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Summary
Summary
For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she'll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.
Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn't.
When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.
But it's the things Cricket hadn't counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.
A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue. "[Howland] evokes the Nantucket setting vividly . . . when it comes to indulgent beach reading, sometimes it's more fun to get pushed over by a wave than to stay safely on your towel."
-- The New York Times
*"Readers should feel empowered by Cricket's efforts to grow up into a strong, honest, and emotionally intelligent young woman, even as they are enchanted by the romantic and exclusive island setting. This is a natural beach read, but will easily win Howland year-round fans, too." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review "Sand, secrets, Nantucket Reds, and romance. A fresh, feel-good debut." -- Boston Globe
"Utterly romantic and fun. I didn't want Nantucket Blue to end."
-- New York Times best-selling author Jenny Han
"Several elements in this novel make it a little more than just another summer romance. Cricket's struggle to define herself apart from Jules, her decision to follow her heart, and her realization that she can rise above her parents' divorce make this a story that many teens will find absorbing." -- VOYA It's going to be the perfect summer for Providence teenager Cricket Thompson. She'll live with her friend Jules' family in their Nantucket house and pursue Jay Logan, the boy of her dreams. But tragedy strikes Jules' life and everything changes, including their friendship. Cricket does end up on Nantucket, but living in the inn where she works long, hard hours. To her surprise, she falls in love with entirely the wrong person -- and learns how magical love can be. A rich satisfying novel for high school students (and older). -- Providence Journal "Fans of Sarah Dessen will find much to like here, as the charm of this summery yarn lies in Cricket's open appeal. Readers will root for her as she falls down, takes her lumps, and moves forward to her final year in high school, always remembering what she learned under the Nantucket sun." -- Library Journal
Author Notes
A graduate of Georgetown University, Leila Howland spent five years acting in New York in everything from an MTV public service announcement for safe sex to a John Guare play at Lincoln Center and was a proud company member of the award-winning Flea Theater in Tribeca. Currently, she teaches high school English and English as a second language in downtown Los Angeles and occasionally moonlights as an extra on the Young and the Restless. This is her first novel.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cricket Thompson is inseparable from her best friend Jules Clayton, so much so that she's practically a member of the Clayton family. When Jules's mother, Nina, dies unexpectedly, everything changes, including the friends' plans to spend the summer in Nantucket-it's "family only" now. Disappointed, 17-year-old Cricket heads to Nantucket anyway, becoming a chambermaid at a popular inn ("Would I be churning butter, cleaning chimneys, beating rugs with a broom? Who cared?"). As she tries to handle Nina's death and rejection by Jules, unexpected love awaits. Debut author Miller's descriptions for everything from a summer storm ("The grass in the back yard was rain-drunk") to the stirrings of first love ("There was this lightness that occasionally took me over, making me feel like I was made of balloons") are lush and moving. Readers should feel empowered by Cricket's efforts to grow up into a strong, honest, and emotionally intelligent young woman, even as they are enchanted by the romantic and exclusive island setting. This is a natural beach read, but will easily win Howland year-round fans, too. Ages 14-up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Lacrosse-champ Cricket Thompson has always been welcomed by her best friend Jules's affluent family. But when Nina, Jules's mother, dies suddenly, big changes ensue. Expecting her usual warm reception, Cricket shows up at Jules's family home on Nantucket to find herself shunned. There's some emotional heaviness to the story, but it's also a breezy, beach-ready tale of self-awakening and first love. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Cricket's summer holds such promise: staying with best friend, Jules, on Nantucket; seeing too-good-to-be-true Jay every day; and, of course, sunbathing in a bikini. But when Jules' mother dies unexpectedly, the summer offer is rescinded and Jules distances herself from her friend. But Cricket heads to Nantucket anyway and takes a job as a chambermaid ( It sounded like a job from another century, like a charwoman ) and settles into a daily rhythm of cleaning toilets, avoiding Jules and Jay (she offended him), and interning for a journalist. As with the best summer romances, Cricket falls for someone unexpected and totally off-limits which only amps up the crackling sexual tension. Cricket is a smart, driven character, and despite having plenty of issues to work through the summer before senior year, she's on the path to self-awareness. Nice descriptions of Nantucket, too.--Kelley, Ann Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
SUMMER is here, and with it the search for the perfect beach book, a pithy, plotty page turner that can be discussed with confidence at any cookout or party since everyone seems to be reading the same thing. Best of all is stretching out on the sand with a beach book that is actually set at the shore; somehow it heightens our delight in the transient joy of summer. Sarah Dessen, a seasoned young adult author, and the bold newcomer Leila Howland present readers with two different visions of sun and surf. While each features a young woman struggling to make the right decisions about life and love, one reads as smoothly as a rowboat ride across Central Park Lake while the other tumbles you like a rolling Coney Island wave. In "The Moon and More," 18-year-old Ematine is trying to savor her last summer in Colby, a fictional beach community that is a familiar destination to Dessen's fans. Like every teenager, Emaline longs for both security and adventure. While most people in Colby "either wanted to stay forever (and usually did) or couldn't wait to get gone and never look back (ditto)," Emaline wants to have her beach and leave it, too. "It seemed like things either stayed just the same or changed irrevocably. And like most times I found myself with hard choices, I just wished there was something clear and easy, right in between." But even as Emaline clings to what is comfortable, she also begins to push against the confines of her sheltered life. After discovering that her longtime boyfriend is cheating, she breaks up with him and begins dating an aspiring filmmaker named Theo, one of the suspect "summer people." She confronts her birth father about his failure to come through with the college funds he promised and takes on a new job as an executive assistant as a way to break free of her family's beach rental business. In short, she grows up, coming to the mature if prosaic conclusion that "for a life to be real, you need it all: good and bad, beach and concrete, the familiar and the unknown, big talkers and small towns." Dessen's writing is so assured that it sometimes has the effect of blunting the sharp corners of Emaline's multiple conflicts. While the story sails along smoothly on Dessen's polished prose, it also feels tame. And it isn't just a matter of style: Emaline's risks are safe ones, her college attendance is guaranteed (even if she's not going to her first choice) and her supportive family stands at the ready with a life preserver. The stakes are never high, but sometimes that's exactly what we want in a beach book: a beloved author returning to a familiar setting with an everygirl character we can settle down in the sand with like an old friend. Not so with Howland's debut, "Nantucket Blue." When we first meet 17-year-old Cricket Thompson, she's face down in the dirt after being socked in the jaw with a lacrosse stick in a championship game. Instead of bursting into tears, Cricket gets back on her feet to score the goal that puts her team on top. The opposite of Emaline, Cricket doesn't waffle. Her parents, who teach at the exclusive private school she attends in Rhode Island, are divorced, and don't "have enough money for a summer place or European vacation." If she wants something, she has to go for it with gusto. That's why, when her best friend Jules's mom dies unexpectedly and Cricket's invitation to stay with Jules's family on Nantucket is rescinded, Cricket decides to go anyway, even if she has to work as a chambermaid at a bed-and-breakfast to do so. She wants to be there for Jules, but, at the same time, she's eager to see more of Jay, a boy she's had a crush on since eighth grade, who is also vacationing on Nantucket. Her summer dreams sour when Jules abruptly shuns her, Jay turns cold and Cricket finds herself awkwardly attracted to Jules's younger brother, Zach. Suddenly the fearless lacrosse player is on shaky ground. "What was this feeling, anyway? This need to move? This need to get a little more air, cross my legs, squeeze something? ... I wasn't supposed to be feeling this way about Zach." Death, devastating betrayal and a brief but sexy skinny-dipping scene let you know you're not in Colby anymore. Unlike Dessen, who doesn't miss a stroke in her measured novel, Howland sometimes drops her paddle but still manages to steer straight. While the pacing loiters a bit after the bang-up beginning, catchy similes like "The horn sounded, the ferry launched, and my summer swung open like a saloon door," stick with you. And though Howland doesn't make enough use of her colorful cast of secondary characters, she evokes the Nantucket setting vividly, from the "quaint, preserved, one of a kind" streets to the ocean, "a million different shades at once, changing with the few clouds that floated above, darkening with depth, reflecting the deep canyons and sandbar stripes below the surface." Howland and Dessen offer different kinds of summer pleasures, but when it comes to indulgent beach reading, sometimes it's more fun to get pushed over by a wave than to stay safely on your towel. Jennifer Hubert Swan is the middle-school librarian at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School. She blogs at Reading Rants. Jennifer Hubert Swan reviews two books for young readers ages 12 and up: "The Moon and More," by Sarah Dessen, and "Nantucket Blue," by Leila Howland.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Cricket Thompson, 17, is elated to be invited to her friend Jules's home on Nantucket for the summer. She adores Jules's family, who have been a sanctuary for her since her parents' divorce. The cherry on top is that Cricket's crush, Jay, will also be on the island. An unexpected tragedy, however, brings Cricket's idyllic plans to an abrupt end. Determined to be available for Jules in the aftermath of her mother's death, Cricket finds a job on Nantucket as a chambermaid at an inn. Jules, however, is aloof and unresponsive; Cricket is left to fend for herself. The teen's summer of independence leads her to an internship with a journalist, a friendship with a feisty Irish fellow-chambermaid, revelations about her mother, and an unexpected romance. Howland captures the delicious summery flavor of Nantucket beautifully. Readers with an aversion to an overly sweet romantic story will find themselves pleasantly surprised with "real" language, humorous quirks in characters, and some interesting perspectives and angles. The story is paced well: slow enough to savor, yet not so tedious as to become monotonous. Minor characters appear, add a bit of color, and then vanish appropriately-quite reflective of real life as it unfolds. Cricket's experiences give her a route to a new sense of confidence, and her story is told in a way that is both engaging and alluring. Definitely a standout novel in its genre.-Corrina Austin, Locke's Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A summer-at-the-beach story takes readers to Nantucket. When 17-year-old Cricket is promised the chance to spend her summer on Nantucket at her best friend Jules Clayton's vacation home, she's psyched. In addition to lazy days at the beach, summer on Nantucket means the opportunity to connect with her longtime crush, Jay Logan. But when tragedy strikes the Clayton family, Cricket's summer invite is rescinded. Undeterred, Cricket hatches her own secret plans to stay on the island to support Jules, but upon arrival, her plans fall through, leaving her without a place to stay, no summer job and on the outs with Jules. In a stroke of good luck, Cricket lands on her feet, finding a less-than-glamorous job at an inn that serves as her base for a summer of unexpected adventures and new friendships. Though the book has an overall lighthearted summer vibe, Cricket's bumpy relationship with her divorced parents, especially her mother, and her fractured friendship with Jules ground the text, providing a welcome sense of reality in a tony island paradise. Cricket's narration vacillates between hyperbole and thoughtful introspection, making the text feel uneven in places; this reflects Cricket's development, as the narration matures along with Cricket. A solid beach read. (Fiction. 15-18)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
