Learning to Swim

by Cheryl Klam

Seventeen-year-old Steffie Rogers is not happy. Her mother, Barbie, has been suffering from love lunacy since before Steffie was even
born. What is love lunacy? It's what happens to her mom when she has affairs with married men. The first stage is the Secret Smile and the last stage occurs when the relationship falls Barbie picks another town in Maryland and they move, which they've done 14 times.

Now Steffie lives on Jones Island and is working as a maid at a country club over the summer (long story). She's in love with handsome lifeguard Keith McKnight, but he already has a girlfriend. When Keith offers to teach Steffie how to swim, she finds herself in his arms and fighting the symptoms of love lunacy. But with the help of her feisty, older friend Alice, she's determined not to drown in her mother's problems.

Still, Steffie is about to discover that swimming against the current isn't so easy.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance

216 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2007

About the author

Cheryl Guttridge grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, and received a degree in political science from the University of Michigan. A romantic at heart, she never pursued a career in politics. Instead, she immediately tossed her diploma in a drawer and went in search of love and adventure.

She found work as a professional actress and model and traveled the country, appearing in an eclectic mix of B-list TV shows, commercials, movies and auto shows. Eventually, she landed a job at National Geographic Television in Washington, D.C., writing video box copy and titling films. It was there that sje finally realized what she wanted to do when she grew up: write.

After short, unprofitable stints as a poet, a playwright and a screenwriter, a teacher told her to write what she knew. She immediately began writing a romance. In 1996, she sold that first novel as part of a three-book deal as Margaret Allison and never looked back. Now, she writes as Cheryl Klam.

Cheryl lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband and two daughters. She firmly believes that love conquers all and never tires of hearing stories that support her theory.

Reviews

[Rachel Gioia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, nothing to write home about, but it was cute. Pleasant storyline. Sweet characters. Very vanilla, but a quick read.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book clearly meant to be read on the beach. It's about Stephanie and her mom, Barbie. Stephanie and Barbie move every year when Barbie breaks up with her married boyfriends. Stephanie falls in love with a guy who works at the same hotel as her, except the guy she falls for already has a girlfriend. She's afraid she's going to turn out making all the same mistakes as her mom.

Things I liked about this book:
1. Stephanie's sense of humor
2. The fact that Stephanie's best friend was a 65-year-old woman
3. The accurate descriptions of teenage emotions
4. The exploration of the "dysfunctional" mother-daughter relationship, and the repercussions of that relationship.

Things I didn't like about this book:
1. The mom character seemed plagiarized from "Mrs. Flax" in Mermaids.
2. Lots of cliches, like the hot lifeguard love interest and the rich boy whose daddy keeps him from following his dreams.
3. The love interest was a little creepy, and not in a good way -- like, not like the author intended to make him creepy. He just was and the author (and Stephanie) seemed to think he was normal. It's scary when an author can't even tell her own character is totally creepy.
4. Everything turned out way too neatly at the end.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Amanda Dissinger for TeensReadToo.com

Steffie Rogers' life is a mess. Her lovestruck mother moves her every time a relationship goes bad, and she has a less-than-amazing summer job as a maid at a Country Club.

There is one bright spot though: a hot lifeguard named Keith McKnight, who Steffie is obsessed with. However, Keith's got a snooty, fake girlfriend who he's practically in love with, and he doesn't even know that Steffie exists. Things cannot get any worse for her.

However, it all changes one day when a near fatal accident brings Keith and Steffie together. She suddenly finds herself spending more and more time with him, and developing the love-loony symptoms of her crazy mother. Will love lunacy get the best of her? Or can she conquer the madness before it takes over?

LEARNING TO SWIM is a very cute book with outrageous characters and funny dialogue. Readers will definitely identify with Steffie's parental problems, and her unrequited love. LEARNING TO SWIM is a great beach book; exciting, and very entertaining to read. It will be a hit among readers who are looking for a little adventure in their lives this summer, and want to read a sweet, different story with a little spunk... and swimming.

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Learning to Swim” by Cheryl Klam was amazing, she also wrote “The Pretty One” which was my favorite book of all time. This book was about a girl Stefanie and how she just moved to a new neighborhood. She meets a new best friend Alice and the lifeguard at the country club she works at named Keith. Keith saves Stefanie from drowning when she got pushed into the pool. He offers her swimming lessons and since she in love with him she takes them. With dealing with many conflicts with her mom who dates married men, and always gets her heart crushed, Steff has to deal with a lot. I really liked this book because it was a typical kind of book except there were parts that were totally unexpected that I liked. I didn’t think that anything was bad in this book. I felt like I was actually in the scene with the characters, it all felt so real to me. that’s what I love most about Cheryl’s writing. I recommend this to girls who like those typical teenage drama books with a little bit of a twist.

[Leanna Ashe · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Learning to swim" by Cheryl KLam about a seventeen year old girl name Steffie who has to go through her mother Barbie always suffering from heartbreak and consistently having relationships with married men. Barbie moves them to jones island, Steffie has a crush on a guy who has a girlfriend but that doesn't 100% make her uncomfortable. But she gets really excited when the boys of her dreams says her is going to teach her to swim and where she constantly gets his attention through the lessons. This book shows about somewhat having a child as a parent and Steffie having to comfort her mom with her relationship issues and is tired of it. Steffie has a friend Alice that tries to squash the mommy love issues as a friend.

[Selina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really easy and fun to read,its about Stephanie and her mom, Barbie. Whenever she has a break up they would move to a different city. Stephanie falls in love with this guy who works at the same hotel, unfortunately he already has a girlfriend who is super rich. She's afraid that she will turn exactly like her mother who ends up getting heart broken.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid 3 stars, and I know I'm kind of miserly with my ratings, but I think that I really did more "like" this book than "really like" the book. I'm glad I read it, it was entertaining, the characters are likeable, yet there was something that held me apart from them at the same time.

A good beach-book, summer time fluffy reading, for sure.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Cheryl Klam, I wish she had written more, her characters are so witty and very easy to identify with!
I loved Steffie, really could relate to her. We had a lot in common sans cute boy actually paying me any attention! But it was a super sweet story and a quick read.

[Regina taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A page turner mystery.