Summer Skin

March 19, 2018
Australian author Eagar (Raw Blue) offers a YA novel about college life that, though it reflects the Australian university system, will resonate with college readers in the U.S. Eagar’s characters, each of whom has a strong personality, struggle realistically with fears and vulnerabilities, especially in the areas of sex, romance, and love. Jess and her fellow Unity College women friends are angry at the men at Knights College for a sex video of Jess’s friend Farren they made without permission. The women swear revenge against Knights men and cut them off entirely as potential romantic and hookup partners. But when Jess meets Mitch, a Knights College student who is grieving the loss of his best friend, the two are immediately attracted to each another and Jess struggles with powerful resentments toward what she believes Mitch represents. Eagar’s portrayal of college life is a dark, believable one. The unlikely love story that arises from the antagonistic campus climate comes across as more strained than organic, but Eager’s exploration of gendered and sexual power dynamics is timely and unflinchingly honest. Ages 17–up. Agent: Catherine Drayton, InkWell Management.

April 1, 2018

Gr 10 Up-Set at a university in Brisbane, Australia against the backdrop of booze, hookups, friendship, and rivalries, this steamy YA centers around Mitch and Jess's relationship. Jess lives in Unity Dorm and starts the school year seeking to avenge her friend, Farren, by humiliating the guys in the Knights Dorm who livestreamed Farren having sex. She meets Mitch, a Knight, and in their first encounter dyes his hair pink, starting a bizarre romance. They have multiple sexual encounters, and both carry baggage from previous relationships. During school break, they move to tentative boyfriend and girlfriend status. After returning to college, their new relationship flounders when a member of the Knights learns about them, and Mitch retreats. Jess narrates the story, and all the conflict that comes from her relationship with Mitch-guilt for betraying a friend by sleeping with the "enemy," and slowly learning what happened to Mitch the previous year that started him on a path of change. Jess, Mitch, their friends, and everyone's messy relationships are realistic and relatable to many older teens. The details of college life, from part-time jobs to playlists, parties, and cramming for exams will resonate with most readers. Jess and Mitch end on a hopeful note, but the journey there was painful for both of them. VERDICT A realistic and engaging story of defining what an adult relationship is, this book is a good purchase for most libraries serving mature young adults.-Tamara Saarinen, Pierce County Library, WA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2018
Grades 11-1 Last year, the boys from Knights College had a contest: the first to sleep with a Unity College girl won a cash prize. Jess Gordon's best friend, Farren, was that girl, and unbeknownst to her, the hookup was filmed and streamed. This year, the Unity girls are out for revenge. That's how tough-talking, rabble-�rousing Jess meets the guy that, at first, she knows only as Blondie. He's arrogant, entitled, and standoffish, and, initially, Jess is only too eager to make him pay for the sins of his peers. But there's more to Blondie than meets the eye, and there's a chance he and Jess are circling something real. This Australian import slots neatly into the new adult category. The sex is frequent, explicit, and claims center stage; the plot, by contrast, can be difficult to follow, and the points Eagar tries to make often get buried. Still, this sharp, pointed takedown of university hookup culture will hit the spot for modern riot grrrls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

October 8, 2015
Jess is in her second year at university and living at Unity College. This year there is one rule: no sleeping with the boys from Knights College. Not after what happened last year. Seduce and humiliate, yes. Trust? No way. But Jess’ plan goes a little awry when rugby-playing, ultimate Knights boy Mitch becomes all she can think about. Mitch alternates between being her favourite person to talk to and a sexist arsehole she can barely tolerate, but she can’t help wanting him. A lot. An exploration of sex, power and identity, Summer Skin is YA at its most grown up. It is brutally honest in a way that Australian YA seems to be really good at, and is one of the few YA novels that doesn’t shy away from the messy bits of romance and sex. Kirsty Eagar’s marvellous cast of characters are as flawed as they are endearing, and it is impossible to get to the end without wishing they were your friends. Steamy, sexy and gorgeously written, Summer Skin is a book that all older teens should read for its frank discussion of sex, feminism, relationships and growing up. Meg Whelan is the children’s book buyer at the Hill of Content bookshop in Melbourne