I read this in the anticipation of the TV adaptation. This book was nowhere near TATBILB! I know I shouldn’t compare the two series because this was written way before the latter. But still, I couldn’t help but dislike almost all the three main characters.

Belly was such an obnoxious kind. In the book she was referred to many times as ‘you are such a kid’ and she rightly behaved so. I was irritated with her behaviour most of the time — the way she handles Cam and Jeremiah, the way she acted toward her mother, and the way she treated Taylor. I understood her need to be included in the ‘boy gang’ but her actions were irritating!

And the boys!! I didn’t like a single one? Fine, maybe Jeremiah a little bit, but Conrad and Steven were just awful. The way Conrad always treated Belly like a baby and, Steven and he always tried to control her, always being bossy. It was downright perplexing.

Another problem I had was the structure of the story. The past and the present have been interwoven and even the story of the current summer is narrated in the past tense. It gets a little confusing sometimes especially if you are listening to the audiobook.

The best thing about this book was probably the whole summer vibes and the family tradition to visit Cousins every year! The bonding between the boys’ mom, Susannah, and Belly’s mom was good and so was between Susannah and Belly! Even all of their summer rituals (the boys and Belly’s) were fun to read.

I just wasn’t convinced with the romance plot. I hope they have done a better job in the adaptation. And that the next books in the series are better than this