The Last Summer (of You & Me)

Summary (from the publisher): From the author of the multimillion-copy, #1 bestselling series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants comes a heartbreaking first adult novel.

Ann Brashares's series, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, has made her one of the most successful contemporary authors, shipping more than 8 million copies over the last five years and winning even more millions of passionate fans. Now, like Judy Blume (Summer Sisters) before her, Brashares turns her spectacular gifts to adult readers. In The Last Summer (of You and Me), Brashares uses her remarkable storytelling, emotional insights, and talent for capturing relationships to weave a rich, textured, mature novel that will resonate as clearly with readers in their forties as in their twenties.

Set on Long Island's Fire Island, The Last Summer (of You and Me) is an enchanting, heartrending page-turner about sisterhood, friendship, love, loss, and growing up. It is the story of a beach community friendship triangle-Riley and Alice, two sisters in their twenties, and Paul, the young man they've grown up with-and what happens one summer when budding love, sexual curiosity, a sudden serious illness, and a deep secret all collide, launching the friends into an adult world from which their summer haven can no longer protect them.

As wise, compelling, and endearing as her Traveling Pants series, and as lyrical, thoughtful, and moving as the best literary women's fiction, this novel is sure to win an entire new generation of adult fans.

Review: I loved this novel.The novel cycles between two sisters, Riley and Alice, and their longtime childhood friend, Paul. While there was something truly tragic about all of the characters, how they yearned for dreams they couldn't attain and emotions they couldn't express, I got really caught up in the love story between Alice and Paul from the beginning. I was heartbroken by Riley's plight, although I felt like she was the least developed of the three main characters thus it was easiest to see bad things happen to her. I think I especially liked the tension between childhood and becoming an adult in this novel; how it subtly alters every relationship you've every known, makes you question your hobbies and dreams, and forces you to confront change on such a personal level. Brashares did a great job of weaving the setting into the novel. The very relationship of the three main characters was tied so firmly to their summer homes on the island to the point where it was hard to imagine them having lives elsewhere. Brashares has a nice, lyrical writing style that I enjoyed and I hope she continues to pursue more adult novels like this in the future.

Stars: 4