Book Synopsis: Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.
Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.
When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.
Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.
For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her will win out?
My Review: 5/5 stars. I loved this book. I really enjoyed Emma trying to learn about her parents’ past and finding out about all this history of a family she didn’t really know she had before that summer. The chemistry between Emma and Roo was undeniable so of course they got together. This was a good read and I wish there was a sequel. The only problems I had with this book was the bad language and the fact that one of Emma’s friends was a girl dating a girl.
I’m a fan of books set in small towns, and this is one. The small town setting makes everything feel so connected and much more like a community. Everybody knows everybody and it made it easy for me as a reader, along with the main character, to get to know all the other characters. Especially with the contrast of the big, rich city right next door to the town, it makes the setting even homier and nicer.
This is a YA novel and I don’t recommend it to a younger audience due to language. There also some kissing between characters, but it’s not described in detail and nothing beyond kissing happens.
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