Relationships

Nantucket Blue, a Young Love Romance, and More Summer Reads

Young love is a delicious reminder of heart flutters still within our reach.

Posted June 26, 2013

The creative process forever fascinates. What compels a poet or writer to put words to paper often comes from within our secret place. Inside each of us is a treasure chest for our secret wishes and dreams. There our creative psyche nurtures our intuition, safeguards our fantasies, and cradles our spirituality which often come alive serendipitously through a book, a dream, movie, piece of art or a poem.

When it comes to reading it seems that summertime is when I give myself the luxury of holding a book that sparks imagination. Rather than looking at a pile on my coffee table next to my standbys – Jayme Barrett’s Feng Shui Your Life and House As a Mirror of Self by Clair Booth Marcus, I pick them up and turn the pages -- despite Kindle.

Love is in the news

Just this week as I was smiling about the fairy-tale wedding between George Lucas, Star Wars creator, and Mellody Hobson, CBS financial analyst, a neighbor brought me Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland. This first novel had some of the romantic spirit that so many women expressed to me after learning that Hobson, at 44, beamed as she walked down the aisle. This is her first marriage. Love is in the air.

What I most enjoy about reading young adult romance is the simple reminder of the heart flutters that we all experienced as teenagers -- and women in mid-life can still experience with childlike abandon.

Without waiting to don a floppy hat and sip a cool drink on the beach at my children’s Cape Cod home, I delved into the book in which a young girl falls in love with the young man who should have been "off limits." And I bristled at the reality of those thoughtless young men who are walking hormones.

Young love according to Leila Howland

I called Howland to find out the why of Nantucket Blue. She said: “When I was thinking about writing a young adult novel, I knew it would be a realistic, contemporary book, most likely with a heavy dose of romance. I thought back to the moment when I discovered that falling in love was not about achieving some sort of social security, but about an actual feeling -- the best feeling.”

She added: “It happened when I was 17 years old. Although I was not on Nantucket when I first fell in love, for me the island is a physical reflection of first love -- a sweet, idyllic isle of windswept moors and pristine beaches. Nantucket is a gorgeous, arresting place to transform and become oneself.”

Howland said: “This is a novel about first love, in all of its messiness and euphoria, but it's also about the depths and vicissitudes of female friendship, the importance of family, and the everlasting beauty of the New England landscape. It is about finding love not only in an unexpected place, but also with an unexpected person.

And she noted: "Who among us doesn't see ourselves as our rebellious, idealistic teenage self when we fall in love? Feelings are feelings, no matter what our age may be. Summer is the best time to shed one's armor and think outside of the box."

A reminder and inspiration for romance and gratitude

For me and for so many of us who take a minute to read what young adults are writing, there is a freshness of spirit. It is a reminder of first love. Sometimes we need to put aside the analysis and complaints of an ongoing relationship.

Summer love novels can be a way to look our relationship with the same breathless passion that we once felt during the summer of our first walking on air romance.

No special someone? Then think with gratitude about feelings that once brought joy and savour the memory.

For more summer reading ideas, here are four good ones.

Relationships Essential Reads

10 Ways to Spot a Love Bomber

5 Ways to Tell if You, and Your Relationship, Will Grow Over Time

One True Thing Interviews by Jennifer Haupt. PsychologyToday.com
The Summer Reading List Psychology Today.com

Have a look at Eight Bedroom Love Secrets for Sweet Dreams, Loving Sex -- selected as one of the Essential Reads in Relationships.