Camp Boyfriend

Gr 9 Up—Lauren Carlson spent the past school year with the popular crowd after a makeover and cross-country move allowed her to shed her former nerdiness. Now with summer looming, she faces a difficult choice: Should she reconcile with her past and convince her usual camp boyfriend, Seth, to become a more permanent choice or embrace her new life completely and stay with her jock boyfriend, Matt, who's decided to join her at Camp Juniper Point? Lauren spends the summer vacillating between the two boys. She claims that the popular crowd is superficial and confining, but she's the one who doesn't let others know who she truly is and chooses not to dig too deeply into her relationships. She's dated Matt for nine months and yet seems completely surprised by him at camp when he shows interest in anything that's not sports-related. The teens in this book don't speak with authentic voices and are never fully developed as independent characters. The subplot about Lauren's bridezilla older sister turns out to be nothing more than a device to have a big, feel-good ending. The pacing is slow and drawn out, exposing readers to contrived situations and extraneous supporting characters. A forgettable cookie-cutter teen romance with nothing new to offer.—Elizabeth Jakubowski, Watervliet Public Library, NY