Released: June 1, 2009
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 290
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Carey
Synopsis: 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.
Review:
It is safe to say that I loved this book to death. It is also safe to say that I fell in love with a fictitious dead boy. I mean, Matt was going to study Comparative Literature. He loved reading and bookstores, and also loved sea glass and the ocean. And he was pretty romantic, of what we knew. And cared about his family so, so much.
I'm in love with a dead fictional character. And I'm not afraid or ashamed to admit it.
Alright, so here we go. This was my first Ockler book. That's because when I hear of an author, I always like to start with their debut novel, and go up, and see how they grow as a writer. This was such a perfect debut novel. It had a great plot, interesting back story, perfect writing style, awesome characters, and a number of plot twists that made this perfect.
Like the synopsis says, Anna (the main character) fell in love with Matt, who is Frankie (the best friend)'s older brother. The day before he goes to break the news to Frankie that they're together, he dies. It's a year later, and nobody's still over it. And then Frankie's parents decide to go to the same beach house they had been going to all their life, and bring Anna with them. Anna still hasn't told Frankie about her and Matt. And Frankie, who's been going wild the past few months, decides to make a bet to meet and flirt with twenty boys during the three week duration at the beach.
And then they meet boys. And I was so heartbroken how every time Anna would think something, she'd be talking to Matt in her mind. She even has a journal (one that Matt bought her for her birthday, the one that he kissed her for the first time at) and she writes letters to him every once in a while. That comes very important later on in the book. You could tell how important he was to her just by the fact that she still kept their month-long relationship a secret because he wanted to be the one to tell her.
I feel like I can't really say much about this book without spoiling it because all I want to do is talk about what I loved about it. Let's just say that you'll just be so surprised in many different places. I couldn't believe what Frankie did to Anna towards the end. I mean, she was drunk, but still. You don't go doing that. But it made for a good plot, and that's what matters.
There was only one thing I didn't like about Twenty Boy Summer: I felt like it took too long to get them to California, where things started happening. I mean, the first few chapters had to explain the back story, and the one right after that had to bring them to where they were 'now,' a few weeks before going to the beach. We had to find out how everyone was doing. But I felt like it just took too long for something to actually happen. But it went by quick, and fun things happened, and interesting things were found out, so it was completely necessary and I definitely did enjoy it. So I'm really glad that Ockler made everything interesting enough to the point where it didn't turn me off from the book. Yay, Ockler :)
That little thing aside, this book is a great summer read. Great romance (not between her and the dead guy, I promise), you sort of get a small feel like you're in California yourself, and there's some catty girl drama. Who doesn't secretly love catty, fictional girl drama?
I can't wait to read all of Ockler's books! If they're any close to being this addicting, they are all going to be so, so perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment