The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC blog tour for Amy Mason Doan's debut, The Summer List.

It's been seventeen years since Laura and Casey last spoke. Seventeen years since their friendship fell apart. Laura's mother has kept her apprised of some of the bigger moments in Casey's life since, more out of spite than anything else. But the one time best friends haven't seen one another since Laura abruptly left their tiny town of Coeur de Lune, never to return. 

At least that was the plan. 

A pink envelope with a mermaid sticker changes all of that. An invitation to one final scavenger hunt together, a tradition started the summer before their junior year in high school. Laura knows it'll be uncomfortable but curiosity wins out. As they make their way through the list - one designed to bring to mind all the memories they once shared - the hunt also brings up a long buried secret that could break their tenuously mended bond once and for all. 

Ah the heady days of balmy teenage summers, dreadfully awkward high school, crushes, first loves, and best friends forever. The Summer List plays on all of that teen nostalgia - for me especially, considering I'm the same age as the characters. Their high school playlists and experiences read almost like a map to my own teen years.

Almost.

It's a bittersweet read as well, though. One I thankfully can't relate too closely to!

Laura and Casey's story plays out in two timelines, interspersed with chapters from a perspective that only begins to reveal itself as the story progresses. Laura travels back to Coeur de Lune and the girls' quite stiff reintroduction, then we travel back to the summer they first met, hopscotching back and forth between the two timelines as the reason for the break in their friendship begins to become more clear.

The third perspective is at summer camp - an unknown narrator with a crush on an older man, relegated to the camp while her own mother attends an adult retreat in the wake of what seems to be a breakdown.

I loved this book, even the more heartbreaking parts. The friendship between Laura and Casey rang so true and reminded me of my own high school friendships and the mystery behind their split - as well as that of the third narrator and the secret the book's cover copy hints at - made this even more of a page turner.

The Summer List is an excellently crafted debut and a read that'll give you lots to think about. Even at its heaviest moments, though, it's a quick and easy read that pulls you along from the very first page all the way through to the end.

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Amy Mason Doan and her work you can visit her website here. You can also like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble