The Lost Summer by Kathryn Williams

Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pub.Date: July 14th 2009
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 256
Format: hardcover
Source Of Copy: from the publisher - Disney Hyperion.

For the past nine years, Helena Waite has been returning to summer camp at Southpoint. Every year the camp and its familiar routines, landmarks, and people have welcomed her back like a long-lost family member. But this year she is returning not as a camper, but as a counselor, while her best friend, Katie Bell remains behind.

All too quickly, Helena discovers that the innocent world of campfires, singalongs, and field days have been pushed aside for late night pranks on the boys' camp, skinny dipping in the lake, and stolen kisses in the hayloft. As she struggles to define herself in this new world, Helena begins to lose sight of what made camp special and the friendships that have sustained her for so many years. And when Ransome, her longtime crush, becomes a romantic reality, life gets even more confusing.


Want to read stories on summer but something else rather fun, crazy, exciting ones? Then The Lost Summer should be one of your top picks. Poignant and relatable, this book provides a different for the favorite time of the year of everyone.

From first look The Lost Summer is similar to all the stories of the same topic, but you can immediately feel that the atmosphere is somewhat not the same. There's something very lonely and nostalgic about it. With Helena's new position at camp, this summer has opened a whole new world on her that she isn't sure she wants to know.

The thing I like the most about this book is that Helena's story seems like a story of a half teen, half adult. It isn't exactly carefree or wild, but it isn't just serious and full of worries. Happenings are told in an ordinary way but readers can't help but sense upcoming sadness. And the thing is that the feeling is extremely vague and cannot be explained.

Helena is a typical character, the kind that is in the progress of growing out of her shell and enter the real world. That's why it's easy to understand her but at the same time she can be quite forgettable. What she encounters/experiences, though, will stay on and provoke thoughts and emotions in you.

The lost summer is the summer Helena lost something very special, but still gained a lot. It's a beautiful story you shouldn't miss.

Rating: 3.5/5