Summer Seventeen and You (Stockbridge)

Seventeen-year old Sam has it all: her parents are never home, she has a trust fund, she’s a cheerleader, dates one of the hottest jocks in school and is one of the most popular girls in school. Then Elliot Shaw moves across the street from her. When everyone goes off for summer break except the two of them he upsets the balance of her life. She finds herself falling hard for him just when she learns she’s pregnant with her boyfriend Logan’s baby. Good-bye house, trust fund, cheerleading, and Logan. Thank goodness for Elliot’s unconditional love.

This is a beautifully written love story that requires tissues when read. Sam is not the spoiled brat she could be, but is a teenager who craves love and has been dealt more than most at seventeen. Elliot and Sam are written as deeply caring, mature people. The parents in this piece are written as shallow and unfeeling, so the roles are reversed. This tale is less than credible because Sam’s parents are never present. It is hard to believe that a set of parents would leave a teenager alone for months at a time. The maturity level of Sam and Elliot are closer to what someone in their late twenties would be, so that also eats away at the credibility of this piece. There is no definite sense of time in the story. One never knows how far along Sam is in her pregnancy, although this is a key point in the novel. Emotions are played out well and bring the reader into the story, making one feel as though they are an active part of the tale.  

Belinda Wilson