Lauren's Beach Crush

Darling, Angela. Lauren's Beach Crush. (Crush #1)
7 May 2013, Simon and Schuster Books

Lauren has had a crush on Charlie Anderson for several years and has a plan to get him to like her THIS summer at the family beach house. When she finds out her mother has invited Chrissy to join them, she thinks her plans are ruined. Chrissy turns out to be cool, and has a BF in California, Justin. Lauren and Chrissy end up talking to Charlie and his friends, especially Frank. Lauren thinks Chrissy and Frank would be perfect together and tries to fix them up. Things don't go well with Charlie, the girls fight a bit, and there's massive confusion at the end about who "like likes" whom, but it all works out, and the characters get to spend some quality time on the beach at sunset savoring the moment. Coming out from now until December: Maddie's Camp Crush, Lindsay''s Surprise Crush, Noelle's Christmas Crush,Rachel's Valentine Crush.

From Picky Reader (who will soon be a jaded high school sophomore), after she gave a dramatic reading of the last chapter on the way home from clarinet:  "It sounded like it would make a fantastic Taylor Swift song."

Strengths: The girls will ADORE these. Lauren is going into seventh grade, and is all about finding True Love Forever and gaining a BFF. She has embarrassing plans, takes magazine quizzes.. true middle grade romance.
Weaknesses: Does anyone on the East coast like, totally overuse "like" and "totally"? Do girls doodle "Lauren and Charlie" and "Lauren Anderson" on their notebooks? 'Cause I totally have to slap them if they do. This was painful to read, but I remember having elaborate plans to "get a boy to like me". Just feel like maybe I shouldn't be encouraging this kind of thinking. These have an odd, 1980s feel to them.