I don’t usually get my literary suggestions from Target, but I have to credit that awesome store for the book I just finished, “Summer People” by Brian Groh.

The cover caught my eye one day while walking through the store. I forget what I went in search of, but I ended up in the book section and thought the description laid out a story I would enjoy. I got the book for Christmas and am really glad the oars (Maria calls it “The Paddle Book”) caught my eye that day.

The story follows Nathan Empson as he spends the summer in a very upper-crust New England vacation community. He goes there to kind of oversee an older woman, but ends up with much more to handle.

Groh does a really good job at not getting too melodramatic in the plot. A few of Nathan’s episodes do get a little crazy, but the main character’s overall decision-making allows you to believe he could end up in such a constant state of distress.

Any guy who has ever watched a girl slip away to someone just because of his physique or social status can empathize with Nathan. Anyone who has seem their life adrift in their early 20s can walk in his shoes. But the introduction of such rich characters around him makes those familiar stories so entertaining.