Review: Slept Away

Title: Slept Away
Author: Julie Kraut
Publication date: May 26th, 2009

Summary: Laney Parker is a city girl through and through. For her, summertime means stepping out of her itchy gray school uniform and into a season of tanning at rooftop swimming pools, brunching at sidewalk cafes, and—as soon as the parents leave for the Hamptons—partying at her classmates’ apartments.

But this summer Laney’s mother has other plans for Laney. It’s called Camp Timber Trails and rustic doesn’t even begin to describe the un-air-conditioned log cabin nightmare. Laney is way out of her element—the in-crowd is anything but cool, popularity seems to be determined by swimming skills, and the activities seem more like boot camp than summer camp.

Splattered with tie dye fall out, stripped of her cell, and going through Diet Coke withdrawal, Laney is barely hanging on. Being declared the biggest loser of the bunk is one thing, but when she realizes her summer crush is untouchably uncrushable in the real world, she starts to wonder, can camp cool possibly translate to cool cool? Summer camp might just turn this city girl’s world upside down!

Review:
What I expected from this book is pretty much what it was. A light, quick, and fun read about a city girl being shipped off to summer camp by her parents. As someone who's never even been close to a summer camp, it was fun for me to read about all the activities, the mess hall, and the crazy counselors. One thing that made me not able to put this book down was the humor. Laney's sarcastic humor and comments that were made throughout the book had me literally laughing out loud at some points. She was definitely a character I could relate to and empathize with, and that made it even more enjoyable because it almost felt like I was in her shoes while I was reading. The writing was unique and to the point, and created a clear picture in my mind of what was happening. All of these things made for an enjoyable but quick read.

Characters: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Originality: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Overall grade: C