In Amy Spalding’s young adult novel No Boy Summer, Lydia and her younger sister, Penny, make a pact to avoid boy drama for the summer—but Lydia can’t help looking for a loophole when she falls for a cute girl.
Lydia Jones and her younger sister, Penny, have had it with boy drama. Last year was marred by relationship disasters for both of them, threatening Lydia’s standing with her school’s theater tech club and Penny’s perfect GPA. Penny has, naturally, diagnosed the problem and prescribed a drastic solution: a summer off from boys.
Deciding to stay with their Aunt Grace and her boyfriend, Oscar, in Los Angeles while their parents are off on a European cruise, Penny follows her future business-school dreams with an internship at Oscar’s office, and Lydia gets a part-time job at Grace’s neighborhood coffeeshop, Grounds Control. Even when they spent hours, days, weeks dissecting their various boy drama, Lydia’s never felt this connected to her sister before, and it makes her wonder what else in her life could be different. She finds herself drawn to a group of friends she meets through her Grounds Control coworker Margaret, as well as an intriguing customer, Fran, an aspiring filmmaker and—while not the first girl Lydia has found herself attracted to—the first girl who has mutual feelings for her. But she’s not breaking her pledge to Penny, right? That was just about boys.
Even though in her heart Lydia knows she’s bending the rules, she hasn’t had a connection with anyone as strong as her connection with Fran, so she thinks it can’t be wrong. And Penny won’t mind as long as she’s happy . . . right?
Amy Spalding is the author of several novels for teens, including Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys), The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles), and We Used to Be Friends, which Becky Albertalli called “complex, earnest, and unflinching.” She lives in Los Angeles.
"
Buoyant and
genuinely funny. A love letter to summer friends, summer girls, and the city of Los Angeles."
— Rainbow Rowell, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Scattered Showers
“
No Boy Summer is the perfect summer hangout book—
warm, witty, and heartfelt. Watching Lydia turn into a person who's more than the sum of her romantic relationships is an empowering, relatable journey.”
— Mary McCoy, award-winning author of Indestructible Object
“I want to spend every summer with Amy Spalding's characters.
Thoughtful, funny, and a great escape from whatever ails you.”
— Sara Farizan, author of Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
“Lydia’s relationship validates the bisexual experience through an enjoyable romance. This body- and sex-positive story will hold readers’ interest until it eventually reaches its satisfying conclusion. A cute, queer romance plus a sweet exploration of the special bond between sisters.”
— Kirkus Reviews
"...this is a smart, earnest, and insightful novel about relationships of all kinds that deserves a spot in every YA collection."
— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
