Don’t just read Long Story Short…Experience it!

I read Long Story Short by Serena Kaylor because its primary setting was a summer camp. I absolutely love a good camp read, because I have so many fond memories of my summer camp trips. There’s something about going to a place where you’re surrounded by people who don’t know you from your day to day life, and it feels like you can be anyone you want to be. Beatrice in Long Story Short would definitely agree.

Here we go: All Beatrice wants to do is be able to accept her place at Oxford come fall. But her parents don’t believe she’s ready to attend university in a different country, since she’s spent her whole life taking classes online from the shelter of her bedroom. So, when Beatrice forces the issue, her parents compromise: if she attends summer acting camp, comes out of her shell, and proves she can function in a social setting, then they’ll consider letting her go. Eek, this means in order to get what she wants, Beatrice has to actually step outside of her comfort zone. Easier said than done.

If you ever visited my dorm room in college, one thing would stand out: the wall of quotes. It was a point of pride that grew every year. As a huge movie/TV buff, I’ve spent my life filing my favorite quotes away in my brain using some crazy efficient neurological system. At school, I would take my favorites, write them in various fonts, my most awesome roommate would color them, and then we’d affix them to our wall. It was amazing. At the end of each year, I’d carefully peel them from the plaster and store them safely for the next school year. I still have them all in my storage room. Even though I don’t have them hanging in my house now, I use movie quotes constantly in conversation.

At Beatrice’s Shakespearean summer acting camp, she collects quotes also, only her quotes are limited to the works of Shakespeare, and they aren’t posted on her wall. They are verbal currency used to gain footing in a love/hate relationship with her nemesis, Nik. Nik is way too confident, popular, and good looking. Beatrice wants nothing more to knock him down a peg or two, especially after he makes a comment about her not being petty enough to play Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet. A heated rivalry begins involving nearly constant bickering, which leads to a Shakespeare quote off competition with potentially embarrassing stakes. It doesn’t help that everyone at camp seems invested in the outcome, and Beatrice isn’t exactly comfortable in the spotlight. Can she survive the pressure of camp life, peers, and that thing her heart starts doing every time Nik is near? Let’s hope so, or she’ll be stuck at home for another year of solitude with no nemesis to keep things interesting.

There you have it. Do yourself a favor and read Long Story Short. Think about your favorite quotes from books, movies and television. I posted some of mine in the picture up top. It seemed only fitting that several of them come from Get Over It, a movie that about a high school production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Do your favorites make you laugh, smile, tear up? Who can you share them with without explanation? If things are feeling a little slow, challenge someone to a quote off of your own. Maybe find some stakes to make things even more interesting. Break a leg!

If you haven’t already read Long Story Short, what are you waiting for? If you already have, why not pick it up again? Either way, take my advice when you do—don’t just read it, experience it!

Want information about purchasing this book from Neighborhood Reads, a local Washington, MO book store? Click above!

What’s your favorite movie, TV, or book quote? I’d love for you to share it below!