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liralen's review
3.0
Enjoyable read, but too much Dirty Dancing and (woe!) not enough psychedelic hippies for my tastes. All told, VanSickle does a good job of steering the book away from an obviously Dirty Dancing setup, despite the similarities—and I'm not knocking DD; I love it for many reasons, and not just these ones—though I wondered if that wasn't one of the reasons the story is told from Reenie's perspective rather than from Gwen's.
I'm not sure I ever really got a great sense of who the 'real' Gwen is, nor who she hopes to be. How different would her choices be if this book were set in the present day? (How different would Reenie's mother's choices have been?)
I'm not sure I ever really got a great sense of who the 'real' Gwen is, nor who she hopes to be. How different would her choices be if this book were set in the present day? (How different would Reenie's mother's choices have been?)
mountie9's review
5.0
The Good Stuff
Fabulous opening prologue, hooked me in right away
Honest and real, just the type of story that girls in this age group want to read
Reminds me so much of Judy Blume (huge compliment)
You can't help but fall in love with Reenie
Truly captures the essence and heart of a girl on the cusp of being a young adult
I could feel, taste and see Sandy Shores, it reminded me a little of these cottages that my friend, Cathy Payne's, family owned in Bracebridge that I used to stay at (met the band Northern Pikes once when I stayed there)
Canadian
She acknowledges Nikole Kritikos, from Scholastic Canada, who is one of my favorite people
Couldn't put the story down, was totally enthralled in Reenie's world
Has a Dirty Dancing type feeling to the story. Hard to explain the significance as the story really has nothing to do with the plot of the movie, mostly just the time period and the character development of the main character
Perfection
The Not so Good Stuff
I tried, and slightly understood Mimi's disappointments, but I still disliked her
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"She dropped in on us like a rag soaked in gasoline, and the sparks that had always been there, biding their time among the coals, flared up and set everything ablaze."
"She was a girl used to having things carried for her. I didn't mind, I was a girl used to being at the service of someone else."
"It was the thing I missed the most in the winter, when the lake was checked with ice and everything I loved was sleeping under a few feet of damn, heavy snow. If you stare long enough into the fire, all the noise in your head that builds up during the day disappears and the only thing that left is peace."
Who Should/Shouldn't Read
Perfect for the middle grade girl who can't get into the paranormal or dumb diary books
Those who enjoy style AND substance
Just the book I wanted to read when I was that age (ok and still do)
5 Dewey's
I purchased this from Chapters Shawnessy
Fabulous opening prologue, hooked me in right away
Honest and real, just the type of story that girls in this age group want to read
Reminds me so much of Judy Blume (huge compliment)
You can't help but fall in love with Reenie
Truly captures the essence and heart of a girl on the cusp of being a young adult
I could feel, taste and see Sandy Shores, it reminded me a little of these cottages that my friend, Cathy Payne's, family owned in Bracebridge that I used to stay at (met the band Northern Pikes once when I stayed there)
Canadian
She acknowledges Nikole Kritikos, from Scholastic Canada, who is one of my favorite people
Couldn't put the story down, was totally enthralled in Reenie's world
Has a Dirty Dancing type feeling to the story. Hard to explain the significance as the story really has nothing to do with the plot of the movie, mostly just the time period and the character development of the main character
Perfection
The Not so Good Stuff
I tried, and slightly understood Mimi's disappointments, but I still disliked her
Favorite Quotes/Passages
"She dropped in on us like a rag soaked in gasoline, and the sparks that had always been there, biding their time among the coals, flared up and set everything ablaze."
"She was a girl used to having things carried for her. I didn't mind, I was a girl used to being at the service of someone else."
"It was the thing I missed the most in the winter, when the lake was checked with ice and everything I loved was sleeping under a few feet of damn, heavy snow. If you stare long enough into the fire, all the noise in your head that builds up during the day disappears and the only thing that left is peace."
Who Should/Shouldn't Read
Perfect for the middle grade girl who can't get into the paranormal or dumb diary books
Those who enjoy style AND substance
Just the book I wanted to read when I was that age (ok and still do)
5 Dewey's
I purchased this from Chapters Shawnessy
ashleyjapan's review
3.0
This book was pretty great. Set in the 1960's, we follow Reenie Starr on a summer filled with new experiences and family revelations. Being Canadian, I particularly enjoyed the Canadian setting. This is definitely a book I would want in my classroom library, if I had one!
vee's review
3.0
I really want dot like this book but at some points it felt like the author was just writing to fill in space. If you like fluffy books, this is good but wasn't for me.
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