Ten-year-old Lexie is feeling unsettled, and a little guilty, about going on her family’s annual beach vacation without her mom. Her parents were still together last summer, but now they are divorced. She already knows that her dad’s girlfriend, Vicky, will be joining them, but it isn’t until Vicky arrives—a day earlier than Lexie expected—that she discovers Vicky’s two sons, three-year-old Harris and fourteen-year-old Ben, are along. Lexie is angry her dad didn’t tell her, and worries she’s fated to be a guest in the summer home she’s always known. On top of that, she finds the boys annoying ... when she isn’t having fun with them. Despite Lexie’s wild swings of emotion, her feelings are explored with great subtlety and nuance in Audrey Couloumbis’s terrific middle grade novel. Lexie gradually develops a relationship with each of the two boys—surprised to discover how much she can enjoy their company—and finds unexpected support from Vicky when she finally confronts her dad about his failure to communicate or to think about her feelings. The realistic complexities and foibles of all of the characters are part of what make this story so very satisfying. (Ages 8–11)