Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor
Published: July 26, 2022
Wednesday Books
Pages: 328
Genre: YA Romance
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Serena Kaylor likes to write about that first flush of summer love, whispered conversations at midnight, and endings happy enough to make your toes curl. She grew up running wild as a changeling through North Carolina swamps and hiding in book stacks until she was dragged back into the real world.
Unfortunately, hearts and hormones don’t follow any equations. When she’s adopted by a group of eclectic theater kids, and immediately makes an enemy of the popular―and annoyingly gorgeous―British son of the camp’s founders, Beatrice quickly learns that relationships are trickier than calculus. With her future on the line, this girl genius stumbles through illicit parties, double dog dares, and more than her fair share of Shakespeare. But before the final curtain falls, will Beatrice realize there’s more to life than what she can find in the pages of a book?
“The ugly realization that I wanted this.”
Beatrice is smart. Incredibly smart. And that has allowed her to build walls that have prevented her from living through normal teenage things. She was also homeschooled. So she is also awkward. And very set in her routine. When she gets into her dream school, her parents make her a deal to go with their blessing, and she has to spend the summer at a camp that will shove her out of her comfort zone and directly into the spotlight. She never expected the experience to change her life.
This was such a sweet story. I fell in love with Beatrice immediately. And Mia. And Nolan. And Nik. These characters were fantastic.
I enjoyed the pacing and storyline arc of this novel. I love that the things Beatrice learned weren’t just that she was right and should go to college in the fall.
But that she did need to learn to be a teenage girl. That she needed people. That being spontaneous and silly is okay.
I also loved that her parents learned that there was more to Bea than books and theory. The way this story unfolded was both a coming of age and self-realization that who we are right now is just fine and that we will grow and change.
This was a beautiful journey, with many laughs along the way.