"Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, is a delight: a California beach girl's hilariously painful adolescence in the High 1970s." - John Barth "You may think you've heard this story before, but no one tells it as wittily, winningly, wisely and well as Jessica Anya Blau." - Madison Smartt Bell "Recovered Judy Blume addicts, brace yourselves for a relapse: Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, set in Santa Barbara, California, during the summer of '76, is a poignant, gleeful ode to the turbulence of growing up . [A] dead-on portrayal of the simple yet shocking revelations of youth." - Time Out New York "High and low comedy, nude swimming, and familial frenzy float through [The Summer of Naked Swim Parties] like pot smoke." - Boston Globe "A fantastic beach read about painful adolescence in the 1970s." - Oklahoma City Oklahoman "It's hard to recall a debut as warm, charming and comically satisfying . Blau conveys Jamie's world with compelling insight and wit .

[Blau's] sharp observation and affectionate humor [give] surprising depth to this shimmering novel." - San Francisco Chronicle "Sadly, not a photo essay, but rather a witty account of the agonies and ecstasies of a girl coming of age in late-seventies California." - New York magazine "Reading this heartfelt and humorous coming-of-age story is the perfect way to spend a hot summer day." - Cosmopolitan "Jessica Anya Blau is a warm and funny storyteller. THE SUMMER OF NAKED SWIM PARTIES conjures the thrills and anxieties of a 1970s California adolescence in a world awash in sex." - Gabriel Brownstein, author of The Man from Beyond "Move over, summer of love. Here comes the summer of naked swim parties . [Blau] knows adolescence inside out .

[S]he skewers what needs skewering and celebrates the rest with humor, style, and an appropriate degree of affection." - Booklist "Ms. Blau is a writer of wit, intelligence, deep feeling, humor and imagination, and she gets into the head of a young person like almost nobody since J.D. Salinger. All aboard!" - Stephen Dixon "Jessica Anya Blau creates a charming protagonist, her charismatic Santa Barbara family and a summer of love, lust and confusion. You won't want summer - and this wonderful book - to end." - Ellen Sussman, author of Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex; Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave; and On a Night Like This "This book will make you laugh and cry in public.

Jessica Anya Blau has written a soaring teenage lament, perfectly pitched, containing the single saddest and funniest line of seduction ever uttered." - Larry Doyle, author of I Love You, Beth Cooper "Funny and charming, moving and sweet--Jessica Anya Blau beautifully captures the awkwardness and the wonder of coming of age. The Summer of Naked Swim Parties is a remarkable debut novel." - Michael Kimball, author of Dear Everybody "Once you dive in to this sweet, sparkling coming of age story, dripping with heart and heartbreak, you won't want to come up--even for air." - Hillary Carlip, author of Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan "Among the many truths in this intelligent, funny novel about family, sex, and coming of age in the 1970s is this: no one can embarrass us more than our parents." - Geoffrey Becker, author of author of Dangerous Men and Bluestown "Having grown up in 1970s Southern California, I can personally attest to this novel's utterly uncanny evocation of the era. It's also really really fucking funny." - Jonathan Selwood, author of The Pinball Theory of Apocalypse.