While I spent a lot of time at camp when I was younger—Girl Scout camp, church camp (hey, I’ve already admitted to being a goody-two-shoes in What’s the Punishment for Sneaking Out These Days?)—I never went to an extended summer camp. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones highlighted in movies like Meatballs, The Parent Trap, Little Darlings, Friday the 13th. The ones where parents drop their kids off for the entire summer and chaos ensues.

I don’t know if Corinne would have ever been interested in a camp that lasts the whole summer. Dennis didn’t even like the idea of her being away from home overnight, let alone a whole summer. And as I said a couple of weeks ago in Is There Any Way I Would Survive Survivor?, she’s not exactly an outdoorsy girl.

She did, however, recently attend a theater camp at Fordham University in New York through the National Student Leadership Conference. Now this isn’t what most people would consider a summer camp. No one sang around bonfires or snuck into cabins to play pranks. No one learned archery or canoeing or made s’mores around a fire or watched the sunset over the lake from the beach.

One of 30 programs designed for high school students in a variety of fields—including science, engineering, aerospace, architecture, game design—the theater program Corinne participated in was a nine-day program designed for students who are interested in studying theater. The program included attendance at two Broadway shows, leadership sessions, panels with professional actors and directors. Students were split into groups, and each group created a 15-minute stage play from start to finish—script, set design, blocking, performance. They even had their own version of the Tony Awards called…the Tonies.

She had a great time. She made some great friends, which really is the biggest bonus of any summer camp. I went to church camp every summer from fourth grade until well after college, as a camper and as a counselor and eventually as a director. And the friends and the memories I made there will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The difference between when I went to camp and Corinne’s experience is the reach of technology and social media. When I was Corinne’s age, we had to exchange addresses and phone numbers to stay in touch. For the most part, though, we relied on the camp reunion in the winter and then saw each other the next summer. Now…kids exchange phone numbers, sure, but they exchange Snapchats, and it opens up a whole new world.

Just a couple weekends ago, Corinne had a Zoom call with all of the other kids who were in her group, and they spanned all four time zones. They have a group chat that they talk in regularly. The biggest impact for her, though, was her roommate at Fordham, who has become one of her very best friends.

Grace hails from Oklahoma, and when we walked into the dorm room and Grace cracked her neck exactly like Corinne does, I knew they would get along just fine. What I didn’t know was how much they would bond. They talk every single day, usually over Snapchat, but every single day. And what was the biggest surprise is that their birthdays are a day apart. Grace was born literally less than 12 hours after Corinne.

About halfway through the week, I received a Facetime from Corinne. They were at dinner, and she had a question. She looked nervous. She wanted to know what the chances were of us going to Oklahoma to see Grace’s school musical if it fell over spring break. I laughed because I couldn’t understand why she was nervous to ask, and she said it’s because she knew Oklahoma is a long drive. Then I laughed even harder and told her that there are planes that go to Oklahoma too. ✈️🤣

We won’t be going to the musical in the spring because it’s in the middle of the speech season, but we are going to Grace’s fall performance of Our Town in November. 😊

I love watching Corinne and Grace interact. There’s a special bond that comes from spending 24/7 with someone for nine days. It probably also helps that they’re both Libras. ♎

I finished a new release recently based on the relationships we form at camp. It was a five-star read that you won’t want to miss.

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Book Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

383 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 14, 2022
Purchased on Amazon

Publisher’s Description

When twelve-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at Camp Chickawah, they have an instant connection. But everything falls apart when they learn they’re not just best friends—they’re also half sisters. Confused and betrayed, the girls break off all contact.
 
Fifteen years later, when their father dies suddenly, Kat and Blake discover he’s left them a joint inheritance: the family beach house in Destin, Florida. The two sisters are immediately at odds. Blake, who has recently been demoted from regular nanny to dog nanny, wants to sell the house, while social media influencer Kat is desperate to hold on to the place where she lived so many happy memories.
 
Kat and Blake reluctantly join forces to renovate the dilapidated house, with the understanding that Kat will try to buy Blake out at the end of the summer. The women clash as Blake’s renovation plans conflict with Kat’s creative vision; meanwhile, each sister finds herself drawn into a summer romance. As the weeks pass, the two women realize the most difficult project they face this summer will be coming to grips with their shared past—and learning how to become sisters.

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Main Characters:

• Kat Steiner – 27-year-old social media influencer, raised in a wealthy family with a lot of privilege, spent summers at her grandparents’ beach house in Destin, Florida
• Blake O’Neill – 27-year-old nanny, supporting her grandfather who is in a care home but needs to be moved into the memory wing, which is much more expensive

Alison Hammer became one of my newer favorite authors when I read (and LOVED) You and Me and Us. I reviewed that first book of Hammer’s in April 2020 in In Honor of Mother’s Day, a Bittersweet Mother/Daughter Story. At the time I read it, my husband was going through chemotherapy. Since the dad in the story has cancer, it was a bit tough to read. When my mother read it, she bawled her eyes out because my husband had passed by then. Anytime someone has asked me for book recommendations, You and Me and Us makes the list.

So when I saw Hammer post on Facebook that she and her best friend Bradeigh Godfrey were releasing a new book under the pen name Ali Brady, I pre-ordered it immediately.

The Beach Trap centers around Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill, both 27, half-sisters with very different experiences of their father. They met originally at summer camp when they were 12, having no idea they were related. They’re not twins, but clearly their father stepped out on Kat’s mother.

They discover the relationship when Kat’s grandfather passes away while she’s at camp. Blake, having lost her mother at 9 and being raised by her grandparents, helps Kat pack and just talks to her. She remembers what she felt when she lost her mom. When they walk out of the cabin and she sees her own father, that’s when the girls realize they have a connection.

Blake writes, but Kat wants nothing to do with her. Fifteen years later, they are forced to deal with each other. Still living very different lifestyles, Blake wants nothing more than to sell the beach house, and Kat wants nothing more than to hang onto it. And neither of them wants anything to do with each other.

This story is bittersweet and sad and heartwarming all rolled into one. Told from alternating perspectives, Blake and Kat have very different voices, which is critical in a book like this one. Kat was raised in privilege and Blake was raised paycheck to paycheck. Kat’s chapters are all about appearances, showing a specific persona to the outside world. Blake’s chapters are about working hard in whatever job she could get to take care of what remains of her family.

Clearly, we as readers know how tough this experience will be for both women, who are dealing with grief in very different ways. As they make their way through the summer together, renovating the beach house, we learn a lot about the lives they had with their dad. We also see how any situation can be misunderstood when you don’t have all the facts…and they’ve done a lot of misunderstanding over the years.

Their pasts color every encounter they have with one another, and they are forced to come to terms with their shared past, their very separate presents, and their unknown futures. And what a journey of discovery.

You won’t want to miss this.

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