Twenty Boy Summer By: Sarah Ockler

Title: Twenty Boy Summer
Author: Sarah Ockler
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 290
Publisher: Little Brown and Co
Publishing Date: June 1, 2009
Geared towards: Teens (14+)
Extra Info: This was an ARC, when released it was hardback/there was a diffrent amount of pages

"Nothing ever really goes away-it just changes into something. Something beautiful."

Summary (From B.O.B):

"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 her best friend, Frankie, twenty days to Zanzibar Bay is the perfect oppurtunity 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 this kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

Wdebo's Review: When I first recieved this book, I was so excited to read it! All the great reviews sent shivers up my spine with excitment. When I started, I was like wow this book is so great! All the reviews were correct. But when I got to the death of Frankie, I was surprised, why the hell am I not crying? One thing you have to know about me is, I am the world's biggest cry baby. I cried at the end of Air Bud (haha I'm so embarassed), so naturally when I read that part, I was thinking Oh, red alert! Dead person! Bring on the tears! But when there was none, I just wondered why.

I guess all I can say was that I loved the storyline, the plot, the characters everything about the story was really good, but for some reason I just couldn't connect with the writing. Sarah Ockler did a good job building up the characters and the background (sorta). The prologue was one of the best I've read this year (props to Sarah for that!). After the death it just felt too hurried, they get to Cali, two days later she meets a guy who she falls IN LOVE with, and etc. etc. I always like these parts (finding the guy who closes up the gap left by the dead dude) to be left in the middle, it allows you to have an ability to sympathize with the character and build up to the climax when she turns around and finds this PERFECT guy standing next to her, reading to take her hand and protect her from this sadness. Like in The Tenth Circle.

Oh, wow I feel so negative, don't get me wrong, this was a pretty good book! All the other reviews were right about that, but for me all in all I couldn't connect with the writting.

On the other hand, the cover is just GORGEOUS, I love the heart, it's so simple and beautiful and the sea glass was prety and the red one, just one piece because it's so rare (more explanation in the story). One of my fav cover this year!

All in all, if you are looking for a good summer read check out this book!

Grade: B+

Wdebo :)

7 more days until the last day of school and counting...