Book Review: Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm

I'm not sure if the cover is final

At First Sight: Libby is going to spend her summer as an inter in Camden Harbor, a colonial, historical villa/museum - much to her best friend Dev's consternation, as he is going to his own dream internship in New York, working for a fashion magazine for teens. 

Much as Libby loves clothes and thinks herself as quite stylish, she's happy to be at Camden Harbor, Maine, where everything seems to have come straight out her most romantic fantasies about the past - including a bunch of hot guys running around dressed in 18th century garb! - even if her job is basically that of a glorified camp counselor and one of her roommates is a nightmare.

But soon she has caught the eye of Cam, the hottest guy around - whom can quote Shakespeare and brings her flowers - and she also has a troupe of adorable eight year-olds that she's teaching to bake, 18th Century style. 

But then, rookie reporter Garrett shows up, and unwittingly offers a way for Libby to leave the intern house, she finds herself living in close quarters with Garret - inside a boat - and not having too bad a time of it. Sure, Garret can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, and he love sci-fi a bit too much; but he can also very, very sweet when he wants to... and he kisses like they are in a movie!

Second Glance: I wasn't expecting much of Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink, I admit but I was so happily, pleasantly surprised with it. Libby was a great narrator - sweet and fun, a history buff who also likes romance novels and BBC dramas; she makes mistakes but owns up tot hem too. She is a little naive a very strong, girly, awesome girl.

There is a bit of a love triangle and I rarely enjoy that, but I liked how this triangle was written. Both guys - Cam and Garrett - can be both charming and annoying when they want to, and right at the beginning it's hard to pick one or the other (though I was quickly swayed as the story progressed). 

Oh and Libby's best friend Deb was AWESOME! I want a book on him. And I loved how their relationship is written. Right off the bat I knew these two were best friends, I could feel it. And I loved him when he finally showed up. 

Now, I did have a couple of hang ups with the book, as I said it could be naive at times; and I had a hard time believing that No One had a problem with Libby (who is 16 or 17) living unsupervised in close quarters with Garrett (who is 18). Even though they behaved very well, I don't think the 'grown ups' around them would have just been OK with it. Also, I wish the secondary characters had been a bit more developed, and to have Libby's campers more, they were way cute.

Bottom Line: Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink is basically made of awesome sauce. I had one small hang up with it - it can be a little naive - but otherwise this is definitely one of my favorite books I've read this year! It comes out March 12, 2012.

Favorite Quote: I have to say that this book is so quotable, there were so many scenes and one liners that I loved but were kind of spoilerish, so I went for:

"Love is the force that makes you choose and decide" -

2/3