Friday, May 31, 2019

Wildfire #34 Goodbye, Pretty One and #35 Just a Summer Girl

34. Goodbye, Pretty One – Lucille S. Warner, 1982

Karen thinks her life is just about perfect.  Her parents dote on her, give her anything she wants.  And she has Brad—handsome, serious, Brad.  As far as she can see, they're the perfect couple. 

So she doesn't understand at all when Brad says, "It's not working, Kar.  Maybe when you grow up a little..."  What does he mean? 

Over the summer, Karen finds out.  She lands her first job and meets new people, including sophisticated Jason. 

Karen is growing up!  She keeps thinking, If only Brad could see me now...

This book is very good.  Karen is such a silly girl and is clueless about her behavior.  She gradually learns and begins to grow up.

35. Just a Summer Girl, Helen Cavanagh, 1982

Summer at the beach.  Every year Nina looks forward to it.  Endless days in the sun, beach parties, dances, picnics.  And lots of time for her painting and drawing. 

Nina hopes this summer will be special.  And it is.  She falls in love.  She's never felt as attracted to a boy as she is to Ben.  But Ben doesn't understand Nina.  He wants to be a fisherman and live quietly on the island, while she is a city girl who wants to be an artist. 

Nina's not sure she can change her life... even for Ben. 

I never connected with this story.  Ben never seems right for Nina, and I couldn't see why she is attracted to him.  I skimmed a lot of this story.  I did not like this book.

1 comment:

Tai said...

A few days ago, I finished reading Good-bye, Pretty One and I loved it. It's one of my favorites of the series for sure. I felt sympathetic for Karen because she was a product of her environment. She was vain and spoiled because she had parents that treated her like a princess and didn't expect much, if anything from her. The ending was sweet.