SOME LOVE LASTS

Two Florida teens’ newfound love is put to the test when the couple is separated by distance in Hunniecutt’s YA novel.

Madi Henderson and her little sister, Roe, are spending a summer at their grandparents’ beach house. The handsome boy with the swimmer’s build next door quickly catches Madi’s eye. Matthew Antonopoulos, a weekend lifeguard who’s also staying with his grandparents, is equally smitten with his 14-year-old neighbor. They officially meet at his 16th birthday party, and it’s not long before they’re sneaking glances at each other. Romance blossoms, but eventually they have to say goodbye. Back home in Orlando, Madi passes four years of high school with not as much contact as she’d like from Matthew. However, once she matriculates at Florida State University, where Matthew is already studying, their relationship picks up steam again. Will circumstances separate the young couple a second time, or will they forge ahead together and plan a future that the two can share? Hunniecutt’s feel-good story establishes a likable cast. At the beach, both sets of grandparents dote on their grandchildren, and Roe is a charming, often unfiltered 8-year-old (“Daddy makes a lot of money talking all the time to strangers, convincing them of stuff”). The narrative gradually builds the teens’ relationship, more than earning all of its romantic moments. (Matthew, for example, has adoring female fans at the public beach, but only Madi breaks through his stoic lifeguard demeanor.) The ever-changing supporting cast isn’t nearly as memorable once Madi makes friends at high school and later at college; fortunately, the story wisely focuses on the couple’s evolution and their individual maturations. Madi, in particular, is morally instructive; she loves books, develops her own “nerdy” fashion style, and makes it clear to Matthew that anything beyond kissing won’t happen until she says it’s okay. The author’s unadorned but descriptive prose makes the novel an easy read.

A buoyant tale of romance and youthful exuberance.