Pies & Prejudice by Heather Vogel Frederick

This time around the Mother-Daughter Book Club explore Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It is the perfect time for them to do this with Emma and her family living in England(right in the middle of Jane Austen country) for a year. Emma and her mom are able to participate in the book club via the internet.

Cassidy, still the perpetual tomboy has a full plate. She plays hockey for a Division I girls league, She starts a club for little girls called "Chicks with Sticks" to train them how to become ice hockey players, and then as a favor to Mrs. Bergson(who was able to get her time on the ice for Chicks with Sticks) she agrees to practice ice dancing with Tristan(whose family have house-swapped with Emma's family). Sparks fly between Tristan and Cassidy from the time they meet.

Megan loves fashion. She notices everyone's fashion faux pas and so decides that she will start a blog that she entitles Fashionista Jane going along with the theme of Jane Austen. The blog ultimately gets the girls into trouble, but it is fun and snarky!

Jess also has a lot going on in her life. She is feeling stressed about not having a career goal in mind when all of the other girls seem to know what they would like to do with their lives. She thinks that she would love to do something with music, she has the opportunity to nurse a wounded fox back to health and as always Emma's brother Darcy can always make her heart pound. Will Darcy ever notice her, or will he always see her as just one of his sister's friends?

The girls put together a business of baking pies and other treats in an effort to raise money to bring Emma home for a visit during spring break. They name their business "Pies and Prejudice" and it becomes quite successful. Of course not everything is all roses in the story. The girls have a new nemesis and new struggles throughout the year. It is fun to see how relationships develop and how supportive they are of each other. This is turning out to be one of my favorite series!

Mother-Daughter Book Camp by Heather Vogel Frederick

In the last book of the series(for real this time the author says), the girls are headed to be councilors at summer camp before heading off to their colleges of choice. Camp Lovejoy has a long tradition of helping girls overcome their fears while having fun and making memories. The girls are each assigned cabins in the younger girls' section of camp. They are faced with homesick little girls, the obligatory "mean girls" and of course helping their campers have the best summer camp experience possible. Not only are each of the book club girls faced with taking care of their little charges, but they are also dealing with their own issues of finding themselves this summer before heading off to college. In an attempt to help some of the girls overcome homesickness the book club girls start a book club for their campers. Based on the same format they have used for years, the girls pick Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher to read to their little girls and discuss the book and learn about the author. Camp is filled with 6 weeks of continuous activity that keeps everyone busy and having fun!

I cannot tell you how much I love this series! I mean LOVE! I'm seriously going to miss Emma, Megan, Cassidy, Becca, and Jess. Each girl holds a place in my heart. The Mother-Daughter book club books prove that you can have a mid-grade book that is not filled with sexual content, foul language and gritty, angst-ridden characters, yet still manages to deal with real-life struggles of boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, peer pressure, and the every day complications of growing up and making good choices. I enjoyed this last installment of the series. Each girl was true to character and each one grew during the summer. Whether it was in helping a difficult camper or dealing with an issue in their own life they handled themselves with maturity and FUN! I loved the camp setting and the rivalry between the girls' camp and the boys camp across the lake! The shenanigans that went on there were hilarious and had me laughing out loud and applauding their creativity! I could go on and on, but I would give too much of the story away. Trust me when I say that this is a series that I highly recommend when asked what a parent or friend can give to a young girl. I've given this series to a couple of young girls and I hope that they have enjoyed it as much as I have. Trust me too when I say that tears and laughter abounded in this last book and I was thoroughly satisfied when I finished.

Reviews of other books in the series:

The Mother-Daughter Book Club(read before I started blogging)
Much Ado About Anne(read before I started bloggin)
Dear Pen Pal
Pies & Prejudice
Home For The Holidays
Wish You Were Eyre