Sleepaway Girls »

Over the past eight years, as a Senior Editor at Teen People and a journalist for Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, and Marie Claire, Jen Calonita has interviewed everyone from Lindsay Lohan to Ashton Kutcher.

Jen's third novel, Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Family Affair, pubs in May 2008 and she is currently working on a new hardcover novel about teen girls at summer camp, Sleepaway Girls, coming in May 2009, as well as a fifth Secrets novel, coming May 2010.

When Sam's best friend gets her first boyfriend, she's not ready to spend the summer listening to the two of them call each other "pookie." Sick of being a third wheel, Sam applies to be a counselor-in-training at Whispering Pines camp in the New York Catskills. But what she doesn't realize is that it's not going to be all Kumbaya sing-alongs and gooey s'mores. If Ashley, the alpha queen of Whispering Pines, doesn't ruin Sam's summer, then her raging crush on the surfer-blond and flirtatious Hunter just might. At least she has playful Cole, who's always teasing her, but is oh-so-comfortable to hang out with, and the singular gang of girls that become fast friends with Sam-they call themselves the Sleepaway Girls.

Publishers Weekly

This novel set at a summer camp offers much of what one might expect: crushes on older counselors, cabin-mate rivalries, late-night sneak-outs and lots of bonding between campers. Counselor-in-training Sam is at a disadvantage when she first arrives at Whispering Pines in the Catskills. Unlike the other CITs, she is unfamiliar with her surroundings, having never attended a camp. Despite her rookie status, she proves to be a natural leader, but her pride in doing her job well is undermined by catty remarks from fellow CIT Ashley. Fortunately, Sam is able to form friendships with other girls, who soothe her sagging spirit and help her sort out her feelings for two boys, Hunter ("Mr. Ab-solutely perfect") and easy-to-be-with Cole. While Calonita (the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series) is well versed in camp routines and dynamics, some of the escapades-like a gigantic food fight Sam has with her rival-come off as a little cheesy, and some minor characters-especially Ashley and Hunter-appear manufactured. Nonetheless, Sam emerges as a likable, realistically flawed heroine, who proves that good girls can come out on top. Ages 12-up. (May)

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