Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe

by Sarah Mlynowski

• ISBN10: 0062397109
• ISBN13: 9780062397102
• Publish Date: 19 May 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[bgsbooks18]

I received a E copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not change my opinion of this book. Thank you Edelweiss for send me a copy of this book.

Sam is a smart girl that is looking for a summer job. She is hopping to find a job that will help her with her teaching degree. Her boyfriend Eli left for the summer to go to Europe so this is the best time to get a nice summer job. She wont have to worry about not being able to see him while she is working for the summer. She was riding the train when she saw an old instructor from a camp that she went to. The old camp counselor gave her the opportunity to be camp counselor for the summer.

Gavin is the camp "Hottie". He is the camp sail instructor. His girlfriend is also in Europe for the summer. He mostly spends time with the rest of the guys during camp. Him and Meg seem to always run into each other because they go to the same places for cell service. It's the only way they can talk to their SO.

Long story short they end up having something in common which is their SO's are gone in Europe. They end up flirting every so often. The rest of the camp are hooking up with each other. Well things get kind of messy as they start to get feeling for each other.

I will say that this book has a lot of cheating, sex, drugs and drinking. None of this really bothers me but I figured I would mention it. Over all I didn't hate the book but I also didn't love it. I thought it was going to be a cute story about camping and falling in love. Which it kind of is but I didn't think it would have so much about cheating in it. I did find most of the characters fun and interesting to read about. If you don't mind all that stuff mentioned above then it's really not a bad book.

[whisperingchapters]

Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe wasn't what I was expecting. I guess I went in expecting a really fun summer camp story. While it was, there was too much drama with Sam that it was difficult to enjoy everything else.

Sam gets offered a chance to go back to camp as a counselor. She's hesitant since she didn't have the best memories there, but she still ends up going. She needed something to do since her boyfriend is traveling through Europe. It is there she meets Gavin, a guy who has a girlfriend.

This is where things go downhill. At first, everything was fun and enjoyable. I was loving the camp activities and the secondary cast, as well as the kids, so much! It is when Sam starts thinking about Gavin with flirty thoughts that things shifted for me. I'm most irritated by the fact that Sam is 19-years-old, yet she's acting like a 15-year-old. It was upsetting to and cringy to read her thoughts.

What I was mostly upset with was how Sam was mostly nonchalant about cheating. Sure, she'd have times where she would realize what she was doing was wrong. But she mostly cared about having fun with Gavin, not taking Eli, her boyfriend, into consideration. There were times where she wasn't even sure why she was cheating. She was doing it just because.

Taking Sam out of the equation, the rest of the book was enjoyable. I loved reading about color wars, freeze, and just all of the activities this camp had to offer. I loved that the kids were so present in the story. I especially loved the characters Botts and Jannelle. Both of these characters should have gotten more attention than they did. Jannelle brought so much spice and fire and energy to the story, and Botts brought a calmness and maturity that Sam and Gavin were definitely lacking.

Overall, Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe wasn't my cup of tea.

[Sam@WLABB]

Sam thought she had the perfect boyfriend, and their summer apart would turn out just fine. They would talk every day, he would send postcards. But, as the summer wore on, there were no postcards, and they spoke less and less. She began to analyze their relationship, found some flaws, and wondered if they would still be together at the end of the summer.

I had read the companion of this book, I See London, I See France, and I was interested in learning more about Sam and Gavin after hearing bits and pieces about them. Though it was fun traveling throughout Europe in the last book, I had an even better time at Camp in this book.

Mlynowski did an incredible job immersing me in camp life. I went boating, frog hunting, and even did some arts and crafts. There were pranks, a dance, an overnight, and multiple camp events such as Super Bowl and Color Wars. I really felt like I was living the camp life, and I enjoyed it so much.

I also liked getting to know the campers and the counselors. It was an interesting group, and it was fun, that they shared a history together. In fact, needing a summer job wasn't Sam's only motivation for returning to Camp Blue Springs. She wanted the opportunity to show the others how much she had changed, and to sort of redeem herself from that one summer she had spent there. Sam wobbled a bit, but was determined to become a great counselor, and she did. It was fantastic watching her grow and reclaim confidence in herself.

I know a lot of people took issue with part of this story. Particularly, the relationship that developed between Sam and Gavin. There's no way to sugar coat it. It really comes down to what you deem a dealbreaker. This book is not for people, who consider cheating a dealbreaker. What I will say is that, though I was disappointed, there was fallout, there were consequences, and I was actually ok with the way things played out. And, well, there was a jump ahead epilogue, which sort of made me a bit giddy.

Overall, I had a fantastic time at Camp Blue Springs. I was both disappointed and proud of Sam. She made some poor choices, but she also learned a lot about herself, and I thought the summer was a really important one for her.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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