Wasted Summer (Tales of the Pines)

The summer was supposed to be a reset.

After a reckless mistake gets Jamie expelled, arrested, and derails his future in the Florida Keys, he’s shipped off to Wisconsin to live with relatives he barely knows. With summer school looming—and an English teacher forcing him to journal every thought—Jamie has no choice but to confront himself in a way he never has before. Surrounded by endless forest and a touristy river town that feels worlds away from home, he expects boredom, punishment, and a long, wasted summer.

Instead, he finds late nights, new friends, and a freedom that almost feels like a second chance. But as he settles into life in Wisconsin Falls, Jamie begins uncovering pieces of his father’s past—the man who abandoned him—and starts to see connections between his family and a history no one seems willing to explain. Relationships grow messy, tensions rise, and what begins as a carefree escape slowly twists into something darker.

When the girl next door asks for his help with a ghost problem, Jamie is pulled into a mystery that feels bigger than a single house—and far more personal than he’s ready for. What starts as a favor quickly becomes something much more serious than he expected. The deeper he digs, the more the town, the past, and the people around him stop making sense.

And by the time Jamie realizes what’s really going on… The summer won’t just be wasted—it will change him forever.