One Last Summer by Kate Spencer

Standalone Women’s Fiction/Romance

*I listened to portions of this book, narrated by Kelli Tager

I grew up going to sleepaway camp—from age 6 (with my sisters and cousins there) until I was 16. I went to two different camps, and those experiences are still some of my best childhood memories. My second camp was in New Hampshire, and at 55, I went to my first reunion there and reconnected with childhood friends. So when I saw that One Last Summer by Kate Spencer was about a reunion at a New Hampshire sleepaway camp, I jumped right on it.

This was my third summer camp book this year, and like the others, it features a camp for sale, with campers returning to save it for one last summer. It seems to be the common theme in camp novels lately, but what I appreciated about this one was that it focused more on the relationships between friends than on saving the camp.

The story follows Clara, a 35-year-old workaholic with no life outside of her career. She’s skipped out on her annual camp reunion with her friend group for years, but her boss finally forces her to take a break due to burnout. So, reluctantly, she heads back to New Hampshire to reconnect with her best friends and her old camp crush, who’s still running the waterfront. Camp connections run deep—when I went to my own reunion, it felt like no time had passed, and I can understand rekindling a camp romance. But something felt like it was missing here. The story skips over those first 15 years after camp, only covering Clara’s absence in the last five, leaving a big gap in the friendships’ history.

I loved her friends, especially her bestie who accepted her right back in the fold despite Clara being a shitty friend. The problem was I never fully warmed up to Clara herself. Also, at 35, these characters felt oddly like they were just starting out. Especially the romance portion—“It’s always been you” just didn’t really work here, 20 years later. I think the story would have worked better if they were in their late twenties.

Likes:

The sleepaway camp setting.
The camp games.
The nostalgia.
The friend group.
Her bestie and what a good friend she was.
I loved her assistant.
Great cover.
The overall storyline was pretty good.

Dislikes:

The history only covered the last 5 years, what about the 15 before that?
The romance was lackluster at best.
I never loved the FMC.
Her romantic interest was just like, there….we never really get to know him.
This would have worked better if the characters were a little younger and camp was a little more recent.

The Narration:

I half-read and half-listened to this one. I like the narrator but I don’t think she added or detracted from the story. It was good, solid narration.

The Down & Dirty:

I really wanted to LOVE One Last Summer by Kate Spencer. Given my love for summer camp, I thought this would be a home run. While I enjoyed the setting and storyline, I didn’t fully connect with the characters. Still, if you’re a fellow sleepaway camp girlie, you might enjoy this one. I’m not sure it would resonate as much with someone who didn’t have that camp experience.