Felicity: Summer

by Janet Tashjian

Shes the girl next door, your best friend, your college sweetheart. In its first season, the hit series Felicity made its way into the hearts of millions of TV viewers as they watched Felicity Porter, the bright-eyed 17-year-old star of the show, adjust to the harsh yet bittersweet realities of college life. Now join Felicity as she chronicles her adventures during her first summer break away from college.

186 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 1999

About the author

Janet Tashjian is a middle-grade and young adult novelist who’s been writing books for children for fifteen years. Her first novel Tru Confessions was made into a critically acclaimed Disney TV movie starring Clara Bryant and Shia LaBeouf. The Gospel According to Larry is a cult favorite and Fault Line is taught in many middle and high schools. Her novels My Life As a Book, My Life As a Stuntboy, and My Life As a Cartoonist are all illustrated by her teenage son, Jake. Their collaboration continues with Einstein the Class Hamster coming in August.

Janet lives with her family in Los Angeles, enjoying her respite from the long Boston winters. When she isn’t writing, she’s rewriting.

Janet has been doing school visits for fifteen years; you can email her at spatulaproductions@mac.com for details.

We invite you to follow her on Twitter @JanetTashjian and like her books on Facebook:
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Reviews

[Mohammed Arabey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Felicity, hey..I'm sure you don't know me,But you're pretty much a big part of Memories of my collage life ..

And it's not just me, anyone who have watched " f e l i c i t y." , this amazing teen drama show "1998-2002", would feel the same..

" f e l i c i t y." really capture the students' collage life, specially the first season "Freshman year"..from the "blurry,glowing" filming style that resemble every freshman student's sight while entering this new life...collage.

And it also showing the process of making new friends,who -in couple of months- becoming more than friends...They may become like families, that you'll remember forever..

The Show even capture the feeling of having a crush, from high school may be..or a new one, that turned into a friendship, may be even love..or Love turned to a friend..or sometimes adversary..

And that's what I really Love in " f e l i c i t y." ,and the real worldwide fans, from different countries..who lived that time , the late 90s...cause it reflex parts of EVERYONE's collage life at a point or another, it really capture emotions, feelings and situations of most of us when we were teenagers,and the coming of age "era"

May be the circumstances is not the same or there's some minor differences of ethical issues between countries, But still all the feelings, emotions very natural, very realistic and normal..Very Real no matter where are you from..as well as all the characters.. dressing normal, acting sweetly natural you can clearly see some of these characters in someone you know,may be even you..

Even the way the camera moves, or that touch of blurry to reflex our real vision in our early days in collage.

If you search " f e l i c i t y." online you'll find fans for the show from all over the world..all agree the same reason why they Love " f e l i c i t y." .."Nostalgia" ..always remind us with our life..may be not only collage life ,But the coming of age generally..

That's why I love the show,it's really so close to me..Since the moment I've first watched it..I was waiting for another Sci-Fi show when "Channel 2 of Egyptian TV" decided to start that one..

I was stunned by how it capture my attention.. with a small -seeming colossal mistake actually- decision that turned Felicity's life forever..made her experience the real growing up life..

Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can pretty much change your life forever.

The Pilot really made me LOVE the show..and I really recommend everyone to see that one..

I have to mention that the creators of the Show are "J.J. Abrams" & "Matt Reeves" who later become a real stars with their more epic TV shows and movies..like "Lost" ,"Planet of the Apes" and recently "Abrams" is working on Star Wars new movie as writer and director..

The funny thing is that although that Show was Teen Drama/Romance but it reveal some of their creative "Sci-fi" vision, you'll meet "Meghan" the Wicca freak girl who loves witchcraft.

Meghan-who is one of my very very favorite characters-'s talent played an important role at some episodes..and a complete Sci-Fi episodes by the series finale...a back in time episodes..



You may wonder why would there be a Time Travel episode?
Well, It was to answer as always the Classic Question ..Ben or Noel

But let's just leave that far point in Season Four..and focus on Season One Finale...
It was a real Cliffhanger there to wait between season one and season two wondering,Will"Felicity" chose to go to Berlin with Noel, or with Ben driving across the country??

I remember that the Egyptian TV channel leaves us waiting for whole 2 years to show season two :) !!!

It's answered of course in the beginning of the next season BUT that's also what this Novel's about...

Finally: The Novel
******************

Janet Tashjian really captured Felicity spirit and soul,Sally responds as well.. you'd really feel Felicity's Voice over your mind while your reading the novel..

It start after the season one finale "Felicity Was Here" ...and it show how the summer goes for Felicity at her home town Palo Alto, and how she felt her home isn't as used to be anymore...and her real Home is in New York..where her real life really started..

The "Life Lessons" in the novel is exactly as in " f e l i c i t y." the show...deep yet simple, realistic and really touch our real life in a way or another..
6 Chapters that pretty much more like a "2 Hours special episode" of " f e l i c i t y." and that can be a nice advantage when you're a really big fan of the show, But not recommended to who didn't watch the show before.

It's just like the missing episode between Season One and Season Two,BUT like alternate version ,if Felicity choose the opposite of whatever she choose in the show -when you know in Season Two- which is more than fine, specially when everything ends up almost like the beginning of season Two.

So it's new episode yes BUT still part of the show,not a stand alone plot, a bit incomplete.And that's really okay since the plot by the end admit that..

I've got to say ,considering nothing was really resolved for you this summer, I'm glad your spirit are so high.

I really do think that last year - your first at collage- was all about roots. I mean when you first started, you were all strangers. None of you really meant anything to each other. But now there are experiences. There is emotional baggage.

So when I say "roots", I really mean it. Where freshman year was about building a solid foundation, it seems that next year is going to be about growing skyward. About deepening and strengthening the relationships all of you have forged.

So it really helps with the overwhelming feelings of coming of age, Parents, friendships & Love..

Felicity: "You know how they say that you're rarely friends during your senior year with the people you met your freshman year?

Well, all I want to do is prove those people wrong. Mostly because I met some pretty incredible people this year. And I'd really love it if I could know them for the rest of my life.

I loved that part, and feeling it so much ,which is why I loved the show the first place..

I'm glad that I did that, I still in touch with some of my friends from freshman year "Hossam, Hala, Walaa, Moataz Pilla, Hanady, Sarah, Moataz Ali, Asmaa, Nehal, Nouha" and even my crush I can't get over that yet :)

So it was a great Novel, Thank you Janet Tashjian for that loyalty to the show even to make the "About the Author"'s Page identified that Felicity Porter & Sally are the authors.

The writing style so " f e l i c i t y." 's :) and those seriously delicious 2 recipes ,one for crispy chicken and other for a desert :) that was nice..and the most surprise for me was finding these fine paper pages with pictures from the show..A real nice surprise..





Sure this novel will make me even re-watch season two,-I start the novel right after re-watching season one-
Also to look for more Janet Tashjian's novels ..
And I really recommend the show to all who didn't catch it before.


Mohammed Arabey
From 25th March 2014
To 27th March 2014


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PS: There's really fine Arabic translation files for the first three seasons of the show made by user "Min Don Sham3" at subscene.com , she's really great in translating the show if you downloaded by torrent

[Clark Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

You like the show? You are going to like this book. It is one of these tapes Felicity used to record to Sally, but in written form. The author NAILS how Felicity talks, thinks and feels. I really enjoyed it and it reminded me how much I loved this character.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never watched the show, but I noticed it’s on Netflix, so I may give it a try. This book was mildly entertaining for me. It took a little time to get used to it basically being her recording messages on cassette to her friend Sally and an occasional reply from Sally. I could only find one book. I think that’s why I’m slightly annoyed about it. The story just ends and the only way I’ll find out what happened is to go watch the series. I do like the characters though, so it should be interesting.