Burnout Summer

Ramirez’s satisfying debut matches up a pair of opposites to delightful effect. It opens on Camille “Cam” Luna having a really bad day: first, she loses her job as a social media content writer, then she gets arrested for disturbing the peace after lighting a cigarette in a smoke free-zone, accidentally starting a fire, and berating a police officer. Fortunately, her college friend Danny Brennan is there to bail her out. Among their five-person college friend group, Danny was always the laid-back one. While the other four—Cam, Morgan, Cory, and Drew—were obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder as soon as possible, Danny’s path was never clear and he didn’t stress about it. Now, he runs Beau’s, a beachside bar in Rhode Island that he inherited from his uncle, and he convinces Cam to come spend the summer with him to regroup. Cam settles into an idyllic, beachy summer, during which she waits tables at Beau’s, rekindles her love for creative writing, and fights an unexpected attraction to Danny. But when an opportunity arises to prove herself in the corporate rat race, Cam must confront her priorities. Ramirez does a sensitive job illustrating Cam’s struggle to define her future, and creates such an appealing hero in supportive Danny that readers will swoon. It’s impossible not to root for these charming leads on their well-paced journey from friends to lovers. (May)