Monday, July 11, 2011

Meet Me at the Boardwalk by Erin Haft

Title: Meet Me at the Boardwalk
Author: Erin Haft 
Publisher: Point
Release Date: May 1, 2008
Date Read: July 1 - 3, 2011
Rating: 2/5 stars 

Summary
Growing up in the resort town of Seashell Point, Jade, Megan, and Miles are best friends, and spend their summers working at the Clam Shack, making fun of the snooty summer people, and chilling on the boardwalk. But this summer, everything's different. Not only does Jade have her house to herself -- can you say parties? - but there's that tiny little issue of Megan's giant crush on Miles. Then there's the mysterious new girl who catches Miles's eye, and the threat that their beloved boardwalk will be torn down. This is one summer the friends will NEVER forget!
Review
To celebrate my summer vacation I grabbed my old ARC of Meet Me at the Boardwalk from way back in 2008. I never got around to reading it and there's no time like the present! Unfortunately it wasn't as enjoyable a beach read as I had hoped and I was left wanting more.

My main disappointment with Meet Me at the Boardwalk was the huge plot inconsistencies. There were many references to previous hangouts or occasions that were never fully explained and as a result I was confused about everyone's motives for a huge chunk of the book. I also never knew how much time had passed. I assumed everything happened on a day-by-day basis until "two weeks ago on the porch" came up when I thought the porch scene happened yesterday! 

Nothing was really accomplished in the book. The boardwalk scandal, the house party, and Jade's Grandma's visit all seemed fabricated just to give the characters something to do rather and a way to further the romantic relationships rather than to establish setting or give the reader something to sink their teeth into. I would've loved more emphasis on the environmental repercussions of tearing down the boardwalk but instead they were highlighted in a brief statement in the last few pages. Just as the climax arrived and I was all geared up to see how things would turn out, the book just ended. The ending was extremely abrupt and left far too much unsaid for a standalone.

On a positive note I was pleasantly surprised by the relationships between the 3 friends. You have your typical girl-likes-guy-best-friend scenario but all of a sudden everyone was kissing and dating other people I had never imagined! In Twelfth Night fashion everyone eventually found their way back to their original match but it was cute to read about who everyone thought they liked. I also appreciated how Megan's ethnicity wasn't stereotypical "smart-Asian", "immigrant-Asian", "adopted-Asian", or "my-grandparents-are-really-strict-and-traditional-Asian". Instead she was a normal teenager who happened to be Asian. Bravo Erin Haft for breaking boundaries!

Recommended: Island Girls and Boys (Rachel Hawthorne), Four Summer Stories (Niki Burnham), Along for the Ride (Sarah Dessen)

2 comments:

  1. That's too bad about all the inconsistencies. I also hate it when you can't figure out the timing of everything. Like the example you gave, or even when it's the opposite: when you think the books has taken place over months but it's actually been a couple weeks. So strange.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry you didn't enjoy this one very much. I hate it when that happens!

    ReplyDelete

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