Summer Love

Set in an exclusive summer colony on the shores of Lake Michigan, this insipid novel launches the none-too-promising Silver Beach series. Sixteen-year-old Elli (suddenly ``curvier,'' she is ``still tall and straight as a sapling'') and her 15-year-old brother, Ethan, are filled with anticipation as they drive with their parents to their grandparents' lakeside cottage. But the summer brings some unexpected changes: their parents' relationship seems to be fraying; their grandfather is dying; Elli becomes attracted to Sam, a college boy who is the local heartthrob; and Ethan has a steamy love affair with the fetching but fiendish Charlotte. While Charlotte appears to be in it for the sex, Ethan (at the age of 15, remember) is smitten. How smitten? ""His passion for Charlotte was like a force of nature, one of those sudden summer storms that swept against the shore with the impact of a thousand freight trains."" Overwritten and predictably plotted, this soap opera is an easy pass. Ages 12-up. (July)