Everyday Rowena

For a very short story, this was a pretty decent read. The storyline wasn't one that is too difficult to follow along with but it's also not very hard to figure out what's going to happen. This story follows Shelby as she tries to survive the summer at brat camp. It starts off with Shelby getting ready to kiss a boy from school in her backyard and then before their lips could meet, the sprinklers go on and she doesn't get her kiss. She also gets in trouble and because she's got this habit of getting herself into trouble, she gets sent to Camp Crescent for the summer. Camp Crescent is basically a teen rehab camp. A camp that helps troubled teens find themselves and better themselves over the course of a summer.While she's at camp, she meets several people. She meets Ariel, a billionaire's daughter and she meets Jenna, a girl that gets on her nerves. Charles who is the son to a big tabloid magazine owner and then her favorite meet of the entire summer, Austin Bridges. Austin is the son to the leader singer for the hot shot band, Burning Bridges and he's the most interesting person she's ever met.She won't find out just how interesting he is until after she's already developed a crush on him. Shelby can't help but be drawn to Austin even though she thinks he's a drug addict. She likes talking to him but she also can't help but like him. Watching these two grow closer as the book wore on was cute.Shelby is having issues at home. Her Mom died three years ago and her Dad got married not too long ago and feels like she's been abandoned so she's acting out to get his attention. She's grieving for her Mom and her Dad is working all the time so that leaves a lot of time to stay home ...with her thoughts and her grief. She misses her Mom and she misses being part of a family and well, she acts out just like a normal teenager would. I never hated Shelby because I understood what she was going through and I understood what drove her to do the things that she did. She wasn't a bad kid and some of the things that she got herself into wasn't her fault. She had a good heart and I was glad that Mr. Winters was able to see that.This book was one of those feel good teen reads that I think teens would love. This book is suitable for tweens as well, I think.As feel good and good as this story was, there were a few things that irked my nerves a bit. A big part of the conflict in this story was Shelby's family life. Her step mother was a total beast and her family was totally absent. After all is said and done, I didn't feel like we got closure with the whole family angle. It would have been nice if Shelby and her father could have talked and that their relationship could have been addressed with those two. It would have been nice to see the step mother either redeemed or dealt with. I felt like she was made out to be the villain and then she disappeared to go shopping and that was that. Another thing that irritated me was how easy the whole Charles problem disappeared. It felt like they were working that storyline up and then it just fell flat on its face and he disappeared and that was that. I wanted more to the ending but as a whole, this book was still pretty entertaining.I wasn't as impressed as I thought I was going to be but it wasn't the worst book that I've read this year, I'd still read more from this author and I'm sure your kids will enjoy this story. It was a pretty decent read.Originally posted on Book Binge, http://thebookbinge.com by myself.