“If HBO’s Girls went to summer camp, this would be their story. A fast-paced, enjoyable read!” — Kristin Harmel, international bestselling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting For twenty long years, Gigi Goldstein has been pining away for her best friend’s guy. She knows it’s wrong and it has to stop, but she hasn’t been able to let go ever since they all met on the bus to summer camp back when … the bus to summer camp back when they were seven years old. The same week that her best friends finally announce their wedding date, Gigi loses her high-profile design job. With all of her dreams unravelling, she runs to the last place she remembers being happy.
Taking the Head Counselor position at Camp Chinooka, Gigi hopes to reclaim the joy she felt as a camper, but the job isn’t all campfire songs and toasting marshmallows. Gigi’s girls are determined to make her look bad in front of the boys’ Head Counselor—the sexy but infuriating Perry—and every scrap of the campground is laced with memories.
When Gigi finally realizes she can’t escape the present by returning to her past, she’s forced to reexamine her life and find the true meaning of love. But will she be able to mend fences and forgive herself before she loses her one real shot at happiness?
If you love Sophie Kinsella and Emily Giffin, you’ll love this heartwarming debut from a fresh voice in contemporary chick-lit that offers a lighthearted and fun take on friendship, love, and how to recover from past mistakes.
The Campfire Series
1. One S’more Summer
2. S’more to Lose
3. Love You S’more
4.Tell Me S’more – Coming 2020!
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If HBO’s Girls went to summer camp, this would be their story. A fast-paced, enjoyable read!
Everything one could hope for in a rom-com novel: laugh-out-loud dilemmas of the heroine, touching memories of past heart-break(s) and future Aaaaaw – Moments plus witty banter with the heart throb and boyfriend to be. A delightful read
This was a easy, fun read. Sweet story for relaxing.
Loved this book! What a fun summer read.
This book brought a unique setting to those who did experience Camp. I enjoyed reading this!
Loved this book. Wonderfully written. Read in one evening.
I liked it so much that I read the series!
It was a decent idea, and an okay book. DO NOT READ THE INTRO TO THE NEXT ONE IN THE SERIES! The series should have ended with this book. I had a hard time connecting with the main character.
I really enjoyed the story, There were times there was more than needed or wanted in going back in time … just seemed to make it drag a bit. I enjoyed camp life. Turns out it kind of dwindles off because the story continues in a sequel.
“One S’more Summer” by Beth Merlin was a cute, sweet, and enjoyable summer read. Gigi, the main character, was well-developed and likeable, and I could certainly sympathize with her desire to escape a difficult situation in New York by taking a job at her childhood summer camp while she figured out what to do next with her life. While at Camp Chinooka, her interactions with the campers and her fellow counselors were a lot of fun, particularly the ones with Perry, her eventual love interest. Gigi and Perry’s relationship had a great enemies-to-lovers vibe that was very entertaining, and I really liked them as a couple. They seemed to bring out the best in each other as they each helped the other work through their past relationship baggage.
The one (minor) thing that bothered me about this book was that I could not figure out what Gigi ever saw in Joshua, or in Alicia for that matter. Alicia seemed very self-absorbed and more interested in her career than in any romantic relationship or friendship. As for Joshua, he just seemed like a jerk who used Gigi when it was convenient for him, but never really took her feelings into account. It seems to me like Gigi might be better off without both of them in her life.
At any rate, I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
*Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Love GiGi and can really relate to trying to find yourself. Looking forward to reading book two “S’more to Lose”.
This is just and easy, fun read. Great for a weekend or a beach vacation.
I enjoyed it but did find the main character a bit dim witted at times. Good holiday reading.
The overwhelmingly familiar story lines are based off of the modern royals and the Hamilton musical and Project Runway- even stealing the famous line ‘figure it out’. If you can get past the unoriginal references, then you will love the story of love that develops even when the main character is trying to sabotage her life.
Loved this book so much I bought the others in the series.
All of the characters are so cute in this story. It will make you grab and read the rest of the series!!!
Started this and couldn’t get into it. Perhaps because I hadn’t read the ones that came before, but nothing about it caught my attention.
The author did a great job of creating the world of summer camp. The characters were layered and sympathetic. I look forward to the next in the series.
This was an extremely sweet story, perfect for a summer read! I’ll admit, I am a HUGE fan of S’mores, and I love all things that are s’mores flavored. In fact, I am still quite miffed with Dairy Queen for discontinuing their s’more flavored Blizzard treats, especially after that extremely catchy commercial the summer they brought them out. Anyway, even though I’ve never been to a summer camp myself, I enjoy stories about them because I like the look into what they might have been like for me.
At first I was unsure if I would enjoy this book, because it seemed as if the main character, Gigi, might have cheated with her best friend’s boyfriend. But really, that’s not exactly what happened. Gigi and Joshua, and her best friend Alicia, they had all been best friends since their summers at Camp Chinooka. While Gigi had always had a crush on Joshua, it just turned out that Joshua and Alicia were the ones that got together. That was a part that I could somewhat identify with, knowing friends who have ended up with guys that I might have thought were perfect for me, although none in ever such a situation, or that I’d ever gotten together with in any way. And really, I don’t feel like Joshua was very fair to Gigi, and he didn’t really give her a chance to move on. And so her decision to get away for the summer to work at the summer camp was totally justified.
And then there was Perry. The hot British camp counselor. It went from a hate type of relationship, the two of them seeing only the irritating bits of each other at first, and the passion from that turning into more, a friendship and definitely more with their attraction to each other. All of their misunderstandings/fights were very realistic to me. They didn’t seem to be anything blown way out of proportion or too much like other stories where it’s like they need something to have the conflict. And I feel like because of this, the way the end of the story went, with the final conflicts having to do with friendship issues, and no silly last minute, “I’m still not sure about this relationship” issues, well, I loved that the story ended that way.
I’m excited to see this is a series, as I’m looking forward to seeing where Perry and Gigi’s story might go next. Although the little blurb about what is happening, and that it is 4 years in the future are scaring me a bit for what is going to happen. Now, to wait till December for that one? How do I get to be a beta reader for this author so I can read it earlier? 🙂
Like I said, a fun summer read, with romance, but no real sex scenes, for those who prefer a more clean, yet realistic, romantic read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this entire series!