girls, isn’t into drinking or smoking, and has nothing to talk about with all the rich kids who seem only to talk about nothing. But one night at a party, Mia meets an odd fellow in old fashioned clothes named Simon who prattles on about ‘The Great Gatsby’ and how hollow all the rich kids are, in spite of the fact that he and his family are currently renting the mansion next door, and he briskly wins Mia’s purportedly reluctant heart. Most of her nights are spent sneaking out of her bedroom window, poised conveniently over a trellis (when will parents ever learn, don’t put anything with foot holds beneath your teenager’s window) and swimming au-natural in the ocean with Simon who talks a lot about ‘letting go’ and ‘just living in the moment’ and other clichéd one-liners that have been getting teenagers pregnant for centuries.
It’s tempting to criticize Mia for making blanket judgments about all individuals with money, but Amanda Howells seems be the guiltier party, depicting every single person who is neither Mia nor Simon, nor Mia’s ho-hum simple dad who, aw-shucks, just owns a humble hardware store, as a predictable, pretentious bore. But with Simon uttering phrases like “You should try night swimming sometime. It washes away all of your sins” and his explanation of what he does during his sun-shunning days as “Listen to music. Paint. I mess around with oils. I like the light, but I like to see it from a shady place. Under a tree. Or sitting in my bay window…I can really see myself next year just drifting, in search of soft light. Going to Italy, sitting in cafes and painting,” his eye-rolling at all the elitist artifice is a little hard to stomach.
It’s just far too convenient that every single one of these privileged teens are superficial and arrogant, giving Mia the chance to look nuanced and sensitive with her body-image problems and willingness to date a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (and the wrong side of the racks is where exactly, East Hampton? If Howells really wanted to go there, couldn’t Simon have been a waiter at a country club, just there for summer work?) The cookie-cuter stereotyping of the wealthy smacks only of laziness, and all the waffling about class distinction and the conflict between Mia’s desires to fit and ‘just be herself’, to use the vapid and erratic Corrine’s often used term, is “tedious”.
There are just too many departures from plausibility in this story to give it any kind of grounding. Really? Mia’s been sneaking out of her bedroom window every night in a house containing seven other people, and no one noticed once? Really? Simon steals his father’s treasured yellow convertible on several occasions to go joy riding with Mia and no one in his house is alerted by the sound of an engine firing up outside? Really? Two sets of parents can leave a herd of entitled teenagers alone in the house for an unchaperoned, yet lavishly catered rager with an unlocked liquor cabinet, not once, but twice, and still have the nerve to come home and act surprised when they find all the kids are drunk? I don’t know who is more naïve, the parents, or Howells for believing that the reader will go with the notion that all six parents, Mia’s, Corinne’s and Simon’s, could have their heads buried that deep in the sand.
And then there is the ending. In real life you can look at sudden, violent deaths and say “What a senseless tragedy” and content yourself with the cruel randomness of life. Unfortunately in fiction, there is an architect crafting the fate of the characters, whose name is emblazed right on the front cover, and when an ill-fitting, disproportionately dramatic and quickly leapt-to climax stops the story in its tracks, leaving all of the previously developed plot threads that we’ve been unraveling for the last 250 pages to just flap in the wind with no resolution, there is someone to blame. A sad denouement for Mia, indeed, but to the reader it comes as mercifully as euthanasia.
For more reviews from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com
Recommended for: Frankly, no one, but if you must, 13 and Up
One Word Summary: False
Nothing can save a book whose characters don’t ring true, and that’s sadly the fate of ‘The Summer of Skinny Dipping.’ Not a glossy location like The Hamptons, not a frighteningly accelerated summer romance, not a bunch of ‘cool’ kids raiding the liquor cabinet and posing as cardboard cutouts of every parent and After School Special’s worst nightmare of youth gone awry. There’s a riptide out there alright, but it has less to do with sea currents and more to do with disingenuous dialogue and broad brushed stereotypes that pull this book down to the murky depths.
Mia is 16 and spending another summer with her parents and little sister at the Hamptons summer home of her wealthy aunt, uncle, and cousin Corinne. Mia and Corinne had always been best friends during the summer, and managed to keep the relationship up during the school year, in spite of the fact that Corinne lives in New York City and Mia’s from Georgia. But as soon as her family arrives, Mia can tell that something has changed. Most notably, Corinne has turned into some kind of Cosmopolitan Magazine inspired social zombie, spouting nauseating slang, smoking cigarettes, screaming at her mom, and doing all the things you might quickly jot down on a piece of paper if someone asked you to list traits of an obnoxious and snobby teenager. We’re meant to believe that she wasn’t like this before, but we’ll just have to take Mia’s word for the fact that she’s gone through some sort of abrupt soul lobotomy in the last few months.
Worse than Corinne is her crowd of hip friends. All the children of the Hamptons elite swill about with fancy clothes and vacant attitudes, and Mia feels completely out of place. She’s not nearly as trendy as the other girls, isn’t into drinking or smoking, and has nothing to talk about with all the rich kids who seem only to talk about nothing. But one night at a party, Mia meets an odd fellow in old fashioned clothes named Simon who prattles on about ‘The Great Gatsby’ and how hollow all the rich kids are, in spite of the fact that he and his family are currently renting the mansion next door, and he briskly wins Mia’s purportedly reluctant heart. Most of her nights are spent sneaking out of her bedroom window, poised conveniently over a trellis (when will parents ever learn, don’t put anything with foot holds beneath your teenager’s window) and swimming au-natural in the ocean with Simon who talks a lot about ‘letting go’ and ‘just living in the moment’ and other clichéd one-liners that have been getting teenagers pregnant for centuries.
It’s tempting to criticize Mia for making blanket judgments about all individuals with money, but Amanda Howells seems be the guiltier party, depicting every single person who is neither Mia nor Simon, nor Mia’s ho-hum simple dad who, aw-shucks, just owns a humble hardware store, as a predictable, pretentious bore. But with Simon uttering phrases like “You should try night swimming sometime. It washes away all of your sins” and his explanation of what he does during his sun-shunning days as “Listen to music. Paint. I mess around with oils. I like the light, but I like to see it from a shady place. Under a tree. Or sitting in my bay window…I can really see myself next year just drifting, in search of soft light. Going to Italy, sitting in cafes and painting,” his eye-rolling at all the elitist artifice is a little hard to stomach.
It’s just far too convenient that every single one of these privileged teens are superficial and arrogant, giving Mia the chance to look nuanced and sensitive with her body-image problems and willingness to date a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (and the wrong side of the racks is where exactly, East Hampton? If Howells really wanted to go there, couldn’t Simon have been a waiter at a country club, just there for summer work?) The cookie-cuter stereotyping of the wealthy smacks only of laziness, and all the waffling about class distinction and the conflict between Mia’s desires to fit and ‘just be herself’, to use the vapid and erratic Corrine’s often used term, is “tedious”.
There are just too many departures from plausibility in this story to give it any kind of grounding. Really? Mia’s been sneaking out of her bedroom window every night in a house containing seven other people, and no one noticed once? Really? Simon steals his father’s treasured yellow convertible on several occasions to go joy riding with Mia and no one in his house is alerted by the sound of an engine firing up outside? Really? Two sets of parents can leave a herd of entitled teenagers alone in the house for an unchaperoned, yet lavishly catered rager with an unlocked liquor cabinet, not once, but twice, and still have the nerve to come home and act surprised when they find all the kids are drunk? I don’t know who is more naïve, the parents, or Howells for believing that the reader will go with the notion that all six parents, Mia’s, Corinne’s and Simon’s, could have their heads buried that deep in the sand.
And then there is the ending. In real life you can look at sudden, violent deaths and say “What a senseless tragedy” and content yourself with the cruel randomness of life. Unfortunately in fiction, there is an architect crafting the fate of the characters, whose name is emblazed right on the front cover, and when an ill-fitting, disproportionately dramatic and quickly leapt-to climax stops the story in its tracks, leaving all of the previously developed plot threads that we’ve been unraveling for the last 250 pages to just flap in the wind with no resolution, there is someone to blame. A sad denouement for Mia, indeed, but to the reader it comes as mercifully as euthanasia.
For more reviews from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com
July 22, 2021
this book is from 2010, which i suppose explains the manic pixie dream boy to rival alaska…
nothing about the marketing of this book matches the interior and messages it self-importantly pushes. stories like this, of teenagers doing nothing but kissing and asking extisential questions, could at least make up for unoriginality by being good, which this dull novel couldn’t manage.
nothing about the marketing of this book matches the interior and messages it self-importantly pushes. stories like this, of teenagers doing nothing but kissing and asking extisential questions, could at least make up for unoriginality by being good, which this dull novel couldn’t manage.
June 10, 2023
i genuinely want to know how 16 year olds growl. what the f was that ending?
January 22, 2012
“I’m a realist,” I replied stubbornly, “not a romantic. Romantics
are always disappointed.”
“Maybe they’re disappointed because they’re always surrounded
by realists.” Simon countered.”
Sooooo i think i loved this book until my brain cells started analyzing and investigating .
so lets get on it , shall we ?
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells was surprisingly a likable read . i remember feeling bored to death and even considering abandoning it when suddenly things took an unexpected course and i actually started liking it . the thing which attracted me most was it's synopsis and also it's prologue with its ..I'm Mia Gordon and i remember everything kinda thing going for it . then it all went straight down with it's slow pace taking over and launching this book straight in a monotonous dull lull .
We here have our sixteen year-old Mia . She's going away with her family to Long Island to spend the summer with her relatives i.e her lovable aunt , Kathleen , her uncle Rufus and her cousins , Corrine and beth . Mia is game for the summer she hoped would be absolutely fantastic with her aunt and much-loved-and-Bff-sort-of cousin Corrine .
but when she arrives , she realises things have changed ... that things which you least expect do happen to you at unexpected times and that this summer was going to be one of the greatest summer of her life .
i liked Mia . She was realistic and the things she thought and felt were quite understandable . her insecurity and her shyness of being part of the crowd as well as her reluctance to lose herself and also pretend to actually fit in was something i think many teenagers feel and author did a nice job in creating something which readers could connect with .
okay , so i think it felt too...real.
How would you feel when you're in a party , sitting there all by yourself all alone when suddenly a stranger-guy starts making conversation and goes on full frontal with his..i saw you and wanted to talk to you and really want to get to know you more , so tell me everything and everything and blah blah right at the moment you meet ?..(okay i'm kind of exaggerating :P ) but still how would you feel when he gets insistent ?
you creep out .
Mia was in a similar situation . usually when reading such parts i would go flying across the moon with butterflies in my tummy , but here i was a tiny bit 'creeped out' .
but then again i think this is the thing which makes you like Simon even more .
ah yes , the guy is Simon .
Simon was a likable character . He was fearless , brave , smart and spirited ! his artistic , free and lively nature made me like him even more . it was as if i was getting to know Simon step by step along with Mia .
the author also does a wonderful job in making the book feel Summery , light and bright :)
the use of colours and emotions to describe natural beauty and the ocean has always won my heart . mentioning fireflies , planktons , blackholes and scientific knowledge and blending it together made this book even more vibrant . it's always nice to come across brief mentioning of classics like 'The Great Gatsby' and also the 'blues-tune' kind of music . kudos to the author , for doing a great job in creating such a world :)
now the place where things go down the drain .
the end . yes , it was something i did not like .
it did affect me .
i was sad . but not heartbroken and tears didn't fall .
after dancing with grief books and finally crying ...i think my system has programmed itself to like a book only if i cry . -.-
(that's actually quite a depressing thought ...but still :P )
and i methinks that's where this book loses it's stars .
in the end , the Summer of Skinny Dipping , like i said before took an unexpected turn from being boring to actually being nice and likable . the series definitely has potential in it . definitely going to try the next one :)
are always disappointed.”
“Maybe they’re disappointed because they’re always surrounded
by realists.” Simon countered.”
Sooooo i think i loved this book until my brain cells started analyzing and investigating .
so lets get on it , shall we ?
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells was surprisingly a likable read . i remember feeling bored to death and even considering abandoning it when suddenly things took an unexpected course and i actually started liking it . the thing which attracted me most was it's synopsis and also it's prologue with its ..I'm Mia Gordon and i remember everything kinda thing going for it . then it all went straight down with it's slow pace taking over and launching this book straight in a monotonous dull lull .
We here have our sixteen year-old Mia . She's going away with her family to Long Island to spend the summer with her relatives i.e her lovable aunt , Kathleen , her uncle Rufus and her cousins , Corrine and beth . Mia is game for the summer she hoped would be absolutely fantastic with her aunt and much-loved-and-Bff-sort-of cousin Corrine .
but when she arrives , she realises things have changed ... that things which you least expect do happen to you at unexpected times and that this summer was going to be one of the greatest summer of her life .
i liked Mia . She was realistic and the things she thought and felt were quite understandable . her insecurity and her shyness of being part of the crowd as well as her reluctance to lose herself and also pretend to actually fit in was something i think many teenagers feel and author did a nice job in creating something which readers could connect with .
okay , so i think it felt too...real.
How would you feel when you're in a party , sitting there all by yourself all alone when suddenly a stranger-guy starts making conversation and goes on full frontal with his..i saw you and wanted to talk to you and really want to get to know you more , so tell me everything and everything and blah blah right at the moment you meet ?..(okay i'm kind of exaggerating :P ) but still how would you feel when he gets insistent ?
you creep out .
Mia was in a similar situation . usually when reading such parts i would go flying across the moon with butterflies in my tummy , but here i was a tiny bit 'creeped out' .
but then again i think this is the thing which makes you like Simon even more .
ah yes , the guy is Simon .
Simon was a likable character . He was fearless , brave , smart and spirited ! his artistic , free and lively nature made me like him even more . it was as if i was getting to know Simon step by step along with Mia .
the author also does a wonderful job in making the book feel Summery , light and bright :)
the use of colours and emotions to describe natural beauty and the ocean has always won my heart . mentioning fireflies , planktons , blackholes and scientific knowledge and blending it together made this book even more vibrant . it's always nice to come across brief mentioning of classics like 'The Great Gatsby' and also the 'blues-tune' kind of music . kudos to the author , for doing a great job in creating such a world :)
now the place where things go down the drain .
the end . yes , it was something i did not like .
it did affect me .
i was sad . but not heartbroken and tears didn't fall .
after dancing with grief books and finally crying ...i think my system has programmed itself to like a book only if i cry . -.-
(that's actually quite a depressing thought ...but still :P )
and i methinks that's where this book loses it's stars .
in the end , the Summer of Skinny Dipping , like i said before took an unexpected turn from being boring to actually being nice and likable . the series definitely has potential in it . definitely going to try the next one :)
October 26, 2016
JFJRKWOEIDNNXMSLPWOUDUXUUEHFHCNKDSLUUUSHDHD
(^This was my first reaction after reading the book and it pretty fits my thoughts upon it. The annoyed kind of reaction for the record, so better not read this book if I were you.)
Rest of the review contains major spoilers so don't open unless you've read the book or aren't planning to!!!!!
***MAJOR SPOILERS START HERE***
***SPOILER-FREE PART STARTS HERE***
Besides that crap, the author also makes very interesting word choices, as you can see in this quote:
and this one:
and also uses the word 'crazy' to describe people who are on medication for whatever reason.
The book in general was not that bad, I mean writing style was okay, main characters were okay, but there was a lot of drama, doing dangerous stuff gets idealized which I really don't approve, and the plot was really a deception and that just made me dislike this book an awful lot.
(^This was my first reaction after reading the book and it pretty fits my thoughts upon it. The annoyed kind of reaction for the record, so better not read this book if I were you.)
Rest of the review contains major spoilers so don't open unless you've read the book or aren't planning to!!!!!
***MAJOR SPOILERS START HERE***
***SPOILER-FREE PART STARTS HERE***
Besides that crap, the author also makes very interesting word choices, as you can see in this quote:
"Mom's practically suicidal over it, but whatever."
and this one:
"Wild," I repeated, while the other half of my brain tried to evaluate this new schizo Corinne.
and also uses the word 'crazy' to describe people who are on medication for whatever reason.
The book in general was not that bad, I mean writing style was okay, main characters were okay, but there was a lot of drama, doing dangerous stuff gets idealized which I really don't approve, and the plot was really a deception and that just made me dislike this book an awful lot.
July 24, 2010
First off I just want to say that this book was not exactly what I was expecting. I guess with a title like "The Summer of Skinny Dipping" I was expecting a care-free, silly, fluffy kind of read..... but this novel is something much more. If I had to describe it in simple terms.... I'd say it's a bittersweet story of self discovery.
Honestly within the first fifty pages I wasn't really sure if I was going to like this book or not. A girl and her family heading to spend the summer with her extended family......whom have perfect and beautiful daughters the same age as the main character...... the main character feeling left out among her perfect cousins.... it felt like I'd read the story before. But then something changed.
Somewhere in the next twenty pages I was intrigued. Mia's voice grabbed me. And the rest is history.
I did find Mia annoying at first constantly begrudging herself because she wasn't more outgoing like her cousin, because she wasn't stick thin like her cousin, because she wasn't as beautiful as her cousin... but slowly but surely Mia started to change, there were small things I noticed at first, Mia began to realize that things aren't always as perfect as they seem on the surface. Including how she saw herself.
Simon was a pivotal component of the story. I loved the development of their relationship, it seemed much more realistic than some relationships I've read. But Simon is much more than just Mia's love interest.
The Summer of Skinny Dipping was also extremely well written!
I'm still not sure what I thought about the ending......
If you are looking for a summery type read, with deep message, then this novel should be on your summer reading list!
Honestly within the first fifty pages I wasn't really sure if I was going to like this book or not. A girl and her family heading to spend the summer with her extended family......whom have perfect and beautiful daughters the same age as the main character...... the main character feeling left out among her perfect cousins.... it felt like I'd read the story before. But then something changed.
Somewhere in the next twenty pages I was intrigued. Mia's voice grabbed me. And the rest is history.
I did find Mia annoying at first constantly begrudging herself because she wasn't more outgoing like her cousin, because she wasn't stick thin like her cousin, because she wasn't as beautiful as her cousin... but slowly but surely Mia started to change, there were small things I noticed at first, Mia began to realize that things aren't always as perfect as they seem on the surface. Including how she saw herself.
Simon was a pivotal component of the story. I loved the development of their relationship, it seemed much more realistic than some relationships I've read. But Simon is much more than just Mia's love interest.
The Summer of Skinny Dipping was also extremely well written!
I'm still not sure what I thought about the ending......
If you are looking for a summery type read, with deep message, then this novel should be on your summer reading list!
July 26, 2010
When I sat down to read this book I wasn't in my best of moods. I was in that place where I'm tired yet restless and felt that the only cure would be to read and I am grateful I did.... Amanda had me enraptured by her writing....losing myself amongst her words in a story that is sure to mend a few broken hearts with hope and a few souls with passion to be who you are and not what others wish you to be!!! Pure brilliance.
I don't think there are many times I have allowed a book to keep me awake when I'm at the point i feel sleep is over due, but skinny dipping or not i could not bring myself to put it down until i was on the last page. I was enlightened by the characters in The Summer of Skinny Dipping. Mia being the main character had started off annoying and drove me insane with her constant insecurities but this feature made her more realistic and i found myself connecting to her throughout the book and her journey of sun, sea and sand.
I must admit I LOVE IT no scratch that, I'm in love with The Summer of Skinny Dipping,....It is a well written and perfect read on a rainy day( I would say sunny but we have nothing but grey skies here in the UK lately). So I advice you to grab a copy, lounge out and read until you untwine the bindings as I assure you this will be a fabulous read....one I'm sure you will be pining for the Sequel The Summer of Sneaking Out (Summer, #2) (jumps with delight) and if it is anything like the first it will be a true pick me up and eat me typa novel
I don't think there are many times I have allowed a book to keep me awake when I'm at the point i feel sleep is over due, but skinny dipping or not i could not bring myself to put it down until i was on the last page. I was enlightened by the characters in The Summer of Skinny Dipping. Mia being the main character had started off annoying and drove me insane with her constant insecurities but this feature made her more realistic and i found myself connecting to her throughout the book and her journey of sun, sea and sand.
I must admit I LOVE IT no scratch that, I'm in love with The Summer of Skinny Dipping,....It is a well written and perfect read on a rainy day( I would say sunny but we have nothing but grey skies here in the UK lately). So I advice you to grab a copy, lounge out and read until you untwine the bindings as I assure you this will be a fabulous read....one I'm sure you will be pining for the Sequel The Summer of Sneaking Out (Summer, #2) (jumps with delight) and if it is anything like the first it will be a true pick me up and eat me typa novel
June 11, 2019
Okay, guys. I’m just really angry while writing this review
I picked up this book thinking it was a happy fluffy contemporary. Something that could be my Morgan Matson book for this year. Something light and fluffy. I mean it’s called The Summer of Skinny Dipping for crying out loud!
But instead I got a drama filled lesser known version of The Fault in our Stars.
Now this book was not like the fault in our stars at all but it falls into that category.
I just was not in the mood for this and was not expecting what this book was. You really don’t notice what it is until the end. THE END.
Let’s talk about the end. Simon dies, well drowns specifically. And do you want to know why, because he was being foolish, but mostly because Mia watched him drown. She watched and literally did NOTHING.
Let me give you a run down.
Mia sees Simon being pulled back by the waves
She thinks it’s a joke and has a inner monologue about for like 2-5 minutes.
She finally realizes he’s not faking it and goes into shock
She stands there (more inner monologue)
She tries to yell Simon some directions but her voice is croaky because it has APPARENTLY been taken by Ursula.
Mia finally runs for help ( first to Simon’s house but then decides she can’t go there and then to her aunts house)
Mia once arrived can’t yell because I repeat URSULA
Finally people come
I mean is that not a long time to be standing there while someone is drowning.
Maybe I didn’t dislike the book. Maybe it was just that I wasn’t expecting it. But either way two stars.
I picked up this book thinking it was a happy fluffy contemporary. Something that could be my Morgan Matson book for this year. Something light and fluffy. I mean it’s called The Summer of Skinny Dipping for crying out loud!
But instead I got a drama filled lesser known version of The Fault in our Stars.
Now this book was not like the fault in our stars at all but it falls into that category.
I just was not in the mood for this and was not expecting what this book was. You really don’t notice what it is until the end. THE END.
Let’s talk about the end. Simon dies, well drowns specifically. And do you want to know why, because he was being foolish, but mostly because Mia watched him drown. She watched and literally did NOTHING.
Let me give you a run down.
Mia sees Simon being pulled back by the waves
She thinks it’s a joke and has a inner monologue about for like 2-5 minutes.
She finally realizes he’s not faking it and goes into shock
She stands there (more inner monologue)
She tries to yell Simon some directions but her voice is croaky because it has APPARENTLY been taken by Ursula.
Mia finally runs for help ( first to Simon’s house but then decides she can’t go there and then to her aunts house)
Mia once arrived can’t yell because I repeat URSULA
Finally people come
I mean is that not a long time to be standing there while someone is drowning.
Maybe I didn’t dislike the book. Maybe it was just that I wasn’t expecting it. But either way two stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2010
Read my full review.
Bottom Line – a book that changed the way I look at the world, that's for sure! The Summer of Skinny Dipping is one I will be recommending over and over again – to every teen I know. It's got it all, relate-able characters, a story line that keeps you turning pages until the very last chapter, and a beautiful love story, that's rich as well as heartbreaking. Beautiful, in each and every way. I give The Summer of Skinny Dipping a 5++ Mushrooms and I can't wait to have my very own copy of this one! Not to mention, I can't wait to see what Amanda Howells comes up with next, she's another amazing author and she's on my radar!
Bottom Line – a book that changed the way I look at the world, that's for sure! The Summer of Skinny Dipping is one I will be recommending over and over again – to every teen I know. It's got it all, relate-able characters, a story line that keeps you turning pages until the very last chapter, and a beautiful love story, that's rich as well as heartbreaking. Beautiful, in each and every way. I give The Summer of Skinny Dipping a 5++ Mushrooms and I can't wait to have my very own copy of this one! Not to mention, I can't wait to see what Amanda Howells comes up with next, she's another amazing author and she's on my radar!
June 9, 2023
little unsure what i just read quite boring with the most random last 50 pages & like i didn’t care??? i cared ab the family
August 5, 2025
A great book about love and loss. I've never actually had a book that made me cry like this one did. This is what is called "teenage drama" and it happens to everyone. It is the way the drama is handled that makes us the adults we are. In this story, the so-called rich and famous vacation in the Hamptons on the beach and wile away days and nights with parties, drinking and occasionally drugs.
July 13, 2010
I received this book as part of a review for Sourcebooks Fire. The cover and title immediately drew me in--especially since it's summer, and I'd just been to the beach. I really liked Mia's voice...and the character of Simon was awesome! I'd love to find a man like him now...an intelligent, funny guy who you could be yourself around.
Recap wise: Mia is so excited to blow Athens, GA(which is portrayed as podunk in the novel, but Athens is hardly as bodunk as some places in GA, lol) to go to the Hamptons and spend time with her cousin, Corrinne and her mom's sister and husband. While they were childhood bffs, three years has done a lot to the cuz/bff that Mia remembers. The moment she arrives, she finda Corrinne quite different and now bffs with her once enemy--her sister, Beth. As the story progresses, it's hard to imagine that Mia and Corrine ever had anything in common...okay, so maybe it's more like Corrine morphed into an uber, hoity-toity bitch who runs with fast crowd of rich playboys and girls. Sure, she has brief moments of her former self, but Mia is unsure how they'll make the summer together.
Just a personal nitpick, but I didnt' like how Mia was a swimmer and athletic, but at the same time was made to feel obsese by her mother and Corinne's friends. I don't think this was handled in the best way....there should have been more reinforcement from others or a realization from Mia that no, she wasn't fat, she was healthy, and the other girls were just coked out anorexic bitches, lol. THe idea of Mia's weight issues mostly stemmed from her mom, and I wanted to slap her along with her sister Eva, Corrine's sister, Beth, not to mention Genevieve, Corrinne's friend who had the potential to make Paris Hilton look like Mother Theresa.
Anyway, it's at one of Corrine's unsupervised parties(her parents must be smoking the crack that they later accuse her of) that Mia meets Simon....a first a guy she thinks is a dork. For one, he's totally retro in his ideas and dress, he calls her Daisy and quotes from The Great Gatsby. This of course is very true to the moment since they're staying in the place that was modeled to the setting for the Great Gatsby. Of course, Corrine and her friends label Simon as a dweeb...their story of how he freaked out over Stacy, one of their other rich bitch friends, isn't entirely true. Against her judgement, Mia starts hanging around Simon....and she starts to like it. He's very Bohemian....his father wants him to go to biz school, but his heart is set on art and backpacking around Europe. A romance soon blossoms...
As for the title, it comes from the fact that Mia sneaks out everynight to hang out with Simon. In the dark night, they can't really see each other, so he dares her to go skinny dipping with him. It takes many times for her to finally relent.
One night Simon comes to her...he's been beaten up by his father. They decide to run away, but instead, they break into an abandoned house that the "rich bitches" have deemed so tacky and all. After a romantic moment in the house, a fire is started, and they put the fire out and flee the house. The end result is Simon getting into trouble. He's going to have to leave in three days so he can go home and start working to pay off the damage the fire started.
This brings me to the part of the book I wanted to set on fire. I should've known by the preface that something bad and horrible would happen. I guess I just wanted to believe in a happy ending. Alas, no. It was devastating when Simon drowned...especially when he was so happy and positive about what was to come. I did think Howells did a good job with capturing the grief that Mia experiencd....she ends up not even starting school on time b/c all she does is go to therapy. It's very realistic that she feels someway responsible for Simon's death..even though it was his idea to go out in the storm when the water was so rough...leading him to be pulled under in a riptide. Luckily, this tragedy leads to a repair in the relationship with Mia and her mother. And there is a hopeful note at the end with Mia going back to the Hamptons...well, maybe I should say depressing since her uncle had been caught embezzling, had to sell the house and was no longer really welcome there....anyway, she sets a goodbye message in the water to Simon.
Overall, it was a good book, but damn, did he really have to die? Sighs...
Recap wise: Mia is so excited to blow Athens, GA(which is portrayed as podunk in the novel, but Athens is hardly as bodunk as some places in GA, lol) to go to the Hamptons and spend time with her cousin, Corrinne and her mom's sister and husband. While they were childhood bffs, three years has done a lot to the cuz/bff that Mia remembers. The moment she arrives, she finda Corrinne quite different and now bffs with her once enemy--her sister, Beth. As the story progresses, it's hard to imagine that Mia and Corrine ever had anything in common...okay, so maybe it's more like Corrine morphed into an uber, hoity-toity bitch who runs with fast crowd of rich playboys and girls. Sure, she has brief moments of her former self, but Mia is unsure how they'll make the summer together.
Just a personal nitpick, but I didnt' like how Mia was a swimmer and athletic, but at the same time was made to feel obsese by her mother and Corinne's friends. I don't think this was handled in the best way....there should have been more reinforcement from others or a realization from Mia that no, she wasn't fat, she was healthy, and the other girls were just coked out anorexic bitches, lol. THe idea of Mia's weight issues mostly stemmed from her mom, and I wanted to slap her along with her sister Eva, Corrine's sister, Beth, not to mention Genevieve, Corrinne's friend who had the potential to make Paris Hilton look like Mother Theresa.
Anyway, it's at one of Corrine's unsupervised parties(her parents must be smoking the crack that they later accuse her of) that Mia meets Simon....a first a guy she thinks is a dork. For one, he's totally retro in his ideas and dress, he calls her Daisy and quotes from The Great Gatsby. This of course is very true to the moment since they're staying in the place that was modeled to the setting for the Great Gatsby. Of course, Corrine and her friends label Simon as a dweeb...their story of how he freaked out over Stacy, one of their other rich bitch friends, isn't entirely true. Against her judgement, Mia starts hanging around Simon....and she starts to like it. He's very Bohemian....his father wants him to go to biz school, but his heart is set on art and backpacking around Europe. A romance soon blossoms...
As for the title, it comes from the fact that Mia sneaks out everynight to hang out with Simon. In the dark night, they can't really see each other, so he dares her to go skinny dipping with him. It takes many times for her to finally relent.
One night Simon comes to her...he's been beaten up by his father. They decide to run away, but instead, they break into an abandoned house that the "rich bitches" have deemed so tacky and all. After a romantic moment in the house, a fire is started, and they put the fire out and flee the house. The end result is Simon getting into trouble. He's going to have to leave in three days so he can go home and start working to pay off the damage the fire started.
This brings me to the part of the book I wanted to set on fire. I should've known by the preface that something bad and horrible would happen. I guess I just wanted to believe in a happy ending. Alas, no. It was devastating when Simon drowned...especially when he was so happy and positive about what was to come. I did think Howells did a good job with capturing the grief that Mia experiencd....she ends up not even starting school on time b/c all she does is go to therapy. It's very realistic that she feels someway responsible for Simon's death..even though it was his idea to go out in the storm when the water was so rough...leading him to be pulled under in a riptide. Luckily, this tragedy leads to a repair in the relationship with Mia and her mother. And there is a hopeful note at the end with Mia going back to the Hamptons...well, maybe I should say depressing since her uncle had been caught embezzling, had to sell the house and was no longer really welcome there....anyway, she sets a goodbye message in the water to Simon.
Overall, it was a good book, but damn, did he really have to die? Sighs...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 24, 2010
Judging by the cover (I know, I know, never judge books by their cover. The fact is, I'm guilty of that--daily.) I had a feeling this would be a light hearted, fun read. That's why you should never judge books by their cover, sometimes they fool you.
Though it started a bit slow for me, I found it to be very well written, and once it picked up pace, I was hooked.
Mia struggles throughout most of the book with finding herself, and becoming comfortable with her body. Being around her cousins with their "perfect" appearances makes her feel bad about herself, but she tries desperately to push it aside and fit it. It isn't until Simon comes into the picture that we finally see her starting to accept herself for who she is.
Simon is a smooth-talking, easy-going artistic type, who becomes the only light Mia gets out of her summer. We follow them through their bonding, which goes from friendship to love before Mia even realizes what's happening. One thing I loved about this book is, it didn't follow the cliches. There was no love-at-first-sight moment, and they weren't complete opposites who couldn't stand being around each other until they realized they loved each other. We saw the friendship there before it became something more, which is rare in books these days.
It seems as though the entire cast are battling their own personal demons, some worse than others. At times, the other characters grated on my nerves, but as the novel progresses, we see them changing as well.
And then came the ending, which I was NOT a fan of. I kept thinking throughout the book, "Watch this happen......", but I dismissed those thoughts because the cover looked so....lovely. See what I mean? Never judge a book by it's cover.
Ultimately, this was a very well-written, beautiful love story, that ended in tragedy. But in this tragedy, we see the whole purpose of the book. It serves as a reminder to savor every single moment of your life, because you will never get it back. And you never know how many more moments you'll have--that's the thing, we just never know.
Though it started a bit slow for me, I found it to be very well written, and once it picked up pace, I was hooked.
Mia struggles throughout most of the book with finding herself, and becoming comfortable with her body. Being around her cousins with their "perfect" appearances makes her feel bad about herself, but she tries desperately to push it aside and fit it. It isn't until Simon comes into the picture that we finally see her starting to accept herself for who she is.
Simon is a smooth-talking, easy-going artistic type, who becomes the only light Mia gets out of her summer. We follow them through their bonding, which goes from friendship to love before Mia even realizes what's happening. One thing I loved about this book is, it didn't follow the cliches. There was no love-at-first-sight moment, and they weren't complete opposites who couldn't stand being around each other until they realized they loved each other. We saw the friendship there before it became something more, which is rare in books these days.
It seems as though the entire cast are battling their own personal demons, some worse than others. At times, the other characters grated on my nerves, but as the novel progresses, we see them changing as well.
And then came the ending, which I was NOT a fan of. I kept thinking throughout the book, "Watch this happen......", but I dismissed those thoughts because the cover looked so....lovely. See what I mean? Never judge a book by it's cover.
Ultimately, this was a very well-written, beautiful love story, that ended in tragedy. But in this tragedy, we see the whole purpose of the book. It serves as a reminder to savor every single moment of your life, because you will never get it back. And you never know how many more moments you'll have--that's the thing, we just never know.
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