Reviews for The last summer (of you and me)
Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Having conquered YA fiction with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and its sequels, Brashares takes on adult fiction with this story of a young woman who's getting leery of her talent for returning lost objects. But reuniting a backpack with its charming male owner turns out to be one smart move. With a 15-city tour. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Publishers Weekly
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author delivers her first novel for adults, a treacly tale about the tribulations a trio of longtime friends encounter. For as long as she can remember, 21-year-old Alice has spent summers on Fire Island with her parents and older sister, Riley. Riley, 24, is a beach lifeguard, more boyish in both looks and spirit than sweet, feminine Alice. An island neighbor and Riley's best friend, Paul, whose father is dead and mother mostly absent, returns to the island after two years away and must decide whether to sell his family's house there. More importantly, he and Alice finally act on an attraction they've felt for years, but they keep their frequent nuzzling quiet so as not to hurt Riley. Riley, meanwhile, has her own problems that could ruin Alice and Paul's clandestine romance and just about everything else. Brashares's YA roots are on display: the girls and Paul act like high school kids (Riley threatens to move out of the house unless everyone butts out; Paul and Alice are stricken with the most saccharine of puppy love), and anything below the surface is left untouched. It's a beach read, for sure, but a mediocre one. (June) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This debut adult novel from Brashares, author of the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series, will please her innumerable fans and may win over readers who enjoy a thoughtful coming-of-age story. Set primarily on New York's Fire Island, the book features a classic triangle. Twentysomething sisters Alice and Riley and their next-door neighbor Paul have a shared history going back to their early childhoods. During this one fateful summer, external events force them all to grow up and move out of the perceived simplicity of their past. Alice in particular is torn between her conflicting feelings of love for Paul and loyalty to her sister. Paul's narcissism and Riley's Peter Pan complex keep the trio in a state of parallel play for too long, but slowly Brashares makes her case, which culminates in a tragedy that that readers will have seen coming (it's perhaps too heavily foreshadowed). The themes strongly resemble those explored by Ann Packer in The Dive from Clausen's Pier. Expect high demand and buy for all popular fiction collections; feel confident recommending to YA readers as well.-Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
