BOOK REVIEW: Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

 In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard's world changed forever—-when Caitlin Somers chose her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha's Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters...

Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin has begged Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go—for the friend whose casual betrayals she remembers all too well. Because Vix wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend—her summer sister—still has the power to break her heart...

I loved Judy Blume as a kid, and teen, and still as an adult.  I first read 'Summer Sisters' many years ago and fell in love with Judy Blume as an adult reader all over again.  Yes it's chick lit.  Yes it's slightly cheesy.  It's slightly unbelievable but it's completely engrossing. 

Victoria and Caitlin have the unlikely friendship between the new popular mysterious girl and the under the radar not exactly misfit but not exactly anybody you notice girl.  You know, the kind of friendship all girls want for themselves at that age.  Caitlin's life is everything that Victoria believes her's is not.  They have a lifetime friendship, despite the ups and downs and ins and outs of lives lived in different worlds.  You know, the kind of friendship most women want for themselves.

Totally chick lit, 'Summer Sisters' is the lifetime of friendship between two girls that grow up together, grow apart together, grow back together, and despite the ups and downs always still care for each other.  Slightly cheesy as reality, despite our own fantasies of lifetime friendships, it still delivers the belief that anything is possible.  Slightly unbelievable in the adventures the girls find themselves in, the experimentation they choose to engage in, and the craziness that is the life of Caitlin. 

'Summer Sisters' should never be confused as a young adult or teen selection.  There is no doubt as you read through their lives that Victoria and Caitlin were written for an adult audience.  Though to be fair, a lot of current young adult books I come across contain an equal amount of sex.  There is a lot of sexual experimentation and experiences. 

At the end of the day 'Summer Sisters' will always fall on my favorite books shelf because Judy Blume grew up.  She took what that I loved about her books as a child and as a teen and tailored those things to an adult audience.  She created characters you could believe in, even when you can't begin to relate to their experiences.  She created characters that, despite never being able to relate to their life, you can see yourself in.  Their struggles and achievements and the life lessons they learn along the way.

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About Judy Blume

Judy Blume is an American writer known for children's and young adult fiction. Some of her best known works are Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Deenie, and Blubber.

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