Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink is a young adult novel for older teens about one girl’s summer job as a camp counselor at a living history museum. Though it shares a very similar setting to Leila Sales’s Past Perfect, this book takes the concept in an entirely different but equally enjoyable direction.
Seventeen-year-old Libby Kelting loves history, so she is really excited for her summer job teaching colonial cooking to elementary school-aged girls. She’s a little upset that she can’t use her cell phone and is thus separated from her best friend, Dev, who is doing an internship with an apparently evil fashion magazine, and she’s not crazy about her roommate, who insists upon conducting all conversations as her colonial alter ago, Susannah Fennyweather. Libby is soon distracted from these annoyances, however, by not one, but two romantic prospects. Cam is a devastatingly handsome twenty-one-year-old “squaddie” - that is, member of the schooner demonstration squad - and Garrett is a geeky journalist stationed on board a supposedly haunted ship, with whom Libby ends up sharing sleeping quarters. It’s clear from the outset whose affections Libby would prefer to attract, but things aren’t always what they seem, and the romantic conclusion of the story is as fun as the setting and Libby’s wonderful sense of humor.
This is a true feel-good romance, and will make wonderful beach reading this summer. Libby’s voice is very contemporary and real, and her relationships with each of the boys are by turns emotional, embarrassing, exasperating, and exciting. Parts of the story are predictable, but no more than any other romance novel, and the setting and minor characters really make the world of this story stand out as compared with others of this genre, including Past Perfect. The book does include more mature content than I was expecting - especially after reading another Graphia title, My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star which suits a younger audience - but the sexual references and language definitely make it a novel most appropriate for the high school level.
Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink is Stephanie Kate Strohm’s first novel, but I really hope it’s not her last. Her fresh and unique approach to contemporary YA is a great addition to the field, and I will be excited to see what she comes up with next. Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink will be published on May 8, 2012.
I received a digital ARC of Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink from Graphia via NetGalley.
For more about this book, visit Goodreads and 0 Comments on Review: Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm (ARC) as of 1/1/1900