The Counselors

Another addictively readable book by Jessica Goodman. She’s become a must read author for me. I was so excited for this book that I stayed up till midnight to claim it with my points on BookishFirst first because I didn’t want to wake up to find all the copies had been claimed. Totally worth it! Goldie feels most at home at Alpine Lake camp and that’s been the case since she was a little girl. Her parents work at the camp so Goldie got to attend for free. For others, the camp was very exclusive and campers’ parents paid tens of thousands of dollars for their kids to attend. Goldie made her best friends at camp and every year she cannot wait to see Ava and Imogene again. This year, she needs them more than ever. This year all three girls are 18 and working as counselors at the camp but they’re still having lots of fun. The camp is actually in Goldie’s town of Roxwood, throughout the rest of the year the town feels boring to Goldie. But when summer comes around, the girls take advantage of all the fun they can find in Roxwood. People who live in Roxwood having conflicting feelings about Alpine Lake. It brings some money into the town but they think it could bring in more. They also know that every camper who attends is wealthy yet they never tip when they spend days off in town. During the school year this year something major happened in Goldie’s life. It’s negatively affected everything else in her life. But she hasn’t told Ava and Imogene despite their promises never to keep secrets from each other. After the girls are all reunited at the camp, Goldie feels like she’ll get a reprieve for the summer. But then a teenager from Roxwood is found drowned in the lake at camp. Goldie knows it’s not an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake the night before. She doesn’t know what any of it means but something seems off. I loved the girls’ traditions at camp and I love their relationship with each other. They might have kept some secrets from each other but they are definitely family to each other. I also loved the mystery. They’ll keep you guessing till the end.

Well... I enjoyed Jessica Goodman's other book, They'll Never Catch Us, better. Maybe it is because I was never at a summer camp, especially not one filled with rich kids. And I found Goldie to be very frustrating with her pining over Heller, even after he abandons her to the wolves for something he did that she covered for him. I know it is supposed to be like that because she is a teenager, but come on, by 17 Goldie should have a little common sense, even with hormones. The way she kept thinking about how in love she was with him got to be very irritating. So, the book is half that, and half an intrigue with the camp and with Goldie's friends, Imogen and Ava. And I didn't much care about either. I did care enough to finish the book, so the way it was told was intriguing enough, even if the subject wasn't. I think my favorite part was the camp activities that were happening in between all the troubles and dead body.