by Suzanne Kingsbury
Ah, the summers of youth, when romance electrifies the air and the days seem to go on forever. This first novel has some of the magic of the former feeling—and, unfortunately, the tedium of the latter. Fresh out of prep school in the 1980s, Fletcher Greel returns home to Mississippi to work for his father, a judge, and falls for Haley Ellison, a beauty with a past. Fearing disapproval from Haley's dad, the pair keep their love a secret. But it's their pals, a white boy named Riley White and Crystal Nash, his black girlfriend, whose taboo passion has devastating consequences.
Maybe it's because not much happens for long stretches or because the obviously talented Kingsbury, who writes powerfully of Haley's eye for one of her dad's dangerous friends, is less evocative with healthy love. Either way, readers may find themselves longing for fall. (Scribner, $25)
Bottom Line: Endless Summer
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