Violet, Rachel and Liz have each just received a letter from their old camp friend, Em. While they’ve all lost touch many years ago over a few deep-cutting, mean-girl incidents, Em has kept track of all of them. In fact, even as she has been dying of cancer, she’s managed to create a plan to entice them back to the camp that had once united them. And even if she is no longer around to witness it, she has taken steps to ensure that they repair the wounds they’ve inflicted.
Sooooo…. I hate to say this, but this novel was one I would NOT recommend wasting time with. Even if you were a die-hard camper, even if you experienced girl drama as a kid – even if you just like women’s fiction – at least in my opinion, this is just not worth your time. I kept hoping that something would not work out perfectly, that something would not be a cliche. It was disappointing, particularly since each of the 3 main characters began as interesting, in and of themselves. Sadly, even as they confronted the conflict in their lives, everything fell much too neatly and predictably into place. Even the boy crush from years past was conveniently the owner of the boys’ camp across the lake and – surprise, surprise! – still available and still interested in the character who’d been pining for him all these years. (Cue eye roll!)
I would have loved to love this book. The intent is clearly to foster women empowerment and to uncover how these women are moved to empower each other as well as future generations, as they overcome their own obstacles. I am all for that. Unfortunately, the means didn’t justify the ends here – the “means” was just too painful.
kindread spirits 