To be honest, at first, I was going to pass this by. But I ended up giving it a read and am glad I did. This book was by a debut author, and I love Young Adult Romances, so I decided to give this one a try. I got an eARC, an ARC audiobook, a physical ARC, preorder goodies, and a bag with the cover on it. Thank you, NetGalley, the publishing company, and Serena Kaylor herself.
Homeschooled in California, Beatrice is a genius who has dreamed of going to Oxford University. But making friends is a problem she hasn’t been able to solve, so her parents worry about sending her halfway across the world. They send her to the Connecticut Shakespearean Summer Academy and a detailed list of teenage milestones to check off. She has 6 weeks to show her parents she can be a ‘normal’ teenager. When she’s adopted by a group of theater kids and makes an enemy with the popular British son of the camp founders, she realizes that relationships are trickier than math. Will she realize that there’s more to life than she can find in the pages of a book?
I like the whole learning-to-be-a-normal-teenager thing. I’ve never been homeschooled, so it’s interesting to learn how it is for someone who's been homeschooled all her life.
I also enjoyed the side characters, especially Mia. I would’ve loved to be friends with her. And the scenes were descriptive enough to put me into the book. I loved the character growth of all the characters, especially Shelby. There were no sudden changes, which I liked. The changes were eased into.
I can’t say there’s particularly anything I disliked about the book. I would love to see a short sequel to Bea’s story about what ends up happening after camp.
This is a good, lighthearted romance teen story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you like camp romances, Shakespeare, or homeschooler out in real-world first-time romances, this is the book for you.