"Camino Beach" by Amanda Callendrier was a fun novel. Group of friends, pre-reunion days, engaging in discovery and reminiscing of high school days, and discovering hidden truths. Enjoyable! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

A fun, thoughtful book about the way times changes us and also entrenches some of our core selves even deeper. A lovely book of the South that doesn't fall into stereotype or nostalgia.

In this poignant debut loaded with humor, heartbreak, and Southern charm, old friends road-trip their way to solving a mystery and righting a long-ago wrong.

An easy summer time read.
It's school reunion time and best friends decide to go looking for a friend of theirs who went missing just before graduation 20 years previously. It's not a thriller type mystery just more of a coming of age type.
Read in about 48 hours and was quite enjoyable if a little predictable.

What a great debut! Love the idea of the high school reunion and how the women and story go back and forth in time to those old days.

3 friends in high school that are inseparable are torn apart when one member of the team just disappears overnight, not to be heard from again. The other two maintain a great relationship (I have not had this kind of consistency with anyone from high school myself) and when it comes time to celebrate their 20th high school reunion they go off in search of their lost friend to see if she will come to the reunion so that they can re-live old times.

People change though, but deep down, there is a "you" that is inflexible and resistant to change and I think that this is what that author is trying to dig deeper into. Essentially, I am who I was in high school, no matter how I deny it LOL, my core self is unchanged.

3.5 stars, fun & easy book to read while traveling!

Thank you to Net Galley for a free e copy of this book in exchange for a fair & honest review.

El Camino by Elizabeth Cook played in my head while reading this fun book!

An unusual storyline, regarding a missing high school friend. However, this really dragged and I really had to push myself to finish it. It just lacked something to make it a bit interesting and although I chuckled a couple of times throughout, it was certainly not as funny as it was made out to be. The characters never really developed and the whole thing was a little bit lack lustre.

Sarah, Kristen & Roxanne were like the Three Muskateers in high school. Then some stuff went down, Roxanne disappears from school and Sarah & Kristen try, half-heartedly because they're high school kids, to find her with no success.

Fast forward twenty years. It's reunion time and Sarah & Kristen's lives have moved on. Sarah has been married and divorced and they share custody of their pug. She owns a bookstore. Kristen is married with kids and lives a pretty affluent life. But reunion time brings back memories, and they decide to search for Roxanne again.

They go on a road trip, with former classmate and Sarah's neighbor, Jack, who coincidentally is now the principal of their former high school, in search of Roxanne. Follow them down their literal (& figurative) road to search for Roxanne.

A great story of growing up, regrets, memories, and enduring friendship!

Thanks to Netgalley & Lake Union Publishing for this great read!

Camino Beach was a pleasant surprise for me! I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this but I ended up really enjoying it. It has the right combination of adventure, mystery, and some 80s flashbacks for an awesome book. Loved this one!

This book was amazing! I loved that the characters were in school at around the time that I went to school also. The main's character struggle with letting go of guilt, and trying to still be that person that she was in high school was very well developed by the author.

This is Amanda Callendrier's first novel and I will be on the lookout for future work.

Light, fun read and a really good debut novel. Would be a nice beachy book.

Hey, do you want to read a book full of absolutely repulsive characters who have absolutely no conscience or self-awareness? Well, have I got the book for you.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. This review will contain spoilers.

Also, this isn't a positive review.

TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains the sexual assault of a teenager by a teacher. It is treated like said teenager "cheating" on his girlfriend. It never acknowledges that he was sexually abused by a teacher in a position of power.

In 1997, Sarah and Kristen were just two absolutely awful teenage girls in Nashville, TN. They graduated high school, went on to college, graduated, and went onto equally disappointing lives: Sarah is divorced, lives in an apartment above the bookstore she owns, and routinely treats her next door neighbor/former classmate/best friend, Jack, like absolutely crap; on the opposite end of the spectrum, Kristen is a tiny, blonde former gymnast who married a big ol' slob named Chris (THEY ARE BOTH NAMED KRIS/CHRIS) and has three anonymous children that she never talks about except to complain about them. She works some kind of job, but otherwise, buys Jimmy Choos, lives in a McMansion, and drives a Rover.

Cool. These women seem fun.

In high school, there was a third friend, Roxanne, the only likeable one in the bunch. Roxanne was impulsive, self-destructive, and, most of all, fun. However, she disappeared before they graduated and while they did call local boarding schools after her mom (their gym teacher, inexplicably) told them she was sent to boarding school, they didn't do much to find her.

Except when their 20 year high school reunion rolls around.

Kristen decides it's time to bite the bullet and find Roxanne. Sarah, our primary narrator, is nervous because she did something "awful" that she is sure is the cause of Roxanne's disappearance. They go on a saga to buy an El Camino (an awful car that Roxanne inexplicably bought and that broke down on a spring break trip). This takes up approximately 1/3 of the book and is exceptionally boring. They buy an El Camino named Elvira and make continual references to the fact that they're sure it will break down. It's like they have no concept of how heart 70s and 80s era cars are--and considering the fact that Elvira was completely redone by a car buff, the car would be in absolute pristine condition. So they're jerks for that because it's exhausting.

Jack decides to join them for the trip to Myrtle Beach, after Kristen's private investigator turns up an address for Roxanne there. We are treated to multiple unpleasant scenes were Sarah is an absolute nightmare of a human to her ex-husband.

Ok, slight diversion from going over the plot: Sarah got divorced because... reasons? It's never fully explained, which is fine, but she treats her ex like ABSOLUTE GARBAGE. Sarah is a garbage person. There, I said it. Take this character and throw her away; she is a self-centered, obnoxious, mean, vile human being. There is NOTHING redeemable about Sarah as a character. I do not understand why she has friends or why she received this characterization. She sucks. She divorced her husband because he was slightly resistant to her taking out a loan to buy a bookstore. Listen, do you know how much of a struggle it is to own an independent bookstore? It is NOT easy. But this book apparently takes place in an alternate reality where people go to bookstores all the time. Whatever. In reality, Sarah's dumb little store would have already failed, which would be karma for treating her husband (who they make fun of for being a professor? despite the fact that Sarah is so romantic about her own undergraduate experience?) like absolute crap.

Anyway.

They head for Myrtle Beach. Apparently, they do zero preparations for this and end up stopping at Sarah's college town, where they go to her favorite place to eat. She orders a sandwich (and the author expects us to know what this sandwich is but never explains it). Then, Kristen goes to an art show and proceeds to completely destroy a student's art project. What pieces of human garbage. Goddamn, I hate both of them so much.

They get to Myrtle Beach and find a hotel that is $60 a night, but also has a bar beside the pool. Ok, that makes sense. There is an awful scene where Jack's swimsuit gets sucked into the jacuzzi jets. It's really stupid and serves no purpose to the plot. It's actually awful. All of these people are awful. Kristen is the worst, but her and Sarah honestly duke it out to be seen as the absolute worst of all human beings ever.

The next morning, they surprise drop into Roxanne's address. Surprise, it's not Roxanne. It's her mom, Mrs. Wilder, their mean ass gym teacher. She has no idea where Roxanne, but Kristen acts like a big dick the entire time and they judge her medications in the bathroom. Cool! They leave, meet Jack's college roommate Bert for margaritas, get drunk in a Mexican restaurant, and then they all get into a massive fight.

Then, they go home.

This is the part of the novel where I stopped caring. It was so anticlimactic. They go home. Kristen gets a bug in her ass to go check school records; they do and guess what? The school has all their school records. Listen, my husband is a teacher; so is my sister. HIGH SCHOOLS DO NOT KEEP YOUR RECORDS PAST A CERTAIN NUMBER OF YEARS. It's so exhausting to have this scene. As if there is some giant room in every public school where they keep every piece of banal information about every kid that ever stepped in the building. Yawn.

Anyway, they end up finding a sticky note on the back of Roxanne's file with the number of a school that's in, you guessed it, Sarah's college town. They do some research and go. They find Roxanne. She's perfectly normal, living in a nice little house with her daughter, also named Sarah (WHO KNOWS WHY, Sarah sucks so bad). She is pleasant and happy, but she's not the Roxanne they know.

Ok, throughout all these scenes, we get treated to scenes from high school Sarah. HS Sarah is somehow 400x worse than present day Sarah; she is boring, mean, and absolutely obsessed with herself. So, the entire novel I thought the bad thing she did to Roxanne would be huge: she ratted out Roxanne about drugs or she actually murdered her or SOMETHING. No. She signed a statement saying that Roxanne had been cheating on her to avoid getting her scholarship taken away.

I'm sorry, but that's not awful. That's barely even bad. That's literally what every stupid teenager would do if they were caught to be helping their friend cheat. Roxanne had been cheating off Sarah; Sarah admitted it; fucking and...?

Anyway, in their meeting with Roxanne, it turns out that's NOT why Roxanne left school. She left because her mom had been fucking teenagers at the school and had been messing around with Roxanne's boyfriend. So the principal helped her transfer schools and GTFO. Cool for Roxanne. She met her current husband, got pregnant, got married. She chilled. Never once does anyone say, "Holy shit, your mom raped your boyfriend!? Your mom sexually assaulted and abused him?" No, they act like her boyfriend Mark cheated on her. THESE PEOPLE ARE ALL GARBAGE.

So, after all that time, the bad thing Sarah did didn't even matter. It's NOT EVEN PART OF THE PLOT because it's so impossibly small and stupid.

Kristen and Sarah leave. (as they leave, Sarah asks about Roxanne's daughter's name and Roxanne basically says that her daughter is named after her grandma. LOL)

Because Sarah is obsessed with her stupid self, she goes to visit the former principal to ask WHY he made her sign that statement (um, because they were busting Roxanne, rightfully, for cheating?). The principal basically says it literally never mattered, he just did it to make a point, and that it's ok because all teenagers do selfish stuff. No kidding, the principal, even though we're supposed to see him as some kind of delusional mean guy, is the only intelligent character in this dumb book; he looks Sarah dead in the face and is like, "people usually grow out of being so selfish, but whatever, you seem like a piece of shit." LMAO, fuck her up, dude!

Sarah feels enlightened and goes to Kristen's house. Kristen had spent tons of time complaining about her husband, who is a piece of crap, very stereotypical man; however, when Sarah brings up this past conversation in relation to her talk with the principal, Kristen acts like Sarah is accusing her of something. Listen, Kristen, I know you're a few slices short of a whole pie, but follow along. Kristen ends up getting a new showerhead and is suddenly in a better mood, proving that she's an absolutely repulsive, stupid character and Sarah isn't much better. Ugh. This dumb book.

So Sarah leaves, feeling pretty low. She calls Bert to ask him to go to the reunion with her (do people... take dates to reunions? That's like not the point? It's not a prom) and he says no, because Jack made it clear he likes Sarah. This is a fact that is SO OBVIOUS through the book I almost wanted to set it on fire. God, Jack is a pushover and while he is pretty obnoxious, he deserves better than Sarah, a woman who literally never thinks of ANYONE but herself.

So Sarah goes to the reunion with Jack and proceeds to get schwasted within, like, 5 minutes? Then Mark, Roxanne's high school boyfriend who was sexually assaulted by a teacher and his girlfriend's mom, comes up and asks about Roxanne. Sarah, who is awful, acts belligerent and causes a scene; then Jack punches a man who was sexually assaulted as a teenager and they act like he's a hero. COOL.

Kristen and Roxanne then bust into prom, dressed to the nines. They all go outside and make the real Camino Beach and get even more schwasted in the back of it, chatting. Roxanne talks about her life and is more honest about it. It turns out, Roxanne did name her daughter after Sarah (WHY) and apparently had watched Sarah a few times while she was at college because she literally lived in the same town. This is proof that Sarah is totally self-absorbed; Roxanne had been in that sandwich place once while Sarah was there and SARAH DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. This girl you think you've ruined because of some dumb cheating statement and you literally don't recognize her. Sarah, you are awful.

They then proceed to treat Mark, a sexual assault victim, like shit and then go to a bar again. Jack confesses that, actually, he really likes Sarah. And Sarah is like cool. They kiss. It's totally inexplicable why Jack (I just realized maybe his name is John? I honestly do not remember) likes her because, again, Sarah is an absolute garbage can of a human being.

The book ends. It is absolutely obnoxious to read and absolute waste of time. If you want to read a book about the most self-absorbed awful people in the entire universe, go ahead. Read it. I have no idea why it was written. A bunch of boring, mean white women going on an adventure to find the friend they treated like crap 20 years ago. Nothing redeemable. Nothing to learn. Awful people not getting their comeuppance. Sigh.

CAMINO BEACH by Amanada Callendrier was a read that puts you back into your own senior year of high school, if you are my age at least. The 90s references were very applicable and made me a little nostalgic. I appreciated the way it was told from two points in time by the same author. I know some reviews were harsh about it taking place 20 years apart but it made me think of how different I was at 18 compared to 38 myself, much more so than 28. I think if you try to see the narrator through that lens, many of the plot points and the tone of the narrator make complete sense. I loved the friendship between Sarah and Kristen and evolution of Jack in the novel, as well as all the humorous situations they found themselves in. All in all, I really enjoyed it!

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a quick and easy read about high school friendships and how some carry over into adulthood.

Very nice debut novel. Callendrier has a nice touch with her characters who as adults are dealing with the consequences of their teenage actions. This moves back and forth in time to tell you the story of Sarah, Kristin, and Roxy. Adding Jack and the Camino to the mix is delightful. None of the teenage stuff is that shocking- this is ultimately about friendship. Good story telling and fine writing made this a quick read. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Very funny and humorous. I think the gap in between was a bit long but I still loved the book anyways

A Southern chick lit book, involving a road trip in an El Camino, a long lost friend, and a high school reunion? Sign me up! It reminds me of some of my favorites like Joshilyn Jackson and Beth Harbison. But unfortunately, the book didn't live up to its premise and hold my attention throughout. It started strong enough but fizzled along the way. The "big secret" wasn't so big, the road trip wasn't either that fun or that revealing, and the romance was more than a little clunky. Even the book's namesake -- an El Camino filled with sand -- was underwhelming. I think the writer has potential, and I would give her another chance, but this book didn't knock my socks off.

I was given an advance copy by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A coming of age story that is revisited for a school reunion. Sarah feels utmost guilt for Roxanne's disappearance, it has plagued her for over 20 years. What follows is her attempt to recapture her teenage happiness, aided by her BF Kristen and former geek now school principal, Jack.

Whilst it's amusing in places, there's an undercurrent of unresolved issues -- which aren't fully addressed by the end of the book. An enjoyable read but some of the characters would have benefitted from more description. Squeaks a very generous 4* as it held my interest but probably a 3.5* overall.

Camino Beach is about Sarah and her long-time friend Kristen who are fast approaching their 20th high school reunion and their journey to find a long-lost high school friend, Roxanne. It's peppered with high school flashbacks that describe their high school experiences and drama with Roxanne. I enjoyed the friendship between Sarah and Kristen and how real their relationship feels, although I feel like a 10-year reunion would have been more believable. Honestly, considering how many people I have lost contact with through the years, I have a hard time believing that two adults 20 years out of high school, one of whom has a family and another who runs a small business, would make such a trip. What bothered me was their immature behavior during the actual reunion. I lost a some love for them in the end due to that, actually. I did like their fiesty friend Roxanne and their side-kick classmate Jack though. This was a fun read overall, and great for summer.