Crush: The Love Plan, by Angela Darling

Lauren is a girl who plans things.  She checks and double checks.  She loves having everything in its place.  So it really comes as no surprise that when it comes to love, she has a plan.  Lauren has come up with her love plan.  This is the summer that she will get Charlie not only to notice her, but fall for her just like she has fallen for him.  She knows from taking lots of multiple choice tests in teen magazines that she and Charlie are indeed soul mates.  She will get him to notice her through her flowcharted Operation Cell Phone, where she has planned each detail of their "chance" encounter.

The problem is Lauren hasn't even left for the beach and there is a wrench thrown into her plans.  Lauren's mom thought it would be fun to invite Chrissy along on vacation to keep only child Lauren company.  Lauren likes Chrissy alright, but she certainly isn't part of her plan.  And the worst part of it is that Lauren sort of told everyone at school that she and Charlie are already an item.What will Chrissy think when she sees the truth?

Lauren need not worry about Chrissy.  It turns out she is super understanding and supportive of Lauren's love plan.

Things start off great.  The girls get along famously, and Charlie is indeed at the beach with his friend Frank.  Lauren thinks this is just perfect because she can hang out with Charlie and Chrissy can hang with Frank.  But Lauren soon learns not only that the best laid plans don't always work out, but that crushing on someone from afar, is indeed different from knowing a person face to face.

This is an easy breezy beach read that gets the desperate tone of first crushes just right.  What I like is that Darling gives Chrissy and Lauren agency, and put it right out there that sometimes the boy with all the looks can be lacking in other areas.  This is a squeaky clean romance that will have tweensters flipping the pages to find out who Lauren will choose.

My One Hundred Adventures

Jane is living with her poet mother and her 3 siblings by the beach during the summer of her 12th year. Their existence is minimal, yet they really do not want for much. Jane is, however, yearning for adventure. And when she prays one day for Mrs. Parks and not Mrs. Nestor, her energy gets blocked and she feels a need to be redeemed. Following her "healing" preacher to distribute bibles, Jane's adventures begin. From searching for "poodles" connecting the worlds, to babysitting the horrid Gourd children, to catching glimpses of who her father may be, Jane's summer is anything but typical.

In true Horvath fashion, many questions go unanswered. But the sense of place is so compelling that readers won't mind the threads that are left to dangle.

This may be my favourite Horvath title. The writing of course, is superb. There is a dreamy quality to it, and the setting of the beach is just perfect. Horvath really gets the world of children that many adults overlook. Jane is very interesting, as are the old women of the book. A delightful summer read for the deep readers in your life!