Tween Tuesday: A Million Miles from Boston by Karen Day

4 rich & buttery shortbread cookies.

Cover Love: Not really. I don't think it is very eye catching.

Why I Wanted to Read This:
I saw this being compared to The Penderwicks on some blog once. That made me want to pick it up. Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:

School's out! That means Lucy is off to her favorite place: Pierson Point, Maine, where she spends summers with her family. And as she tries to forget her worries about starting middle school and about Dad's new girlfriend, Lucy can't get there soon enough. Pierson Point is where she feels most like herself, and where memories of her mother, who died when Lucy was six, are strong and sacred.
But this summer, nothing is the same. Ian, a boy from home in Boston, comes to Pierson Point with his family. Ian is loud, popular, and mean. He and Lucy can't stand each other. To top it off, Dad wants his girlfriend to become a bigger part of Lucy's life.
Karen Day's engaging novel shows that people aren't always what they seem, and that friendship can be found in the most unusual places.

I Kept Reading Because: It was quick and I liked the characters.

Romance?: None.

What I Liked (& Didn't):
I loved the setting. The tight knit group of summer people made me wish for something like this in my life!

The characters were very realistic. Lucy was a bundle of conflicts: sometimes she was confident and sometimes she was uncertain; sometimes made, sometimes happy. She was like most middle school girls I know. And Ian was so similar. He was two people one around Lucy at the ocean and one around his friends. That sounds like a lot of 11 year old boys I know!

I like these kind of stories, the ones that are just a slice of life. There is not a huge conflict or climax, just events that lead to an understanding from the main character. Whether its something they learn about themselves or a truth about their lives, it just comes through in the context of the story. There is no clean up or huge thing, it just is. Kind of like real life.

I was very glad when Lucy made friends with Ian's mom. It was good that she had someone to tell her a real life story about losing a parent.

This is a definitely a place I would visit again!

To Sum Up: Such a sweet summer time tale with very realistic middle school characters. I will be buying a copy for my library!

Book sent from Random House. Thanks!