Friendship | Book Chatter

The Party
By Robyn Harding
Gallery/Scout Press, Hardcover, 9781501161247, June 2017, 352pp.

The Short of It:

After just a few paragraphs I found myself completely absorbed by this story of a sleepover gone wrong.

The Rest of It:

Jeff and Kim Sanders host a sweet sixteen party for their daughter Hannah. They open their beautiful home to Hannah’s closest friends, pick-up her favorite cake and make it clear that boys, drugs & alcohol will not be tolerated.

What do you think happens?

As you can guess, something horrible happens and now Jeff and Kim Sanders, perfect in every way, find themselves trying to prove their innocence to the police as well as the parents and children involved. This blemish on Kim’s otherwise perfect reputation is enough to do her in. Then there’s Jeff, who is keeping a secret from her. Hannah is no saint either and forced to choose between popularity and cruelty.

There is a lot going on in this story but it’s SO good. You’ve got the whole “perfect” thing going on with Kim and Jeff but they are far from perfect. The other parents have their issues too and the kids…oh, the kids… their loyalty to each other changes with the weather. People are in. People are out. There are lies and secrets and lots of self-analysis going on. Oh, not to mention the denial!! I could not turn the pages fast enough.

These characters are complex and very well-developed and even though some of them do horrible things, you still feel something for them because the author just pulls it out of you. This book was read while making spaghetti and doing laundry because putting it down wasn’t an option. Plus, the events detailed in this story could literally happen to anyone which makes it all the more readable.

If you want a fast-paced domestic drama then you can’t go wrong with The Party.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Perennials
By Mandy Berman
Random House, Hardcover, 9780399589317, June 6, 2017, 288pp.

The Short of It:

You know that nostalgic feeling you get when looking at an old Polaroid photo? That’s how I felt while reading this book. Youth captured in a snapshot.

The Rest of It:

As kids, Rachel and Fiona spent many wonderful summers at Camp Marigold. Eight glorious weeks of swimming, riding horses and making new friends. Things at home could change, but once they returned to camp, everything fell back into place and all was good with the world. In Perennials, Rachel and Fiona return to camp as counselors and with them is Fiona’s younger sister, Helen who is about to experience camp as they once did many years ago.

Summer camp. Sigh. When I was a kid, I read a lot of books about summer camp and they really had me longing for that experience. It wasn’t until last summer that I actually attended camp (as a leader) and although I wasn’t there as a camper, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. In this novel, Berman beautifully captures all the angst and anxiety of pre-teens but she somehow manages to capture the doubts and worries of the young adult counselors as well.

This book is summer, but it’s also life and love and friendship and all the not-so-pleasant stuff that comes with it. There’s a little more “action” between the campers and counselors than I would have liked to see. I am not a prude but since I work with teens and have teens of my own, I was a little sensitive to some parts of the story but at the same time I am far from naive. That said, anyone who is sensitive to language or sexual content may want to think twice before handing the book over to your teen. It’s not marketed as YA but from the cover you might think so.

In the end, I thought it was pretty well done. The final pages were especially poignant and frankly had me all choked-up. Perennials is Berman’s first novel and I look forward to what she writes next.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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