I love a beach read. Heck, I adore the beach. But do you know what I love more than beach reads and the beach combined!? That's right! Books that take place down the Jersey Shore.
Jennifer Salvato Doktorski's novel The Summer After You and Me is the PERFECT Jersey Shore beach read. So, at bit about the novel:
Lucy lives down the shore. Seaside to be exact. She's a local, she works during the summer at the burrito place near the boardwalk, she has a twin brother, and she has, or rather had, a large crush on her Benny neighbor Connor until her promised to call her and never did. (Her brother never trusted Connor.) Her family's home also had to be gutted after Hurricane Sandy, and they are just starting to get back on her feet. That's right, this novel takes place in a recent post-Sandy world, sort of making it function as a recently based historical novel. Pretty cool, right? Well, the novel can also be considered an example of environmental fiction. Why? Because each chapter opens with a small fact, cited from Lucy's school thesis about the "Dating and Mating" habits of sea life. Lucy, who has been emotionally scared by Connor believes that if sea creatures can live and reproduce without love, maybe humans should as well.... it's less.... messy. She might have a point there.
Anyway, I love this book. I love the romance, I love the setting, I love the Jersey references. I mean come on, not only Seaside but also references to Rutgers University, Bruce Springsteen, Asbury Park, and so many more are hidden throughout the pages of this book. It's wonderful.
So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 10 out of 5 Coffee Beans.
AND THE BEST PART. Jennifer is coming to the Hawthorne Library on June 16. So if you're in the area and want to meet her, you can! It's FREE. And you can register here. How cool is that?
Happy Reading!
~Jessica
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