Summary
Briggs has an awesome job for the summer before he heads off to college to study law and business. He’s going to spend the summer at a house on the beach in South Haven, Michigan helping an elderly woman with household projects and transportation. He has no idea that so much of his summer will be spent at funerals, carting Mrs. B to one after another after another.
While Briggs is enjoying his summer at the Lake, he starts to see things in his life from a new perspective – his family’s money trouble, his relationship with his parents and grandmother, his friendships and his future plans. Neighbor, Abigail, intrigues him. South Haven locals razz him about his “tourist” status. And he will NEVER live down the cell phone incident at the funeral.
This summer is going to be different than anything Briggs imagined.
Review
Briggs was the highlight of this book for me. He’s extremely likable, even when he goofs up in memorable ways. He’s good natured about Mrs. B’s quirks (although some of that comes from how much he wants to keep his job). He’s let the hard ties in his life teach him skills and gratitude.
Briggs’ family dynamics were also very interesting. Even though most of the story takes place at the lake, the meat of the relationships are centered around Briggs’ relationships back at home. I enjoyed how all the pieces came together in the end. In fact, the last 100 pages are probably my favorites in the book.
A great summer read (or a reminder that summer will come again). A great teen story about family and relationships. (Some language)