Nantucket Blue (Leila Howland)

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         This summer was supposed to be Cricket Thompson's best summer ever: the summer she would go to Nantucket with her best friend Jules Clayton and finally get the guy she's been crushing on all year.  When an unexpected tragedy occurs, though, Cricket is suddenly no longer welcome anywhere near the Claytons.  Instead of canceling her plans, she gets a job cleaning a Nantucket B&B.  There, she makes new friends, lands an internship, and falls for someone she never would have expected.  If she can figure out what she wants, this could be Cricket's best summer, after all.

         Summer is substance-optional, at least when it comes to books.  So I picked up this one thinking that there wouldn't be much to it.  I mean, girl falls in love with off-limits boy at beach?  Gee, I haven't heard that one before.  But there was a little more to the story.  At the start of the book, Cricket seems like a privileged and slightly spoiled "popular girl".  Over the course of the summer, she deals with family issues and a friend crisis.  She meets new friends and realizes that her old identity wasn't really her identity at all.  Nantucket Blue exceeded my expectations in that respect.  Maybe it seems completely shallow, but if you're looking for a light read with a bit more to it, Nantucket Blue is a good pick.

Rating: 3/5
Completed: June 29, 2013