YA book. Girl is with host or foster family for part of year, she's uncomfortable but warms up. Happy swinging on rope from tree, goes on pizza date & gets his letterman? jacket. Cover: girl on rope swing? Read early 2000s/late 1990s.

[Claire]

Sorry this isn’t much to go on , it just popped into my head. I think it’s from the early 2000s or late 90s, but could be taking place/from earlier (70s even) I don’t remember cell phone use in the book (maybe land lines) The story (that I remember) is pretty uneventful. The main character is a girl staying with some sort of foster family/ host family over the school year or summer. She is awkward sounds the new family (too nice maybe?). She goes on a date with a guy and he gives her his letterman jacket or just any jacket. They went to a pizza place, she has her first kiss. The most significant thing I remember is at the end she feels free while swinging on a rope that is on a tree. She swings over the road and just remembers and takes in the summer/year she had. She finally feels more comfortable with her host family and she appreciates her time in the new town before having to go home perhaps. I don’t remember any major conflicts or major plot points.

[Kris]

Claire, would you call this a YA coming of age or romance novel?

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[Daisy]

The Luckiest Girl?

[Rainbowheart]

I think Daisy has got it.

When Katie had gone Shelley sat on her bed turning over in her mind what she had just told her. Someday Katie would understand. Then, filled with restlessness, she crossed to the window and looked out into the night. She felt as if she had to do something to relieve her pent-up feelings. She slipped out of her room and down the stairs, avoiding the creakiest steps, and out of the house. She crossed the driveway, seized the rope that hung from the top of the eucalyptus tree, and climbed to the top of the child’s slide. She stood poised a moment before she grasped the ring and pushed off, swinging out through the night, past the trunks of the eucalyptus trees, out over the road with her hair blowing back from her face and her skirts flying behind her. The night air was soft on her skin and the stars seemed close enough to touch. Shelley was happy, happier than she had ever been in her life.