Books

Wish You Were Here

Ariel Flack never thought she'd write a postcard saying "Wish you were here," especially to Dylan, the boy she's had a crush on forever and is finally (sort of) dating. She also didn't know she'd be sending that postcard from the family vacation from hell—a two-week geriatric bus tour with her crazy mom, annoying sister, embarrassing uncle, and frighteningly energetic grandparents.

As South Dakota rolls by at five miles an hour, Ariel begins to learn that sometimes life is just too complicated to fit on a postcard. Sometimes your parents let you down (and sometimes they don't). Sometimes you meet an unexpected fellow traveler. And sometimes you just have to go where the road takes you—even if the tour bus won't. Read More »

Picture Perfect

A family vacation with her parents and their friends and at the Outer Banks - it doesn’t exactly scream romance to Emily, but it does sound like fun, hanging out with her long-time friends Heather, Adam and Spencer. Then Emily sees who’s staying at the giant rental house next door to theirs: some very cute guys, and one of them seems to be interested in her. Emily goes out with him, trying to have a fling like her friend Heather insists she should - but will her overprotective long-time buddies Adam and Spencer get in her way?

Outtake: I couldn’t wait to see all of them. It had been almost two years since the last vacation reunion for the four of us, which was almost, but not quite, long enough to make me forget what an idiot I’d made of myself the last time, when I was 15, Spencer was 16, and I’d told him that I thought he was really cool and that we really clicked and that I wished we lived closer because then we could…well, you get the gist. Embarrassing. With a capital E. Maybe three of them, in fact. EEEmbarrassing. Like an extra-wide foot that I’d stuck in my mouth.

Available May 27, 2008

Better Latte Than Never

Peggy Fleming Farrell’s summer has taken a turn for the worse: she works at the Gas ‘n Git to pay back her parents for wrecking two cars, takes summer school French from a succession of increasingly lame substitute teachers, loves an IHOP waiter, and attends Lamaze class with her mother while her father prepares for his professional ice-skating comeback.

Between hijinks with a golf cart, plans for streaking at the Rodeo Days parade, and a showdown over pancakes, Peggy’s summer becomes more about mayhem than money management–and definitely something close to fun. Even if she never learns to speak French. Read More »

Banana Splitsville

This is the journal of Courtney Von Dragen Smith: Coloradoan, middle child, product of divorce, would-be vegetarian. Her boyfriend, “such a Dave,” breaks up with her because he’s heading off to college. Angry and humiliated, Courtney vows to survive senior year on the anti-guy plan…but can she? Read More »

Rocky Road Trip

Courtney's off to college in this follow up to Banana Splitsville. Leaving small-town Colorado for even smaller town Wisconsin she confronts the usual freshman fears are aggravated by, among other things, being a vegan in cow country. Read More »

What's Hot (I Bikinis)

Holly is spending the summer at the local country club, working at the hot grill and dishing out burgers and fries to all the hungry, cute boys. But the one boy she keeps focusing on is her fellow burger-flipper, Paul! He and Holly are always fighting and arguing, and soon, sparks are flying even away from the grill! But when Holly's best friend Ainslee tells her that she wants to ask out Paul, it sends Holly into a tailspin. Will Holly realize that she and Paul are meant to be. . . before their love goes up in smoke?

So Inn Love

Liza McKenzie has two things in mind when she gets to the Tides Inn for her summer job. One: swimming in the ocean, at least once a day, and two: getting to make new friends and hang out with the in crowd.

But right from the start, things don’t turn out as planned. First, her cushy job working as a reservations clerk evaporates, and she finds herself with a vacuum cleaner chained to her hip, as an Inn chambermaid. Second, her old friend Caroline acts as if she doesn’t know Liza at all, and third, she falls for Hayden, the resident hottie, but he only wants to talk to her—and kiss her—when no one else is around.

Is she being snobbed? And is there a way to rescue her summer and her relationship with Hayden—or is it all going to be swept out with the tide?. Read More »

Icing on the Lake

Kirsten’s best friends challenge her to find a date for a long weekend trip.  She has a month to do it in, but the thing is, she’ll have to find the date while staying with her sister in the Twin Cities, and taking care of her nephew and her sister, who’s broken her leg skiing.  And it’s January, and freezing outside, she doesn’t know a soul in town, and her nickname isn’t “Cursed Kirsten” for nothing. Read More »

The Alison Rules

The Alison Rules is about a girl who is struggling to get over the death of someone close to her, and her rules are an attempt to protect herself from life and all the horrible—and great, wonderful, scary—things it can throw your way. Alison and her best friends Laurie and Patrick do everything together, until Patrick falls for Alison, and everything gets really complicated. It's funny, sad, and above all, real. Read More »

Maine Squeeze

Colleen and her best friends are sharing a house on the Maine island she calls home, while her parents travel overseas. She’s working as a server at Bobb’s Lobster, saving her tips for college in the fall, and planning on spending all the time she can with her boyfriend Ben.

It’s the perfect plan. Most plans being, of course, perfect, until you try to set them into motion.

On the first day of work, Colleen learns that her ex-boyfriend, Evan, is unexpectedly back on the island. He’s going to be working side-by-side with her. Just like last summer. The best summer Colleen had ever had. Until it ended, and she and Evan broke up.

Hm. Maybe it’s not too late for Colleen to catch up with her parents in Spain… because the island has never felt smaller than it does right now! Read More »