The Last Summer (Of You and Me) by Anne Brashares (2007, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Alice’s family has a summer home in Fire Island, New York, where she, her tomboy older sister Riley and Riley’s best friend Paul whose house is next door, renew their friendship every year. For as long as Alice can remember, she has been in love with Paul, but reticent, insecure, and grateful for his friendship, she has kept silent, never dreaming that Paul might harbor exactly the same feelings for her. When this sensitive coming-of-age novel opens, Alice is 21 to Paul’s 24, and school and career choices have kept the three apart for several years. Paul and Alice’s love, however, has not diminished. In a tremendous act of will, they overcome their trepidations and confront their mutual longing. But past and present tragedies scar these young people, and this, along with conflicting loyalties, threatens to smother their newly-realized romance.

Although this book is being advertised as the author's first novel for adults, YAs are apt to enjoy it more. Brashares’s characters are fully drawn from the inside out, complete with identity concerns and personal vulnerabilities to which young adults can easily relate but with which older readers might become impatient. Reader Cassandra Campbell differentiates characters subtly, which is all that’s necessary in a largely interior novel. Her gentle and introspective tone suits the book particularly well.