Clio’s life up to age seventeen has been anything but ordinary, but her goal this summer is to get a job in the art store she loves, working with the guy she likes, hopefully get her first kiss, and generally have a normal teenage experience in Philadelphia. Just as things are falling into place, her mother moves to Kansas for the summer with her new boyfriend to work on an art restoration project. Clio isn’t invited, which means that she’s heading to Italy to spend the summer with her father, who isn’t know for being a particularly responsible parent. Upon arrival, Clio is whisked from the airport onto a yacht with her father, where they promptly head out to sea. Onboard the small boat is Julia, an archeologist and the woman he is apparently dating (although he didn’t bother to mention that earlier). Also not mentioned were her dad’s friend Martin and Julia’s daughter Elsa. And then there’s Aidan. He’s a smug, cute college student working as a research assistant to Julia. Clio certainly didn’t plan to spend her summer trapped with five other people on a small boat on a secret exploratory mission in the Mediterranean!

As the adventure develops and Clio snoops around the boat to find out more about the secret mission, she learns more about the people onboard as well. Maureen Johnson gives us great characters, especially as they react to one another on the confined spaces of the yacht. I love the writing in this novel, from the observation of gorgeous Elsa – “this was what the person who invented cheese must have been like – a blond dairy goddess” to a comment about a run down Italian town – “Europe decayed so well.” And even on board the yacht – “The air conditioning made that gentle noise that kittens make when they sleep.”