Reviewed by Angela S. for TeensReadToo.com

Laney Parker is a city girl in every way. She's looking forward to the summer so she can spend it at chic boutiques and parties with her friends. Little does she know, her new-age mother has a totally different plan for Laney - she's sending her to summer camp!

Being sent to camp Timber Trail is bad enough, but being there with a group of totally uncool girls who think they run the camp (and automatically take a disliking to Laney!), along with getting stuck doing group activities with the kids who are half her age, is horrible. Laney hates camp and can't see how her summer is going to be any fun.

Eventually, Laney becomes friends with one of the girls in her cabin, and then finds out that someone from back home also goes to the camp. Back in the city, Ryan is the most uncool guy around, but at camp he is the hottest and most popular guy there. Laney has never been happier to see him.

At the end of the summer, Laney is left wondering: Can camp cool equal real world cool? And will Ryan and Laney be able to be friends back home? You'll have to read SLEPT AWAY to find out!

With lots of pop culture references, fun in the sun, and a slight bit of romance, this is a great read for a hot summer day! ( )

Boy did this book want to be hip, witty and entertaining — unfortunately, while it was humorous at times, it still fell somewhat short of that mark. Minus a few laugh out loud moments and funny one liners there wasn’t a whole lot to hang a hat on. Granted I’m older than what I presume is the target audience but I imagine even young teens would be interested in a bit more substance than was provided.

Speaking specifically it took so long to get to the really good parts of the story (the building relationship between Laney and Sylvie as well as the romance between each of them and their respective suitors) that by the time I turned the corner I didn’t really care. More than that there was so little time to really explore theses plot lines because we’d spent so much of the story focussing on the same scene (misery at the hands of the trifecta of doom, kavetching about being at camp, fearing instructional swim) that if I heard the words pee-pee one more time I thought I would put the book down for good.

This is what is most unfortunate about Slept Away, that there was such great potential for the story. There were some genuinely interesting and good parts that were simply not explored to their fullest. The romance between Laney and her chosen crush was rushed into a few chapters at the end, the exploration of how she went from truly shallow to a woman who chose friends of character over materialism and social status, and the true revelation that even though she wasn’t built for camp she became a better person for having gone and endured. All of that was forsaken for relentless complaining and sarcasm.

On a more positive note, I do think it had moments where the humor shone through, Kraut undoubtedly has a flair for comedy. Also the book was certainly a quick read, I had no problem moving through it. Sadly, it just didn’t end up being a book that one hundred percent suited me as a reader. I’ll be curious to hear the thoughts of those who read it who are closer to the target age of this book’s audience. Did you like the focus of the story or did you want more from it? ( )