A review by purrfectpages
East Coast Girls by Kerry Kletter

3.0

I feel sort of guilty giving this one only three stars. Does it satisfy the requirement of being a decent beach read? Check. Did it make me think of the old days when I would devour books about preteen friendships in one day? Also check. So why only three stars you might ask? I think it’s because while it had all the trappings of simpler summer novels, it also dealt with some rather weighty material, but in a somewhat less weighty way. This story reunited four girls in the beach town they spend so many summers bonding in years ago. Then tragedy struck and the place, and their friendship, was never the same again. They want their reunion to be a reminder of simpler times, but life is reminding them you can’t hold on to the past. It’s hard to explain- if it had been pure escapism, you might say the story lacked depth. Had it been darker it would have become a different novel entirely. In the end I enjoyed it for what it was, but couldn’t help reflect on how some things could have been done differently, sort of like the subject matter in the novel itself.