Review: Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

Title: Nantucket Blue
Author: Leila Howland
Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Publication date: May 7, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Source: NetGalley

Format: eARC

Pages: 304

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For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams. Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality. A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

Nantucket Blue was so much more than a romantic beach contemporary. From the start, something tragic happens to Cricket's best friend's family. Jules immediately starts to grow distant and the invitation to Nantucket Blue that Cricket was so excited about was taken back by Jules. It was decided that Jules's family will deal with the tragedy alone. However because Cricket didn't want to spend another summer at home trying to cheer up her mother who has become depressed ever since the divorce as well as fight for her father's attention between her and his new wife and her adopted son, Cricket decides that she will go to Nantucket. Unfortunately the job she secures ends up falling apart and she wanders until she finds a job working as a house cleaner at an inn. However we soon find out that Jules isn't all that happy that Cricket is here for her. This is when the drama begins.

I hate Jules!!!! phew, ok that is out of the way. Yes, something tragic happens, yes we have to be more sympathetic. But that doesn't mean that when your own best friend screws you over by tattletaling to your crush as well as embarrassing you in front of her Nantucket friends and basically telling you to "get lost" you'll still give her excuses and stick around right? I am SO glad Cricket isn't like the typical protagonists that still come for more hurt and embarrassment. Cricket stays well clear of Jules but starts spending more time with her younger brother Zach. He is a year younger than her, and be prepared, he is also a potential love interest. To be honest I was pretty annoyed at the beginning by this introduction, especially since she already has a crush on a guy from a school back home who started lifeguarding at Nantucket for this summer. Overtime, I have to say that Zach won me over. I am glad Howland didn't take the path of making Zach the goofy younger guy. He basically filled the void that Jules left behind in Cricket's heart. I loved their scenes together and the transition from friends to more was done really well. 

I personally think Nantucket was such an enjoyable book because of all the great characters in the story. We have George, the writer who Cricket starts interning for. He was such a funny guy and I would have totally shipped him with Cricket's mom, if only he wasn't married. There is also Liz, who also works at the inn. They definitely made Cricket's summer more bearable. I have to point out, if you are expecting a book that is spent on the beach and is all about the summer romance, then you better adjust your expectations. This book is about a girl whose life decides to tip over her balance and let her find a way to adjust to all the changes that happened. Cricket was such a great protagonist with a voice that never bored me. I finished Nantucket Blue in a day and was actually sad to see it end. I would recommend it to all contemporary YA fans.