Night Swimming

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Author(s)
Age Range
14+
Release Date
April 29, 2025
ISBN
978-0525555643
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From the author of Spontaneous comes a '90s mixtape of a young adult novel that delivers a summer romance with an unearthly twist. Perfect for fans of The Gravity of Us.

“Starmer’s eerie love story is spooky, sad, and sweetly funny—a highly original ’90s retro mixtape of a book that will have you wishing you could go night swimming with Sarah and Trevor, until chills go down your spine and you realize what a very, very bad idea that would be.”—E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud

One final swim of the summer. Let’s make it last all night…

Summer, 1994. Trevor can barely wrap his mind around the fact that he and his friends have graduated high school. And yet there’s no rush to get to college. He’s determined to live one night at a time. Riding shotgun from party to party, windows down, music up, his focus is entirely on his crush, the enigmatic girl in the driver’s seat. Will things ever go anywhere with Sarah?

Maybe? Because Sarah has proposed a mission: They’re going to swim all the pools in town. Before long, they’re sneaking into backyards every night, splashing, floating, and loving every minute of it. But it’s still not enough for Trevor. He yearns for Sarah, despite her college boyfriend, despite her “not yet”s, despite the way she keeps pulling away the moment it starts to feel truly magical.

Things finally change when they learn about a natural pool hidden deep in the woods. It seems like just another spot to check off their summer bucket list. But once they get there, they realize that this place has a curious hold on them, and something very strange is happening…

Editor review

1 review
Engaging and Haunting
(Updated: June 04, 2026)
Overall rating
 
4.0
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
4.0
Writing Style
 
4.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
N/A
“Night Swimming” by Aaron Starmer is spooky in a mysterious way. When Trevor and Sarah decide to spend their final summer before college begins going pool hopping in their town, they can’t possibly foresee what it will turn into for them and their friends. As they sneak into pool after pool, they find it exciting, yet Trevor is often on edge, worried they might get caught. When this happens one day, the owner of the house tells them about a natural pool hidden in the woods that they can’t help but be curious about, so they make a plan to visit it.

Trevor sees spending the summer with Sarah as an opportunity to get to be with her more, to make her want to be with him instead of her current boyfriend. When he finds a way to make his time with her last, he doesn’t know if the way it comes about is really what he wants. He and his friends are all trying to realize something or escape something or they yearn for something more that isn’t coming to fruition. As they spend this final summer before college together pool hopping, they find their chance to potentially grow into who they want to be and to get what they want out of life. They just have to discover it for themselves. The problem is that this hidden pool is weirdly intoxicating, and leaving it behind might be harder than they expected.

Aaron Starmer has written an engaging, haunting story that encompasses themes of searching for oneself, finding one’s truth, friendship, and growing up. It will grab readers and pull them in as they seek to find out just how the characters will come out on the other end.
Good Points
Aaron Starmer has written an engaging, haunting story that encompasses themes of searching for oneself, finding one’s truth, friendship, and growing up. It will grab readers and pull them in as they seek to find out just how the characters will come out on the other end.
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