Author: Sarah Ockler
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: June 1, 2009
Goodreads Synopsis:
"Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?"
"Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?"
According to Anna’s best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie–she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.
TWENTY BOY SUMMER explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer.
My Review:
A lot of my friends adored Twenty Boy Summer--gushing about how it was so sad and romantic. When I went to the library the cover caught my attention and the voices of my Twenty-Boy-Summer-loving friends came into my head so I had to pick it up. While this novel was sad, and romantic I was not 100% on board with all of the aspects in Twenty Boy Summer.
What I Liked: 1) The first thing that grabbed my attention when I picked up Twenty Boy Summer was the beautiful cover. I love the heart made from sea glass and the casual, yet cute font on the front. 2) Twenty Boy Summer was written well. I loved the descriptions in the novel that made me feel like I was with the characters wherever they went. In some parts of the novel, the writing was lyrical and very beautiful which was definitely a plus. 3) Sarah Ockler also did a wonderful job of showing the different stages of the post-death grief process.
What I Didn't Like: 1) Most of Twenty Boy Summer is about the two main characters, Anna and Frankie, coping with the death of Frankie's brother and Anna's (secret) crush/boyfriend/unkown. By about page 20 the brother/boyfriend/crush/unkown, Matt, dies. I didn't get enough time to become attached to Matt before he died so the effect of his death didn't make me as sad as I wished it did. 2) The title is called Twenty Boy Summer, yet the part of the plot where they try to meet 20 boys isn't a very big portion of the novel at all. 3) I didn't adore the two main characters and their friendship seemed unrealistic.
If you want an overall light and romantic book to read for the summer this is the book for you. Although I didn't love, love, love this novel, a ton of people do adore Twenty Boy Summer, so you should try it out if you want an easy summer read! Thanks for reading!!
If you want an overall light and romantic book to read for the summer this is the book for you. Although I didn't love, love, love this novel, a ton of people do adore Twenty Boy Summer, so you should try it out if you want an easy summer read! Thanks for reading!!
Well I actually really loved this novel. I think that for me, the not getting to know Matt made the book more sad b/c I really wanted to know Matt more than I did but then he died. I see where your going with not loving the 2 main characters they were both kinda annoying at parts.
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting, might have to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThis book wasn't one of my favorites. I two, wasn't loving the main characters.
ReplyDelete