Breakfast Served Anytime

Author: Sarah Combs
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Candlewick
Release Date: 8 April 2014
Summary: When Gloria sets out to spend the summer before her senior year at a camp for gifted and talented students, she doesn’t know quite what to expect. Fresh from the heartache of losing her grandmother and missing her best friend, Gloria resolves to make the best of her new circumstances. But some things are proving to be more challenging than she expected. Like the series of mysterious clues left by a certain Professor X before he even shows up to teach his class, Secrets of the Written Word. Or the very sweet, but very conservative, roommate whose coal-industry family champions mountaintop removal. Not to mention the obnoxious Mason, who dresses like the Mad Hatter and immediately gets on Gloria’s nerves — but somehow won’t escape her thoughts.
Beautifully told by debut author Sarah Combs, this honest and touching story of growing up is imbued with the serene atmosphere of Kentucky’s natural landscape.
Review:  Coming of age books sort of define what the Young Adult genre used to be (before Twilight).  At a recent book talk/conference event thingamajig, there was this term tossed around, "quiet literature"  this, at least to my limited understanding is talking about books that impact you, but you don't remember a lot of.  Like Judy Blume's Are You There God, It's Me Margaret.  It's books that are beautiful, and timely.  Breakfast Served Anytime is a book that falls into the category of quiet literature for me.  There aren't any overwhelming nuances, no magic, no vegetarian vampires, no cancer patients.   It's the story of a girl on the verge of something new, and it's lovely and heartbreaking and beautiful. 
The only downside was I felt like there wasn't enough.  It felt like one of those flash films where you get a ton of images in quick succession without having a pause button.  Although I really loved the overall tone of this book, I don't know that I'll remember most of it without a re-reading.  You'll read it in an afternoon, but I would give it to a 12-15 year old, even though the characters are 17, it's more suited to that age group, and it's very clean, and appropriate for kids in their middle school/junior high years.