Summer Shares Rule No 1: Beware Romance

New York singles who have purchased weekends at Hamptons or Fire Island summer houses may agree to share cooking, housework, and the cost of utilities bills. One thing they shouldn't share, according to the author of a recently released memoir, is a bed.

In his book "Sharehouse Confidential: Sex, Drugs, and the Single Life Inside an Epicurean Beach House" (iUniverse, 2007), John Blesso, warns against falling for fellow shareholders. That is his "Rule Number One."

About two years ago, Mr. Blesso, a 36-year-old New York-based writer, had an ill-fated romance with a Fire Island housemate — a woman he conveniently refers to in his book as "Rule Number One" — early in the summer. "Sharehouse Confidential" is a cautionary tale of how shareholder relationships could complicate what are meant to be carefree getaways. "In a sharehouse, the high school rules apply — if one person knows, everybody knows." he said in an interview with The New York Sun. "It was a social pressure cooker, which is not the best place for a relationship to grow."

Tell-all memoirs and thinly veiled novels have been written about the inner workings of the city's fashion magazines, restaurants, art galleries, and well-staffed households. It was only a matter of time before the summer share — and its crop of young, mostly single professionals, many looking for love — became fodder for a beach read of its own.

Last summer, the phenomenon spawned its own ABC reality show, "One Ocean View."

"Sharehouse Confidential" takes place at the Fire Island community of Kismet, inside Mr. Blesso's sprawling beach home. He calls that home "The Chance House" — "kismet" is another word for fate, destiny, or chance — and when the weather is warm, he parcels out its rooms to some 40 shareholders, who spend $1,925 each for six weekends there.

Each weekend, a dozen singles and one couple reside there. "You have 14 people, most of them single, beneath one roof," Mr. Blesso said. "Throw in a Jacuzzi, plenty of booze, and a couple of bars, and you can imagine what happens."

Despite a seemingly perfect cocktail for hanky-panky, psychologist Robert Reiner, the executive director of Behavioral Associates on the Upper East Side, said Mr. Blesso's romance rule for housemates is a good one. "If you start a relationship at the beginning of the summer, odds are you're not going to be together four weeks later," he said. "You may end up hating each other; you may spend the rest of the summer watching someone else come in and out of that person's room."

That doesn't preclude finding love over the summer, Mr. Blesso said. It just means looking for it in a sharehouse down the road — or waiting a while to act on feelings.

A New York-based actress, Kirsten Brant, fell in love with a fellow "Chance House" shareholder last summer. "We waited until September, until we were back in the city, to have our first date," she said. "We're still together."