The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
Release Date: June 1, 2010
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 304
Source: Publisher
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author Challenge
Interest: Debut Author
Buy the Book: Amazon
|Indiebound|Powell's|Barnes & Noble
After getting dumped by her boyfriend, sixteen-year-old Mia Gordon is looking forward to spending a relaxing summer in the Hamptons with her glamorous cousins. But when she arrives, her cousins are distant, moody, and caught up with a fast crowd. Mia finds herself lonelier than ever.
That's when she meets her next-door-neighbor, Simon Ross. Simon isn't like the snobby party boys her cousins seem obsessed with; he's funny, artistic, and utterly adventurous. And from the very first time he encourages Mia to go skinny-dipping, she's caught up in a current impossible to resist.
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!