From the author of Some Girls Do comes a YA sapphic romance about two girls from different sides of the tracks. Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan is on shelves May 27, 2025!

Cass has a rule about dating summer girls—just say no. Every year, her idyllic beach town is flooded with summer girls, the obnoxious daughters of the rich, who stay in their families’ summer homes, sail their yachts, and generally make things unbearable for townies like Cass.

Birdie is the ultimate summer girl. She’s the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer dad and a social media influencer mom, and this summer Birdie happens to be in big trouble for accidentally crashing her boyfriend’s very expensive car.

Birdie’s punishment is to spend the summer with her father at the beach—but it won’t be a vacation. He’s enlisted the help of Cass, whose dad works for him, to keep Birdie on the straight and narrow, including getting her a job as a parking lot attendant at the public beach where Cass lifeguards.

At first the girls despise each other. But as the summer heats up, Birdie surprises Cass in more ways than one, and both girls can’t help but wonder: Are some rules are made to be broken?

Scroll down to see the cover and read a sneak peek. And remember to preorder your copy here!

Cover illustrator: Jeff Östberg; cover designer: Kelley Brady

“Why are you so scared of me?” I ask, pressing my knee against Cass’s, warmth blossoming between us as we both stare down at the point where we meet.

“Because you were supposed to be a job. You were supposed to be horrible, and stuck-up, and all the things that I’ve built up in my head about you. You’re supposed to be a summer girl. I needed you to be a summer girl.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a rule about them, and it would be so much easier if I followed it. It would be so much easier, Birdie. Why can’t you just be easier? Why do you have to turn everything on its head all the time? Why is everything about you such a surprise to me? Why can’t you just be horrible?”

I would laugh at her compliments being thrown like insults if she didn’t look so torn up right now. “I don’t want to be horrible to you.”

“I wish you would.”

“Why?!” I groan, getting frustrated.

“Because then I wouldn’t keep thinking about kissing you!” she yells, like it pains her to say it.

“You—”

“All the time, Birdie. All the time. You’re all I’ve been thinking about lately! And I keep saying to myself, ‘She’s a true summer girl. You have a rule about summer girls. Don’t let her get in your head.’ We’ve seen them destroy so many of our friends. We’ve seen them act like it was love and then go back to their regular mansions in god knows where, only to come back the next year and treat my friends like they’re the help. Like we’re so far beneath you guys, and I . . . I can’t do that. I can’t! Because I know, I know that if I kiss you, I’m not going to want to stop.”

“Cass—”

“Even if we did somehow make it work all the way till we’re both in Boston, I’m going to be so busy with school and you’re going to be back to your big life where we don’t fit together anymore, and it’ll . . . it’ll really hurt when we fall apart, Birdie. It’s better if we just hate—”

I rush forward, cutting her words off with a press of my lips, because she just said she wants to kiss me forever, and right now that sounds very perfect. None of that other stuff matters, none of it, not really, not when Cassandra Adler wants to kiss me and never stop.

Cass freezes at first, and I worry that I’ve done something wrong, but then she’s there matching my energy. I part my lips and swallow her whimpers as her hand finds the bit of skin between my shirt and shorts. Her thumb is hot and rough from working, and it drags across my tender skin, sending shivers down my back.

She chases my tongue with her own, and I smile into her eagerness, because this? This! This is incredible! We could have been together this whole time if we weren’t so caught up in our heads!

I pull back for air, smiling, and she looks at me with a heated gaze.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” she says, her voice low.

“Yes, I should have.” I laugh when she slides me closer, tucking me against her. I burrow into her neck even though I’m the taller one of us, soaking in the scent of her skin.

“What are we doing?” she asks, and I can practically hear the gears turning in her head as her panic kicks back up.

“We’re watching the waves,” I say, “and keeping warm.”

“That’s one way to put it, I guess.” She sighs.

“Stop overthinking.” I tap her forehead gently, shifting up to kiss the very same spot. “I like you, Cass, and judging by how you kissed me, you like me too. That’s what matters. Forget your rules, and forget your preconceived notions of summer girls, and forget trying to figure out where I fit on that scale and what you think that means for the future. Just be here. With me. See me, see the real me.”

“I do see you, Birdie,” she says, so quietly I nearly miss it over the sound of crashing waves. “I promise I do.”