Book no 2 of The Clanless, Summer Break Blues takes up after the events of Senior Year Bites. Meg and friends graduate, and make plans....however, there are some complications.

Ann's parents have disappeared, so the friends plan a road trip to help find the parents. Only Ann is behaving rather strangely. And Meg keeps having to deal with this crazy fae - they're not happy with her since the events of her senior year (spoilers for first book, so no details). With Summer Break Blues - great title for a brilliant sequel, by the way - J.A. Campbell has done it again. Taken a group of friends and not only put them in danger, with a mystery to solve, as well as parents to hopefully save from danger, but now relationships are shifting, and Meg is feeling strange about a certain someone who is supposed to be in love with a certain friend, and oh boy, things are becoming awkward and might become even more so, but Meg is trying to be good, trying not feed on her friends, or attack them physically OR verbally while she fights off attacks and still tries to help her friend find her parents - even though her friend is acting more odd than normal. Talk about peer pressure. A few of her friends expect superhero behaviour out of her, while Ann seems to expect something else.

J.A.Campbell knows how to make her teen characters sound like teens. She can write moments that are awkward and romancey at the same time - just like when you first realized as a teen that you're attracted to someone and they just might be attracted to you, and yet....you shouldn't act on it for one reason or another....yet the romance in no way overshadows the action or fantasy elements of the book. The book is all about the mission - find Ann's parents; and the aftermath of the mission. The changes in the friends' relationships, the new friends (from Senior Year Bites) and even newer friends - as well as Meg's discoveries about herself, her powers and her dangers.

Because while the friends and crew are on their mission, Meg is still learning about herself and her powers - and has questions...like why hasn't she ever come across her 'maker'? Things would be nice if there was a guide of some sort, so she didn't have to fumble along with her friends (well meaning as they are) possibly putting them in danger from herself and yet needing them.

There's a lot packed into this book - relationships, danger, knowledge, changes, sadness and happiness and everything in between.

Good read, I encourage reading this - especially if you want something fresh - a bit different than the average urban fantasy where the main character doesn't seem to have any female friends and yet has all these guys after her. Refreshing with good action scenes, suspense, twists and some great plotting. You'll like it whether you're a teen or a twenty-something, thirty-something - even past 50, because there are some sweet moments that are nostalgic of teen years threaded throughout the tale. Not the vampire stuff (not for me anyway, never had to deal with that, *wink*) but those moments of young crushes or love just starting out. :) Can't wait to read the third novel. It's going to be good. ( )