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Sidekick Super Review: The Summer She Went Missing (2024) by Chelsea Ichaso
The Basics
Page Length: 384
Audiobook Length: ~10 hours
Grade Reading Level: 8+
Target Audience Age: 14+
Goodreads Score: 3.72 out of 5
Buy it HERE
Setting: Fictional contemporary vacation town, Clearwater Ridge
Genre: Young Adult Mystery/Thriller
Topics: Vacation, Romance, Mystery, Family Secrets, Friendship, Missing Person, Teen Sleuths, Privilege, Deception, Grief
Plot: Every summer, Paige Redmond and her family vacation in Clearwater Ridge, where they spend two months with their extremely wealthy family friends, the Covingtons. Clearwater Ridge is the perfect summer escape—luxury vacation homes, beautiful waterfront views, and plenty of affluent vacationers.
For Paige, summer has always meant lazy days with her best friend, Audrey, and secretly crushing on Audrey's older brother, Dylan. So when Dylan finally starts paying attention to her, it should be the perfect summer. Instead, Audrey begins acting strangely. She's distant, secretive, and unusually angry, leaving Paige confused about what has changed. Then, just before summer ends, Audrey disappears without a trace.
Both families are devastated. Despite an extensive search, the investigation eventually goes cold, leaving everyone wondering what really happened. Paige's budding summer romance with Dylan falls apart, and Clearwater Ridge is never the same.
A year later, the Redmonds return to Clearwater Ridge for the summer. Without Audrey, everything feels different—awkward, quiet, and heavy with grief. While looking through Audrey's old bedroom, Paige discovers a hidden burner phone, launching her into an investigation of her own. If the police can't solve the case, maybe she can.
As Paige and Dylan begin following Audrey's trail of clues, they uncover shocking secrets about Audrey's final year—and realize Clearwater Ridge has been hiding far more than a single missing girl.
Themes: How wealth and privilege affect justice, healing and truth, earned trust vs. betrayal, deceiving appearances, courage to uncover secrets
You might like this book if you like:
True Crime/Cold case podcasts
Horseback riding
River rafting/tubing/floating
Books like: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (also a show), One of Us is Lying (also a show), The Cousins, You'll be the Death of Me, Five Survive, Truly Devious, We Were Liars (also a show)
Shows like: Cruel Summer, Pretty Little Liars, The Wilds, Tell Me Lies, The Society, Yellowjackets, Mare of Easttown
Movies like: Missing, Beautiful Creatures (also a book), All the Bright Places (also a book), Fear Street Part One: 1994, Paper Towns (also a book), Enola Holmes
Other books written by this author: Dead Girls Can't Tell Secrets, They're Watching You, We Were Warned, So I Lied, Little Creeping Things, Beware the Abbot Boys
Teaching The Summer She Went Missing in Class
Content
Language: Mature language throughout
Sex/Romance: There is romance between most of the main characters in the book. Passionate kissing, but nothing graphic is described. This book does contain a relationship with a teenager and an adult in their early 20s. This relationship is a toxic and dark one--including some physical violence.
Violence/Scariness: Most of the book revolves around a missing person's case involving a teenage girl. There is also gun violence, assault, and murder.
Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: Teens drink and smoke at parties. A girl is drugged and kidnapped.
Class Novel-ability: Not a whole-class novel, but an easy recommendation for your mystery readers. The missing persons storyline is a bit too mature for many classrooms, and the content won't appeal to every student. But if you have kids who devour thrillers and mysteries, put this one in their hands. I've read a lot of YA mysteries, and this one genuinely surprised me. The twists kept me guessing, the pacing never slowed down, and I had a hard time putting it down. A fantastic pick for students who love suspense and page-turning mysteries.
The Star Qualities
The pacing of this book was exactly my speed. There wasn't a single chapter that felt like filler—each one revealed a new clue or uncovered another piece of the mystery. As the story builds toward the climax, the pace picks up even more until everything comes together in a satisfying conclusion. It's the kind of page-turner that can hook reluctant readers and keep them reading until the very end.
One of my favorite things about this novel is how it blends two incredibly popular genres: the dreamy summer romance and the missing persons mystery. It feels like The Summer I Turned Pretty or We Were Liars, but with a compelling cold case at the center. That combination gives it broad appeal, especially for teen readers. If your students love summer romances, suspense, or twisty mysteries, they'll likely fly through this one. It feels very on trend with what many young adult readers are picking up right now.
Chelsea Ichaso has written several other young adult mysteries, and after reading this one, I've already added a few to my own TBR. Her books consistently receive strong reviews, making her an excellent author to recommend. If a student enjoys The Summer She Went Missing, you'll have plenty of similar titles to point them toward—which is always a win as a teacher.
Book Talk Read Aloud Section
If you have the physical book, read pages 1-2 (through the first paragraph "Three, my favorite people in the entire world.")
If you don't, read the same pages in the reading sample here.
"Reading Like a Writer" Mentor Texts
This passage has SO many cool things going on. There is repetition, sensory detail, sentence fragments, and dramatic capitalization. The author contrasts people and objects, while also personifying the trees to make them feel almost like characters. She withholds information and keeps things vague, creating mystery and making us want to know what the “Bad Stuff” actually is. All of these craft moves work together to create a passage that feels mysterious, emotional, and tense. It’s a great example of how several simple techniques can work together to make a scene much more effective.
I like this passage for two main reasons. First, it’s the very first passage of the book, and it immediately opens with the jarring image of a wolf holding something bloody. This contrasts with the rest of the passage and grabs the reader’s attention. It also foreshadows the plot and connects directly to the final passage of the book (listed below). I also love the “three things” structure in the final paragraph. It’s a simple technique students could easily borrow to organize their thoughts while adding a little flavor and style to their writing.
This is the very last passage of the book, and it circles perfectly back to the very first sentence of the novel. I love all the metaphors and symbolism, especially the wolf representing those who use power to silence others. I also love all the imagery of sound—voices, howls, and a chorus. The last sentence is short, powerful, and dramatic, especially because of the paragraph break. Lots here for students to pick apart and try to replicate.
Sentences for Combining and Imitation
Sentence sets for combining:
"I find a seat on a rock and, for a stretch of time, do nothing but sup my coffee and watch the way the sunlight glimmers over the surface of the water." (p. 199)
I find a seat on a rock.
For a stretch of a time, I do nothing.
I do nothing but sip on my coffee.
I do nothing but watch.
I watch the way the sunlight glimmers over the surface of the water.
"Tired, she found a rock in the shade beneath the heart shaped leaves of the aspens." (p. 79)
She was tired.
She found a rock.
The rock was in the shade.
The rock was beneath the leaves of the aspens.
The leaves were heart shaped.
"August arrives, and with the sweltering heat come the knowledge that our time in Clearwater Ridge is finite." (p. 48)
August arrives.
It comes with sweltering heat.
It comes with knowledge.
We know that our time in Clearwater Ridge is finite.
Sentences for Imitation:
This author uses italics often to create emphasis, drama, and voice in her writing. She also uses a lot of figurative language. Below are a few examples.
"“We both know I don’t have any game.” Must change the subject before I spontaneously combust. (The Summer She Went Missing, p. 9)
"Audrey could be–is–still alive out there somewhere, and this room is full of her private things." (p. 70)
"It was like being trapped underwater, my oxygen-deprived lungs begging for air." (p. 100)
"And yet. . . she wasn’t certain she wanted him to know about this." (p. 176)
Used this book in your classroom? Tell us how in the comments!
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