Lisa Greenwald

Remy, Micayla, Bennett and the C Twins are back on Seagate Island for another summer of beach traditions, new and old. A new tradition: keeping Remy’s dog-sitting business going. Remy loves seeing her dog friends (and her real friends, too), but the doldrums start to sink in when it turns into the rainiest summer on record, with evacuation constantly threatening to ruin the world’s most perfect vacation spot. Tempers are short and dogs are bored. What can one 12-year-old do to create summer magic when the summer doesn’t seem to be showing up?

Lucy Desberg is in eighth grade, and she’s determined to make this year perfect. Over the course of the year, though, her talents for makeup and problem-solving will be put to the test.On the outside, things couldn’t be better: her family’s spa is doing well, and she has a boyfriend, Yamir. But Yamir’s in high school now, and Lucy’s too embarrassed to admit that he hasn’t called her in weeks. To take her mind off him, she throws herself into planning the eighth-grade masquerade, using her makeup skills to rally her classmates. But as she soon learns, ignoring a problem does not make it go away. It’s destined to pop up at the worst possible time.Lucy’s resourcefulness will be put to the test as she grows up and starts making decisions about the type of person—and girlfriend and friend and daughter and sister—that she wants to be.

Lucy Desberg has a penchant for doing good, whether it's helping her mum push the earth beauty cosmetics line at their family's failing drugstore or helping her best friend work up the self-confidence to talk to her crush. But Lucy never thought her hobby could be turned into a business venture, until the day the local homecoming queen shows up at the drugstore with a beauty disaster that Lucy helps to fix. When word gets out, Lucy has a line of makeover customers for every school dance and Bar Mitzvah in Connecticut. But the pharmacy is still in serious financial trouble. Lucy discovers a solution that would resuscitate the family business and help the environment too. But will Lucy's family stop fighting amongst themselves long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?