Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell

 

 Orla O’Connor hasn’t been to the isolated New England enclave of Hadley Island since she graduated from high school a decade ago. As a teenager, her best friend Alice disappeared from its shores without a trace—but with plenty of rumors.

Now, Orla returns to her family’s beachfront home to clean it out before her parents sell it. The island and her best friend’s house next door, abandoned after her family left in grief, are stirring up memories she would like to avoid. Then there are the locals, always gossiping and watching Orla’s every move. Worst of all, David, Orla’s childhood crush and son of a wealthy Manhattan family, is back for the summer with his new, impossibly pretty girlfriend, Faith.

Faith suspects that David is going to propose but as soon as she settles into his family’s sprawling Hadley Island estate, she feels out of place. She anticipated a luxurious summer of fun and romance, but David is never around—lured into business conversations with his entrepreneur father from dawn to dusk. With nothing else to do, Faith begins to investigate the island’s dark past, curious about what really happened to Alice all those years ago.

Meanwhile, local Henry hasn’t left his house since the young girl went missing, in an attempt to let the accusations against him die down. Except they never have. For years, Henry has had an endless supply of time to pursue his only hobby, watching the island from his telescope and recording the activities of its inhabitants. But Orla’s return has shaken him and lately he’s been seeing strange things: shadowy figures walking on the beach in the middle of the night and a light on in the upstairs window of the long-abandoned house of the missing girl.

When there’s another disappearance on the island, all three find themselves pulled into an eerie and twisty mystery that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. -Simon & Schuster 

 

I loved the last book I read by Jessa Maxwell, I Need You to Read This so I was delighted to receive a free digital ARC of her newest novel, Dead of Summer courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

I also love books set in vacation resort communities that feature the charms of the island as well as the conflict between the locals and vacationers and the haves and the have-nots.  I also love a good mystery about a family with potentially dark secrets.  Dead of Summer featured a lot of my favorite thriller ingredients and while I was able to figure out one of the smaller plot twists early on, it didn’t spoil any of the story for me and I still had a great time trying to solve the main caper and what motives were at play.  Dead of Summer is the perfect mystery to read at the beach.  Definitely grab a copy at your local bookstore or library and consider checking out Maxwell’s earlier books as well. 

A quick aside, Faith’s drink of choice has me both curious and disgusted.  LOL  Read Dead of Summer to see what I mean then come back to this post and let me know what your thoughts are. 

 

 Thanks again to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Summer Readin', Havin' a Blast...

We finally made it, it's Memorial Day weekend!!  The winter seemed way too long this year but Summer is here!! The entire "T" family consisting of NaomiRuth, Rebecca T and Grammy T are currently enjoying the beautiful beaches of North Carolina.  I checked in with them and the rest of the BWOBNY crew to see Beach Reads they'll be packing this summer.

Grammy T is currently reading "The Negotiator," book 1 of "The O'Malley" series by Dee Henderson with the 2nd book in the series, "The Guardian," in her beach tote for the later in the week.  She also read next month's book club pick, "Through the Ever Night," by Veronica Rossi.   

Meanwhile Naomi has a mixed bag.  She is reading the "Complete Plays of Aristophanes, a Kierkegaard anthology, and random YA and Middle Grade books..." that she didn't get to read during the school year.  Wombly failed to comment, I guess he's working on his tan.

Rebecca T shares her sister's thought and loves reading all the Young Adult novels that she didn't have a chance to read during the busy school year.  She's currently juggling three titles: "Through the Ever Night" by Veronica Rossi, "The Name of the Star" by Maureen Johnson, and "Grave Mercy" by Robin LaFevers.

Jen C. loves to relive her childhood by re-reading her favorite series' such as the "Christy Miller" series by Robin Jones Gunn.

Jess B. took an early vacation this year but she is currently reading "City of Ashes," by Cassandra Clare. 

Rachel always takes "a bunch of classics with me to the beach thinking I'll use that time to be all fancy and intellectual, but I always end up saying 'Camus is too heavy for the beach where's the YA?" She then ends up searching for the fluffiest YA title she can get hands on.
 

As for me, I love re-reading childhood favorites like Jen P.  I also love the "Christy Miller" series but my traditional beach read is my battered copy of "Boy Crazy Stacey," the 8th book in "The Baby Sitters Club" series by Ann M. Martin in which the gang heads to the fictional Sea City, NJ for the first time.  My other favorite summer read is "The Baby-Sitters' Summer Vacation," the second "Super Special" in the series.  And if you'd like to make this your beach read, "The Baby Sitters Club" has just been re-released in e-book format!! 


What about you guys?  What are your favorite beach reads?  Please share with us!!

Summer Reading

As the school year begins to come to a close and summer rolls in, an event beloved by some and dreaded by others looms ahead; Assigned Summer Reading.  At Borders we worked hard to try and get the reading lists and the books on them for numerous schools in the region.  Some schools had very strict assignments that required the students to all read 2 or 3 specific titles others had very broad lists and allowed the students to choose 2 or 3 books from that list.

When I was in high school our school required all classes to read 3 books of their choosing and we were tested on them in early September.  We also had to keep a journal as we read where we were to summarize the chapters and note our thoughts on what we read.  Despite being an avid reader, I dreaded summer reading.  I wanted to read what I chose to read.  I found the assigned reading boring and the need to keep a journal monotonous.  One of the worst books I had to read was "Lord of the Flies," by William Golding.  I don't understand what a teenage girl was to learn from a group of boys who went wild after being stranded on a deserted island.  You can mock Sweet Valley High all you want but the series is full of life lessons; if you do drugs, you'll die; if you stay out all night with a boy, you'll get a bad reputation; if you drink and drive, someone is going to get hurt or killed.  Every summer I put off my assignment until the last minute and read my favorite reads all summer long.

However, after I polled my fellow bloggers, I found not everyone shared my experience.  KC loved "Lord of the Flies," and actually asked her teacher if she could go past the page limit on her assigned paper to make additional arguments.  Her other favorites included "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse and "Miss Lonelyhearts," a novella.

Mallory had to read an assigned book every year and then write a paper on it.  She still remembers "The Red Scarf Girl," by Ji-Li Jiang.  She was amazed by the story of the horrors this young girl experienced in her life.

Rachel looked forward to summer reading and often got the assignment done early.  She found "The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck to be vivid and beautifully written. I  Like KC she also loved "Siddhartha" as well as"A Separate Peace," by John Knowles, and "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger.

I had to read "The Good Earth" in my freshman year of high school and I struggled to get through it.  I thought it was really boring.  I'll have to have Rachel enlighten me the next time I see her.  Jess P. and Albert had the type of summer reading assignment that I wanted, none !

Jess P. went to a school that didn't have an assigned summer reading list so she spent the summer reading what she loved such as books by Beverly Cleary and Ann M. Martin's "The Baby-Sitters Club." series.

Meanwhile Albert spent his summer days reading every "Goosebumps" book by R.L. Stine that he could get his hands on.

When I wasn't in Sweet Valley, or Stoneybrook with "The Baby-Sitters Club," I could be found not too far from Albert, over on "Fear Street," R.L. Stine's other hit series.  The "Fear Street" story, "Lights Out," is still one of my all time favorites.

So what about you?  What kind of summer reading assignments did you have?  Or, are there any teachers out there who could share what kind of summer reading assignments they give?  If so, what do you hope your students gain from the assignment?  Share with us !