 Rating:  |
|
| Parents rate this book: |
Synopsis
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.
Comments
Some mature, complicated content. Likely okay for older teens. Fairly cavalier attitude towards teen sex and drinking. Pretty dysfunctional parents.
Language
‘…if one of their guests would slip with the F-word’
Level 1, 2, 3 [?]
Sexual Content
Mother is sleeping with one of her adult students. The main character has a ‘fumbled, hurried connection’ with a guy she just met on the beach. Word use: skank. “Look at you, doing the walk of shame!” (reference to girl coming in the house early in the morning)
Alcohol/Drugs
Mom hosts parties with grad students that often end up in ‘drunken debates about literature and theory’. Grown ups drink wine. Young adult smokes cigarettes at the Eiffel Tower (made to sound adventurous). Teens drink at a party.
Violence/Disturbing
None
Social/Family
Parents are divorced (somewhat bitterly). Mom says of dad to daughter, that it wouldn’t be long before he had ’shacked up with some coed. “Lolita-esque swimming bottoms-are we packaging women to look like little girls now?’ “I’d always had to work so hard to keep my mother’s interest…”
Religion/Spiritual
‘Oh, God, no’, ‘Oh, Jesus’
Buy From:
Meals: The art and science of feeding your family Click here to check it out! 