Emaline is spending the summer working for her family's real estate agency and getting ready to head to college in the fall. She's been with Luke, her boyfriend, since ninth grade. She thinks she has everything figured out: she'll spend her summer handing out keys to vacation rental houses in Colby (the small town Emaline lives in), then in September, she'll will be going to the college with Luke.
But things don't go according to plan. First, Emaline's biological father turns up in Colby. He had been urging Emaline to apply to Ivy League schools and even offered to help pay her tuition, but without warning, takes back his offer. Then Emaline starts noticing that she and Luke aren't really hanging out as much as they used to. Finally, a documentary filmmaker from New York shows up in town to interview Clyde Conaway. The filmmaker, Ivy, brought her assistant, Theo, who is eager to impress his boss by getting Emaline to show him the "real" Colby, not just the tourist-y area.
But as Emaline becomes more social with Theo and Ivy, she's forced to ask herself whether she's as outgoing and determined as they are, or whether she fits in better with the relaxed, beachy vibe of Colby. While the book's blurb seems to suggest that this decision is made by Emaline's choice between two very different guys, I didn't really read the story that way. Luke, Emaline's boyfriend, was so laid-back it was hard to get to know his personality. Theo, the outsider, is smart but tries way too hard, so he's socially awkward in a way that made him seem too immature for Emaline.
Finally, I liked the way that Emaline discovers new things about herself, including some things that really surprise her. This time in her life was bound to be a confusing and emotional, and I think that Sarah Dessen did a great job of showing one girl's experience with that exciting, scary moment when you're ready to take a big step toward adult independence.
