GETTING OVER MAX COOPER

A story of first love, flawed friendship, and small-town summers.

Spending the summer in Fair Harbor on Fire Island has been a long-standing tradition for 16-year-old Jasmine Jacobson and her New York City schoolteacher mom. When Jazz isn’t working on Galentines, her summer photography project, and posting to her Jazzmatazz Instagram and Tumblr accounts, she spends her days scooping ice cream at Crabby’s and riding bikes all over the island with her best friend, Macy Whelan. The freedom of the island provides ample opportunity for frees, or supervision-free parties, and Jazz, Macy, and their close-knit circle of summer friends are often found drinking, smoking weed, and hooking up. Jazz is crushing on Leo “McDimple” Burke, a fellow photographer and a new face in town, and Macy is still obsessing over Max Cooper, last summer’s “non-boyfriend boyfriend.” Macy’s fierce loyalty to those she cares about both impresses and frightens Jazz; Macy’s win-at-all-costs approach, especially when it comes to the unrequited and unwelcome pursuit of a love interest, adds some serious notes to the narrative. All of this plays out against the warm background of a summer at the beach, with sunset gatherings, family hangs, and shared histories. A sense of nostalgia and wistfulness for the innocence of childhood is woven throughout and adds a further dimension to the story. Central characters read as White; there is ethnic diversity in their friend group.

A quintessential beach read.