Bummer Camp

A Novel

By: Ann Garvin

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

Two sisters scramble to save their family’s legacy in a funny, huge-hearted novel about grandiose plans and summers to remember by the author of I Thought You Said This Would Work.

Cat McCarthy has spent years extricating herself from the family business—an increasingly run-down theater camp—and all the drama contained within it. At thirty-seven, she’s putting the final touches on a new life as she renovates her dream cottage and awaits her first child. Does it worry her that the McCarthy legacy is in the hands of her disastrously irresponsible sister, Ginger? Sure. But the camp’s not Cat’s problem anymore.

Then a series of frantic text messages pulls Cat back to center stage. Ginger has handed the reins to a crackpot motivational speaker, Bob Durand, and his scheming wife, Elaine. The couple’s plan to rebrand the camp as a “rehab” for anxious adults has nearly bankrupted the McCarthys. And now the Durands have skipped town days before investors arrive for a fundraising gala that could determine the camp’s future.

As Cat and Ginger wrangle a cast of lovable misfits and underdogs to save the camp, the sisters rediscover the importance of family, belonging, and holding fast to sweet summer memories.

©2024 by Ann Garvin. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Ann Garvin’s Bummer Camp is for anyone who’s ever spent any time in a cabin or making lanyards or being bitten by mosquitoes while walking in a piney woods. It’s the funny, insightful story of two sisters who must band together to save their family’s legacy, a summer camp in danger of being dismantled by the bad guys. Garvin’s trademark humor and insight shine through every page, in all the quirky characters. Don’t miss it. You’ll laugh out loud.”—Maddie Dawson, Washington Post bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners

“After finishing Bummer Camp, I see why Ann Garvin is so beloved. Ann is a fabulous storyteller, a master writer, and just plain very funny.”—Bob Eckstein, New York Times bestselling author of Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums

“Bummer Camp is a perfectly balanced cocktail of family annoyance, sharky business foes, and just enough pot brownies to keep the whole thing afloat.”—Michelle Wildgen, author of Wine People

End of summer beach read!

This was a great end of summer read! I loved the family dynamic and fast yet thorough character development. Shirtless may need his own book!

Without spoiling the ending, the author managed to touch on so many real life issues and how we all handle them in our own way, in our own time.

Fast and fun read with just a hint of reality thrown in to keep you grounded. I will be adding more Ann Garvin to my TBR list!

Swallow…gross

I enjoyed the story, but the person reading would audibly swallow all throughout the book. It was gross and made me want to vomit…

Got way better in the second half

Bummer Camp by Ann Garvin
Narrated by Andi Arndt
Standalone Women's Fiction with Romance

Books like Bummer Camp by Ann Garvin remind me why I have such a hard time DNFing. I considered it many times during the first half, but something about the characters in Bummer Camp started to get under my skin. By around the 40-50% mark, I realized I was actually starting to enjoy it.

"If you're a square peg, find the people who celebrate quadrilaterals."

As a sleepaway camp girl, I was looking for more camp-related stories after loving Until Next Summer by Ali Brady. That’s how I picked up Bummer Camp. I tend to need a likable FMC to enjoy a book, and Cat McCarthy did not start out that way. She’s uptight, rigid, and burdened with responsibility, even though she’s 7 months pregnant from a one-night stand and hasn’t told the father.

Cat and her sister Ginger grew up at their parents’ theater camp, but Ginger, the ditsy sister, is now running it while Cat stayed away from that life. When Ginger calls with news that the camp is in big trouble and Cat, still on the mortgage, feels compelled to help, she heads up there to fix the mess. But it’s hard not to get sucked back into camp life.

“It was as if she were on one side of a soap bubble, and if she wasn’t careful, it would pop and she’d be inside it all again.”

Just as I was about to give up on Bummer Camp, the quirky cast of characters started to grow on me. The distant third-person narrative felt very removed at the beginning, but by 50%, I was starting to settle in and enjoy the book. I’m glad I stuck with it.

Likes:
•The quirky cast of characters grew on me.
•New romance with a pregnant woman.
•I love anything set at camp.
•It was unique and more memorable than many books I’ve read.

Dislikes:
•Very distant third-person narrative.
•Took a long time to get into.
•The FMC took a while to warm up to.

The Narration:
Andi Arndt was great, but the style of the writing didn’t give her much opportunity to showcase her skills.

The Down & Dirty:
Bummer Camp took a while to hook me, but I really enjoyed the second half. I’m glad I didn’t quit at the 30-40% mark like I was tempted to. The quirky characters won me over by 50%. Would I recommend Bummer Camp? Not really. But if you get to 40% and find yourself on the fence, I say keep going—you might end up enjoying it like I did, and the 4 hours you already spent won't be a waste.

Rating: 2.5 Stars, 1.5 heat, 4 Narration

Summer’s Camp

A woman deals with her past while trying to be to save a future for her child. The first 18 chapters could have been condensed. It was a bit repetitive. Good ending though.

It earned a 5th star in the denouement

An interesting book about relationships of all kinds. Perfect reading for "theater kids" who are all grown up now. The storytelling art was well executed and I especially loved that the gender reveal of the baby was withheld until it naturally fit into a special niche in the plot. The pacing of the plot was brilliant and I felt well satisfied in the end.

Reviews said how funny it was. About the last hour.

I needed something funny. So I used a credit. 3/4 of the way through I was still waiting for it to less depressing. About the last hour parts were funny. I'm still trying to decide if it was worth a credit. I guess it was but it would have helped if it wasn't so sad at first. When i'm in a better mood I'll have to listen to it again.

This Book Took my Emotions on a Journey!!!

This book had me hooked.

In the first half of the book, Ginger stressed me out completely and I wanted to shake just about everyone else.

But I started having fun and laughing out loud in the 2nd half.

If you find yourself frustrated at the start of the book, give it some time. You may be surprised.

The story was engaging. The characters were fun (when I didn’t wanna give them a stern talking to). While I wished there was more ethnic diversity among the characters, I really appreciated the attention to neurodiversity and how thoughtful the author was about discussing disabilities.

My only real warning is about the narration. I’m a fan of Andi Arndt. Her actual narration is great. But this recording has quite a bit of mouth sounds and some background noise. It was almost like it wasn’t edited well. Prepare yourself for that.

Fun but a little negative

I really liked the story and all of the characters. I did get a bit frustrated sometimes with the level of negativity of the main character, but it wrapped up pretty nice.