In some ways, Nanctucket Blue is a typical summery beach read, but in other ways, it's more than that. For a while, I've wondered what it would be like to read a story from the perspective of the best friend, and that's something I think Leila Howland covered pretty well in this novel. I'm not saying Cricket doesn't have things going on in her life, obviously she does. She's still reeling from her parents divorce, attempting to find a place in her dad's new family and help her mom move on, she's got her secret romance and all that good stuff, but the real story, I think, is her relationship with Jules. What I mean by a book about the best friend is that it's Jules mother who has died, not Cricket's, yet Cricket still grieves as if Nina were her mother. She feels (or at least thinks she does) as deeply as Jules does about Nina's death and doesn't understand that she has crossed a line. I like seeing Cricket come to find herself as a person, find her own place apart from Jules. I think this is a great book; I enjoyed it a lot, but it didn't quite get up to five stars for me. I will definitely be interested to read more from Leila.