cover image The Summer of Skinny Dipping

The Summer of Skinny Dipping

Amanda Howells, Sourcebooks Fire, $8.99 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-4022-3862-8

This sweet though sometimes rambling story about family, love, and loss is narrated by 16-year-old Mia, who is spending the summer with her family at her relatives' beach house in the Hamptons, where everyone "looked so happy, so glowing and perfect." Though she and her cousin Corinne had once been close, Corinne is now more interested in drinking, drugs, and socializing with the popular crowd. Self-conscious about her comparatively voluptuous body and displaced among her cousins and their wealthy friends, Mia struggles to keep up while staying true to herself. At a summer bash, Mia meets Simon, whose family is renting a nearby mansion. Like Mia, Simon doesn't fit in; Corinne warns he is just "LC. Lower class." At first they meet in secret, taking long walks on the beach, during which Simon encourages Mia join him for late-night skinny dipping. As she and Simon grow closer, Mia emerges from her shell. And when tragedy strikes, she is changed forever. First-time novelist Howells's teen and adult characters are well-developed, and Mia's growth and new perspective on her own good fortune are satisfying. Ages 14–up. (June)