4 out of 5 stars
If her father ever finds out... They make it sound like Stacey is sneaking Robert into her bedroom each night instead of just vacationing on the same island. I did still really like this one though. Mostly because there are lots of Claudia & Stacey outfits. Be prepared for LOTS of detail in this review! It might be the longest one I've ever written lol. So let's start from the beginning and get into it with the first outfits: what Stacey started to wear to school then what she actually did because it's a gorgeous summer day!
I got up, pulled on a pair of blue tights, black canvas walking shorts, a long-sleeved, blue T-shirt, and a pair of black flats. I piled my blonde perm up on top of my head and fastened it with a blue stretchie tie. Then I looked out my bedroom window and realized my outfit was all wrong. I ripped the stretchie from my hair and let the curls fall around my shoulders. I took off my clothes and changed into my new one-piece shorts dress with the gold, red and green Aztec-style print. I slipped into a pair of light tan woven flats and I was set to go.
"Did you change outfits at the last minute, too?" I asked with a laugh.
Mom laughed with me. "Yes, I did," she admitted. "I couldn't wear a black gabardine pants suit a day like today. It's gorgeous out."
"Summer at last," I said.
They go out to a fancy dinner, Mr McGill asks about Robert and says maybe it's a good thing they'll be separated all summer, but he's just an old guy so what does he know? Then he surprises Stacey with the news that he's going to take a 2 week vacation, for the first time in forever, and he wants Stacey to go away with him somewhere, and he's letting her choose! Like anywhere: the mountains, Disney World, Europe! Where does Stacey finally choose? Yep, you guessed it. Fire Island, where it just so happens that her boyfriend is working all summer. And does she tell her dad this? No, she just makes him think it sounds really awesome. And does she tell Claudia this when she invites her along? No, because she doesn't want Claud to feel like a 5th wheel. Spoilers: she totally does. And does she tell Robert that she hasn't told either of them this? Nope. Stacey's just gonna have a vacation full of subterfuge and sand castles lol.
Okay, time for what Claudia was wearing at the last BSC meeting for the school year. Today she was wearing a long, black, crocheted vest that fell to her knees over a pair of black shorts and a white blouse with ruffles at the collar and cuffs. Her hair was in two long braids tied with black and white ribbons at the ends. On her feet were black sandals with a thick platform sole and white ribbons which laced around her ankles. (The ribbons had originally been black, but Claudia cut them off and glued on white ribbons.) That wacky Claudia!
Kristy has a great idea to make new fliers with the caricature Claudia is drawing of all the BSC members to drum up business (I wish we got to see this!), but she is slightly peeved when she learns everyone has summer plans already. Stacey & Claudia will be on vacay at the beach, Jessi & Mallory signed up for jobs as day camp counselors at the local community center, Logan is out of town somewhere with his gang probably. Mary Anne tries to remind Kristy how slow it usually is in the summertime and she finally agrees that it should be okay and even says yes to visiting Stacey & Claudia on 4th of July weekend and *gasp* closing the BSC for 4 whole days!! Oh yeah, Shannon is there too.
Stacey, Claudia, and Mr McGill are off to the island and Stacey immediately freaks out thinking Robert is going to be on their ferry (that's his job, ferry gopher or something else a 13 year old would logically do) and she's going to be busted, but luckily, he's not. They get to the island and meet Mr McGill's friend, Mr Majors, and I honestly thought that these 2 were having a secret love affair or, at the very least, doing clandestine work, because of all the time they supposedly spend together over the next 2 weeks. But we'll get more into that later. Claudia & Stacey go off to explore the town and that's when they run into Robert and as expected, Claud is pissed. "Best friends don't lie and keep secrets." She gets over it pretty quickly though, on the surface, and the girls start to have a great vacation.
Stacey meets up with Robert whenever she can, early in the morning, at lunchtime, in the evening. Claudia makes some fierce sand castles on the beach and starts taking photos of them being destroyed by the ocean. She declares that they absolutely must do the 4th of July parade and one of her sand castles is going to be the theme of their wagon float. She FAXES a note to Kristy's stepdad Mr Brewer at his mansion fax machine a list of costume stuff she wants Kristy, Mary Anne, and Shannon to bring with them when they visit. She also starts to get a little annoyed with Stacey spending so much time with Robert, especially when he shows up at the pizza place uninvited and time for another set of outfits.
[Stacey] pulled on a pair of green leggings and a sleeveless denim top. Claudia wore a pair of wild tie-dyed leggings and an over-sized T-shirt she'd designed and silk-screened herself. She'd painted a flock of birds flying diagonally across it.
Claudia marches off after the pizza dinner and Stacey rushes after her, trying to explain that she really didn't invite him and they could totally spend the rest of the evening together, but Claudia tells her to just go back to Robert "...with those big eyes like, Please don't leave me." haha. Stacey tries to make it up her to her by promising a "best friend date" the next night at the nice restaurant, just the 2 of them. We all know that's not going to end well. Sure enough, Robert asks Stacey to go on a fancy romantical boat ride that can only happen that evening. Stacey convinces herself that she has plenty of time to do both and keep everyone happy, as long as she and Claudia go to dinner at 6:00pm with the oldies. Of course, Claudia unknowingly lollygags getting ready, can't decide what to wear. (She settles on a blue denim jumper and Stace goes with a white and blue sundress with a dropped waist and a square sailor collar.)
Stacey keeps trying to rush her and is acting all crazy and makes Claudia think she's having a diabetic fit or something. At the restaurant, Claudia gets like a 7 course meal, because she's in no rush, because she thinks she's just having a lovely dinner with her BFF. Stacey honestly did Claud so dirty in this one. She totally deserves Claudia getting so mad she won't even talk to her when it finally all blows up. She also deserves Robert wanting to spend a little time apart because he's not comfortable with all the lying she's been doing. If she's okay with lying to her best friend and her dad, what's going to stop her from lying to him? "You creep!," I cried to his back. "I only lied so I could spend time with you!" This right here tells you exactly what kind of girl Stacey is going to be in high school.
She does not deserve the beef with her dad when she discovers he's seeing some hot young chick and Mr Majors was sadly, just his cover story all along. Also, whoa huge mistake from the cover artist that I just discovered! Stacey's outfit? A gauzy flower-print skirt, a crocheted top, and big, gold hoop earrings. In her hand dangled a pair of gold sandals. That outfit? Is Samantha's, Mr McGill's GIRLFRIEND!! All these outfits in this book, that I've so generously created for you here, and the cover artist went with the one on the girlfriend for the daughter?? We've been BETRAYED. Okay, sorry, moving on. Stacey is obviously upset with her dad and he's mad at her too, they've both been lying but really, he's the adult. He needs to get over it and fix this. But he doesn't.
And this is when Kristy, Mary Anne, and Shannon show up for a sunny happy beach vacation. Except it's storming out, nearly the whole weekend. And everyone is not speaking. Not surprisingly, they decide to leave a day early and Claudia goes with them. Stacey finds out Claudia's sand castle pictures are being displayed in a local shop and people are actually buying them. She finally starts thinking about everything and talks to her dad. They both apologize and talk things thru. Stacey still isn't sure about her dad dating but she accepts it. I can't remember if he marries Samantha later or not?
Robert comes back around and decides he doesn't want to break up (big mistake), Stacey calls Claudia and apologizes for being a total jerk, Stacey goes home and tells her mom that Mr McGill is dating. Oh yeah, and Vanessa Pike and Haley Braddock had a huge argument about wearing the same swimsuit to summer camp and it was all stupid and pointless and Jessi & Mal fixed it and they were BFF's again in the end.
