SUMMER OF SLOANE

Blindsided by betrayal, wounded in heart and hand, Sloane escapes to Hawaii, where she finds healing, romance, and new complications.

During the school year, Sloane and her twin brother, Penn, live in Seattle with their lawyer dad and spend summers with their mom and stepdad, both surgeons, in their oceanfront home near Waikiki. A successful competitive swimmer who’s learned to manage her asthma, Sloane’s shattered when her best friend, Mick, confesses she’s pregnant by Sloane’s boyfriend, Tyler. When his efforts to explain fall short, Sloane breaks his nose and her hand. Off to Hawaii, she gets a warm welcome (with piles of presents) from her mother and a car to share with Penn. Soon they’re partying on the beach with old friends and new—especially Finn, son of a wealthy hotel magnate, who’s seriously hot and smitten with Sloane. Their romance blossoms. When not engaged in beach parties and retail therapy, Sloane teaches Finn’s traumatized little sister to swim and tries to ignore the texts and email from Mick and Tyler pleading for forgiveness; this is her summer, her mother tells her. When Sloane’s past catches up with her, she must face the betrayal head-on. What distinguishes this romance from a standard-issue beach read is its likable main character. One-quarter native Hawaiian and three-quarters white, Sloane and Penn are blond and beautiful, and they are surrounded by likewise beautiful, toned, bronzed teens.

Schneider’s debut asks readers to consider how and where to draw the line between forgivable and inexcusable transgressions in those we love.