The title of my book is Beach Blondes. This novel was written by Katherine Applegate. The genre is realistic fiction and there is a little bit of suspense throughout. Katherine lives in California with her husband and two kids. She mostly writes young adult fiction and children books. She has also sold more than 35million copies of the Animorphs series. The book Beach Blondes is one of four others in her “Summer” series. Summer Smith lives in a small town in Minnesota, where it is always cold and nobody noticed her. She has liked a guy named Sean Valletti for ages, but he hasn’t given her the time of day.
So When aunt Mallory called and offered for Summer to spend the whole summer in Florida, she was overjoyed. Mallory lives in Crab Claw Key with her daughter Diana. Summer describes Crab Claw Key as “green irregular shapes like mismatched jewels strung together by the wavy line of a single highway. ”(8) Summer is in for a big twist in her rather dull life. Before even 100 pages in the book have passed Summer has plenty of things to keep her busy. On her flight into Florida Summer was sitting next to a tarot card lady. The Lady offered to do her cards for free and Summer accepted.
The Tarot Lady said she would meet at least three boys. “One will seem to be a mystery. One will seem to represent danger. One will seem to be the right one. ”(11) Three boys: Adam, Diver, and Seth. A lot can happen in three months and Summer definitely proves that. She quickly makes friends with a girl named Marquez. They spent a lot of their time at the beach because Summer really wanted a good tan. The setting of Crab Claw Key plays a big role in the story because its kind of a secluded area. Everybody knows everyone. In the book Beach Blondes, there are about five main characters.
There is Summer, obviously, Diana, Marquez, Seth, and Diver. Summer is just an average 16-year-old blond. She has lived in Minnesota her whole life and never really had a serious relationship before spending the summer in Florida. She is sweet and nice and has never done anything really bad. Diana is 18 and she has some issues. She’s super gorgeous and Summer envies her. However, nobody realizes Diana is depressed and suicidal. Marquez’s real name actually isn’t Marquez. Her name is Maria but she goes by her last name because she thinks that Maria is too basic.
Seth is the boy that “ seems to be the right one. ” Summer first sees him on the plane ride to Florida. Then they talk in the airport and Summer really begins to like him. Unfortunately, he already has a girlfriend. Diver is the mysterious one. We first get introduced to his character when Summer wakes up in the middle of the night to see a person standing in her stilt house. Diver is probably the most beautiful human alive, or at least; that’s what Diana and Marquez think. Summer experiences more things in these three months than she did in her whole life before.
First, She arrives in Crab Claw Key and meets Seth. Later, when she is on a walk, she runs into Marquez. They become friends and Marquez hooks Summer up with a job. Second, we learn more about Adam. Marquez was invited to a party at his place, so she invited summer. At the party, they’re both having a lot of fun, and then summer runs into Adam. He becomes really into her and so they start seeing each other more. Until something tragic happens. Next, Summer starts hanging out with Seth more, and she comes to find that she actually really likes him. Summer, with Seth’s help, then becomes a certified scuba diver.
They go out to one of the islands and scuba dive around the area. Something dramatic happens to them and it makes them closer. Finally, there is a lot of drama that happens between Sean, Summer, and Seth. Diana and Diver also have a little fling. The ending comes out of nowhere and I was honestly kind of disappointed by it. The part of Beach Blondes that I found most interesting is on page 438. It was the scene where Summer and Seth get stuck in the underwater cave. I actually got pretty scared and I wasn’t sure if they would be able to make it out alive.
Seth and Summer wanted to catch their own meal so they went after a crab that had gone into the cave. They tied a string to the opening of the cave so that they could find their way back, but about halfway into it the cave collapsed and they got trapped. There was so much suspense packed into that little scene, I felt that it was the most interesting. If I am to be completely honest I would say that I did not enjoy the book as much as I originally thought I was going to. I felt that there were a lot of parts that were dragged out and made the book pretty boring at some points.
The whole thing is over 700 pages long. I thought that the ending was very rushed and that maybe Katherine felt she already had seven hundred pages and that she couldn’t make it any longer. I will admit that there were some very well written parts and those were the most enjoyable for me. I feel like maybe this book was written for the age group of 11-16 year-olds. I mean the story is about teenagers but the reading level, I personally think, is meant for a younger crowd. Overall I thought the book was alright and I do plan on reading the next one because I think that may help clear some things up.