The Summer We Got Played: This Time, We Knew Better, Book 3

Summer was supposed to be simple. Fun. Predictable.

But for Lena, Kayla, Theo, Malik, and Cam, their eighth-grade summer turns out to be anything but.

In The Summer We Got Played, a contemporary middle-grade friendship novel filled with heart, humor, and honest moments, five friends step into a season full of unexpected twists—and a few mistakes they never saw coming.

Old friendships shift. New challenges arise. And when the easy answers disappear, the group must figure out who they are and where they stand in a summer that tests everything they thought they knew.

As secrets surface and feelings get complicated, summer drama threatens to pull them apart. To make it through, they’re forced to rely on the one thing that has always mattered most: each other. Because this time, they’ve learned enough to know better… even when knowing better still hurts.

Perfect for readers ages 9–13, this realistic middle-grade coming-of-age story explores friendship, growing up, summer adventures, and the messy, funny, unforgettable moments of being young—reminding readers that real friendships aren’t perfect, but they are worth fighting for.