Euhh I'm not really sure what to think of this book. At first glance it seems like a Christian novel but as it progressed it seemed more and more.. not? It wasn't exactly anti-religious, but the author seemed to be hinting that religion just wasn't the answer for Lucy. All throughout the summer Lucy's moaning about how her faith isn't strong enough but each time she gets to finally "live" or experience something she had never before she gets all excited and goes on for four paragraphs about how she's truly happy now. Mhmmm, but wait five pages and she's crying about how God isn't instantly healing her mom again. 
 Another thing is how much crying there was in this book?? It says something when I cannot, in fact, count on one hand (maybe not even on two) how many times Lucy breaks down into a blubbering mess. Yes, your mom's dying of cancer, BUT YOU AREN'T EVEN SUPPORTING HER. Lucy is made out to be the "good girl" but even before going to Hippie Camp (more on that later) she can barely do anything right. She makes her parents cry and worry and acts like an ignorant brat. 
 SHE'S KIND OF REALLY ANNOYING I CAN'T 
 But I did like her "hippie" friends! Keely is A+++ yes please you go girl. Everyone needs a friend like that; I enjoyed their gradual friendship and the depth of Keely's character (or at least compared to Luce over here). 
 That said, I don't like the love interest. So Jones may be suuuuupeerrrrrr suuuupppperrrrr good looking and charming and awesome and swaggy and always does the right thing etc etc etc and that's great BUT WHAT DOES HE SEE IN LUCE HUH?? There's nothing he would SHOULD be admiring about Lucy BECAUSE SHE'S SO FREAKING ANNOYING. 
 The setting is interesting, basically a hippie camp a couple miles from where Luce lives so we can keep the love triangle with her ex-bf going (boo). The girls Lucy is counseling made the story cuter and not as slow as I thought it was going to be (although what kind of person in the right mind would let Lucy take care of these many little children??) 
 Sigh. I was really excited for this because I really did like Lord's Open Road Summer.. maybe I should just stick to light fluffy contemporaries then. :)