Fieldnotes:
Camden Harbor Living History Museum, Maine, Contemporary

1 History Nerd with a Solid Love of Fashion
1 Historical Re-Enactment Internship
1 Fashionist(o)? Best Friend with Excellent Sewing Skills

Welcome to Girls of Long Ago Camp!

Dress Code
Beautiful Period Gowns
No Make-up, other than Ashes/Soot and Beet Juice
Overly Large Polo Shirt & Short-Enough-to-be-Hidden Khaki Shorts

Roommates
1 Gratingly Superior Historical Interpretation Intern determined to impose her Worldview on everything from Proper Bedtime to Leisure Attire
1 Pleasant Librarian and Research Intern
1 Documentary Filmmaker very fond of Lighthouses, Kayaking and Radishes

Potential Suitors
1 Very Handsome Squaddie - Often Shirtless and Tan and Muscly from working on the museum's schooners
1 SciFi Geek Journalist - Fascinated with Sci Fi / Geek Culture and Eager to write Serious Journalism about the local ghost story legend
Bickering and Forced Proximity
1 Very Awkward Boat Ride
1 Excellent Non-Sea Shanty
Altogether Too Much Vomit ( )

VOYA Rating: 4Q 4P (for girls)

Recommended

Libby is a cute, blond, bubbly girl from Minnesota who is doing an internship in Camden Harbor, MA. Libby is really into historical reenactment, loves to read and is good with children. She teaches the students in her summer camp how to sew, bake and live like pioneer women. A cute sailor is interested in her and she somehow ends living on a ship with a cute, nerdy reporter. Libby’s day consists of history, special events and chasing down the ghost that is living on her ship.
I had pretty low expectations for this book, but it was surprisingly good! It had a lot more substance, historical facts and a positive message. It’s a fun, quick beach read for girls. I think it’s only out in paperback. There is a romance with not much that is objectionable, there is some drinking by the town “bad boys”. I would put this book up on a spring break or summer reading book display. It’s targeted towards girls and good readers will probably get through this book in a day or two. It’s a perfect book for a student looking for a romance novel.
I liked the message that history is cool. That you can be popular and pretty and still be into history. Libby made being a historical reenactor cool. She had lots of attention from boys, she was the target of a mean girl; who thought that Libby was too blonde to like history and she got the cute nerd in the end. There was also the message that you had to get past appearances in order to really know someone. Libby’s best friend was gay and they had initially bonded over their love of fashion. Dev plays an important role at the end of the story. The message of tolerance is not in your face, but it’s in there….which is good. I think this book is a great addition to a school library. According to the authors website, a follow-up book was just released called “Confederates don’t wear couture” where Libby and Dev head to Alabama to sell costumes to Confederate reenactors. ( )

Initially, I thought this sounded awesome. I mean, the heroine loves Jane Austen and history. That's totally exactly like me, right? How can this not be great? Easily, apparently. All you have to do is make the heroine completely vapid and ridiculous. It reminds me a lot of Past Perfect, which was really popular with other people, but that I thought was disappointing. God forbid a heroine actually be able to handle only using her cell phone at night. THE HORRORS!

What's so incredibly frustrating about this is that Libby (I've never met a good Libby) is obviously very smart. She knows a TON of stuff about history. She legit is a nerd. However, she's a complete dumbass otherwise. She got this job at a living history museum, and is like super stoked, until she gets there and realizes she's not allowed to wear her 8 billion sexy outfits with matching shoes and that she can't take her cell phone with her when she's in costume. What the hell did she expect?

My problem is not with the fact that she loves fashion despite being a history nerd. People have varying interests, which is what makes them interesting. No, my issue is that, unless she's telling someone a historical fact, she sounds like she doesn't have a brain in her head. Oh, and because she makes fun of a guy wearing a Star Wars t-shirt. You, lil' miss, are the worst. Probably more importantly, she completely trivializes any woman's interest in history, and makes it into being boy crazy:

"Now, here is the dirty little secret of almost every girl who loves history: somewhere along the line, she fell for a fictional historical hottie. Maybe it was Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in that dripping wet shirt. Or Clark Gable imagining Vivien Leigh without her shimmy. Or a rascally Hugh Grant charming a girl Senseless. Even Leonardo DiCaprio clinging to the Titanic as he slowly turned blue. Believe you me. If a girl loves history, this probably happened. Many of us dream of a time of true love, courtly manners, and real gentlemen."

Can we talk for a second about just how freaking much this PISSES ME OFF? I was a history major in college, so I don't really appreciate that Libby/Strohm just reduced 'almost every' female who likes history into a delusion, boy-crazy girl. I make no secret of my affection of my love for Darcy (and even more, Mr. Tilney, which is the one thing I really share with Libby), but this has NOTHING to do with my interest in history. In fact, my favorite time periods to study are World War II, the Vietnam War, and shogunate Japan. None of these are associated with a particular studly literary hero, thank you very much.

Part of the awkwardness of the novel, especially that of Libby's character never really coalescing into a realist person, is likely a byproduct of Strohm's half-hearted attempt to make this into an Austen spinoff. Although I had seen nothing about that in the description, it was pretty apparent by the end that this is a modernized Northanger Abbey forced onto the plot about the girl working at the living history museum. To do so, she had to make what should have been an intelligent, history-loving character into a boy-obsessed, stupid ninny. Catherine is not the cleverest and she's incredibly naive.

This leads me to a discussion of the romance in the book, which is incredibly formulaic. Through most of this book, I had the vague sense that I'd read it before, largely because it reads like so many other forgettable YA novels. Who the heroine's going to end up with is evident right from the opening, as is who the heroine is going to spend much of the book crushing on, despite his obviously being a prat. If you don't want to know, you might want to skip the rest of the review just in case.

There are two romantic interests in the book: sexypants Cam and sarcastic, nerdy Garrett. Undoubtedly, you can guess which one's going to win and which one was my favorite character. Of course, she initially is turned off by Garrett and obsessed with Cam (a bit of P&P up in the Northanger Abbey story). Sexypants is so obviously a manwhore, but she LEGIT thinks he's a good guy for almost all of her summer at this place, even though he shoved his tongue down her throat UNASKED WHILE SHE WAS WORKING on the SECOND day they'd ever spoken. Yes, honey, go on thinking that that is the behavior of a gentleman. A girl who reads so much Austen supposedly would have seen the warning signs. Just because he brought you flowers does not make him a gentleman. But he's just so hot that he must be nice. Shut up, Libby. Shut up.

Then there's Garrett, who loves Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Stargate-SG1. He's funny, sarcastic and kind. Surprise, surprise, she thinks he's a jerk and that Cam is a nice guy, even though Cam and his friends stare at her breasts all book and throw up all the time from all of the cheap beer they drink. Honestly, I wish she and Garrett hadn't got together, because she sure as hell does not deserve somewhat that awesome. Why is it that nerdy, sarcastic guys are so easy to find in fiction? If the heroines don't want them, they should send them my way, rather than mistreating them for 95% of the book and then taking them as a backup. UGH.

Wow. I really didn't like this. I will say, though, that it was a quick read, and, though it obviously irritated me no end, it wasn't hard to read. I imagine others might enjoy it, so I'm giving it a 2: Not for me. Plus, it deserves a little bonus for the sassy best friend, who I really would have liked to have seen more of, since he reminded me of Betty's nephew on Ugly Betty.
( )

a fluffy and fun ya.
Libby a history buff gets the chance of a lifetime summer internship at a historical re-enactment museum. its a classic teen romance, but has some fun elements and a few interesting historical facts throughout. ( )

The title captured my eye and this wound up being a great story about a girl who interns one summer at a Colonial living history style village. Libby Kelting loves history and jumps at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor--the Museum of Maine and the Sea. She will intern for several weeks as an interpreter/educator, and will lead a group of young girls through all kinds of Colonial tasks. There's boys, Colonial fashions and a resident ghost to keep Libby busy all summer. Very entertaining, with many historical tidbits thrown in for us too. I think I may have already known that Thomas Jefferson was a "super sassy red head"! ( )