Next Summer
Author: Hailey Abbott
Genre: Realistic Fiction

“You're Pathetic.” Kelsi spat at her, but she had to whisper because she was afraid she was going to start sobbing. “You hated the fact that he chose me, didn't you? You couldn't stand it, you had to be the pretty one, the popular one, the one all boys wanted. You couldn't believe that someone could like me instead of you.”
Hailey Abbott's Next Summer is a realistic fiction novel starting in New Canaan Connecticut to vacation in Pebble Beach Maine. While vacationing in Pebble Beach with their family the Tuttle girls do a lot of partying. Each of them meets a summer boy and gets themselves into crazy situations that weren't supposed to happen. They learn that even the littlest decisions can be very complicated.
Ella is a young teenage girl who is very beautiful and loves to party. Ella has a way of attracting boys like a magnet, but her older sister on the other hand is the complete opposite. Kelsi just graduated high school and is very judgmental of guys after a bad break up she went through last summer. Beth is Kelsi and Ella's cousin and is also a teen in high school. She is the only one of the three girls who has been able to keep a relationship going with a guy, she loves her boyfriend George but when she meets Adam she gets herself into sticky situations that make her question her relationship with George. The theme of this book is choices. The author represents the theme by all the drama that is going on throughout the book. The girls are forced to make many decisions during their vacation and it takes a few bad ones to open their eyes and make them want to change themselves for the better. Next Summer is written in a way that lets the reader in on what the characters are thinking which makes it easier for the reader to understand exactly what is going on in the story. Hailey Abbott is very descriptive in her writing which also makes the reader feel like they are there in the story.
Hailey Abbott's Next Summer is somewhat similar to the Lurlene McDaniel's series. They are both written as teenage love stories and are so good you don't want to stop reading until you're finished with the book. Her writing paints an instant picture in your mind and the drama she writes about is very easy for teenage girls to relate to. The way she skips around to each of the girls' individual drama at the end of each chapter can be confusing for the reader but can also make the reader that much more interested in finishing the book. Fans of high school love stories will fall in love with this book and its fairytale ending. Once you start reading you won't be able to stop until you're finished.