Slept Away

By: Julie Kraut

Release Date: May 26, 2009

First Thoughts upon finishing: The Perfect Summer Book!



Summary (from Amazon):

Laney Parker is a city girl through and through. For her, summertime means stepping out of her itchy gray school uniform and into a season of tanning at rooftop swimming pools, brunching at sidewalk cafes, and—as soon as the parents leave for the Hamptons—partying at her classmates’ apartments.But this summer Laney’s mother has other plans for Laney. It’s called Camp Timber Trails and rustic doesn’t even begin to describe the un-air-conditioned log cabin nightmare. Laney is way out of her element—the in-crowd is anything but cool, popularity seems to be determined by swimming skills, and the activities seem more like boot camp than summer camp.Splattered with tie dye fall out, stripped of her cell, and going through Diet Coke withdrawal, Laney is barely hanging on. Being declared the biggest loser of the bunk is one thing, but when she realizes her summer crush is untouchably uncrushable in the real world, she starts to wonder, can camp cool possibly translate to cool cool? Summer camp might just turn this city girl’s world upside down!


Review:
Character Development: 6/10
Originality: 5/10
Plot/Storyline: 8/10
Ending: 5/10
Voice: 9/10
Recommendation: 9/10
Total Score: 42
Grade: B



Age Appropriate Rating:
Cussing: 2/10
Drugs, Alcohol, Etc.: 3/10
Sexual Content: 1/10


Written Review:

I really loved Slept Away. It was cute and funny and everything a summer read should be. Laney was a hilarious main charachter. Almost every sentence was some joke about her newly transformed hippie mom or her best friends crappy boyfriend or the terror of summer camp. Laney was portrayed as the upper class, rich "never in nature girl" but it was done very well without Laney seeming too whiny and annoying. I really liked that as much of a growing experience camp was for her never once did her character's personality alter dramatically. She developed and matured at an appropriate pace instead of changing her whole self after a matter of weeks.

I enjoyed reading all of the letters and texts between Laney and her parents or her best friend Kennedy. It was our only outlet to what the other's thought of her experience at camp and the letters made Laney's personality really shine through. There is some romance that is very predictable and hinted at throughout most of the book but Laney's romance isn't put on center stage in this book. The main romance in the book is all about Laney helping Sylvie find a suitable boyfriend. But actually romance isn't the main thing in this book At All. It's more just humor about friendships, growth and the "evils" of camp (with romance on the side).

By the way to read this I suggest you have a decent knowledge of pop culture because a lot of times Laney references reality shows and the latest tabloid headlines to compare her feelings to. It wasn't a problem for me but I can see how it would be if you don't keep up with that stuff. Also slang, text speak, etc. might be helpful to know when reading this book.

I wasn't a huge fan of the ending only because I wanted more from it. I wanted to know what was going to happen when she got back to New York and how her friends would react to "version 2.0 Laney". The ending was okay but not very satisfying.

Overall I really enjoyed SLEPT AWAY. It's cute and summery and is perfect if you are looking for a light, summer fluff read with humor, pop culture, and a decent plot.