The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

After getting dumped by her boyfriend, sixteen-year-old Mia Gordon is looking forward to spending a relaxing summer in the Hamptons with Corine,  her gorgeous and popular cousin. But Corine has better things to do- like ditch Mia at a party.
That's where Mia meets boy-next-door Simon Ross. After devising a secret signaling system, Mia and Simon meet up nightly to swim in the cool, dark ocean and lie on the beach, talking and looking at the stars. Neither feels like they belong in the exclusive resort community.
Mia isn't looking for love that summer, but she finds it. She finds a funny, artistic boy who lives boldly. She finds someone who understands her. And she finds herself.

This was another of my 2010 Debute Author Challenges. I contacted Amanda and her publisher sent me a copy to review. This was a hysterical-uplifting and yet sad summer story. It is a book that I could imagine reading on a beach as I soaked up the rays, sadly when I was reading this the weather was not warm nor was I near a beach! I think this story has the potential of a new decade version of Dirty Dancing. So many young adults would love to read a story like this. It has all the factors that teenagers live for. It is a story that has life lessons and talks of struggle and hardship and moving on. Congratulations to Amanda for her success in this debute novel.

Here are a few quotes I really enjoyed:

"Or maybe that's just the curse of really beautiful people. Everything around them must look so ugly and second-rate."

"It's a long way from Payless to Prada!"

"The surest way to hurt yourself is to give up on love, just because it didn't work out the first time."