Review - Nantucket Blue (Nantucket #1) by Leila Howland

Title: Nantucket Blue

Author: Leila Howland

Series: 1

Pages: 294

Published:  May 7th 2013 by Disney Hyperion 

ISBN: 9781423160519

Source: Purchased

Description: 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.

I Give This ...

When I requested Nantucket Red, I didn't realize that it was the second book in the series.  I debated just reading that, but decided that this one sounded great so I purchased it.  I ended up loving it!

At first I wasn't sure what to think of Cricket.  I thought she may have been to dependent on her best friend Jules and her family.  I get that the loss of Jules' mother was devastating for Cricket too, but it's like she never thought to recognize that her friend needed to grieve.  And if she needed to do it without Cricket, so be it. So she follows the Clayton's to Nantucket, thinking that she's just what Jules needs.  She wasn't expecting her to slam the door in her face.

I actually think that the whole experience was good for Cricket.  It forced her to do something on her own. I liked that she stayed on Nantucket, got a job and a place to stay, and made friends that weren't just a part of Jules' circle.  I loved that in her repeated attempts to makes Jules see her, she keeps running into someone else.  And in those meetings, Cricket's begins to realize that everything she had every dreamed of can happen.  But, is it worth it?   She tries to tell herself repeatedly that it's just a summer fling and no one has to know. 

As with all things that are kept a secret, everything blows up in Cricket's face.  I saw it coming and loved how it all played out.  I think it showed Cricket how she felt about everybody involved and how far she was willing to go to keep it. 
 

This was the perfect summer read.  I'm ready to read the next one!