Book Title: Twenty Boy Summer
Author: Sarah Ockler
Published Date: June 1st, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
Genre: YA Contemporary
Standalone
Book Link: Goodreads
Synopsis from Goodreads:
"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.
"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.
Disclaimer: Library book.
Review:
I had heard so many beautiful things about this book and I was so excited to read it, but I was never fully invested in it. The characters didn't interest me at all and that's so crucial for me in order for me to love a book. I found myself bored by the characters, particularly Frankie. Holy hell she was a pain in the ass and while I understood that she was grieving, it wasn't an excuse for her to be a terrible person.
The pacing was very slow and I found myself skimming pages and then realizing that I wasn't missing anything major. Nothing exciting or even remotely interesting was happening. Frankie was obsessed with Anna losing her virginity, which I found to be very creepy. Anna's virginity was no one's business but hers. Yet Frankie was obsessed with finding Anna a summer fling and I found Frankie's boy obsession to be quite grating.
I also didn't feel like the characters were as developed as I would have liked. I wanted to see more about Frankie actually dealing with her brother's death in a constructive way and not in a "become more girly & boy obsessed way" I wanted desperately to connect with these characters and that just didn't happen. Major disappointment.
I wanted to cry and swoon, but that didn't happen. I was expecting to bawl like some of my other blogger friends did. I was expecting Matt and Sam to both make me swoon for different reasons, but that didn't happen. In fact both boys seemed rather bland and I think that had to do with the lackluster character development.
In short, this book just didn't work for me. I'm definitely disappointed as I had such high hopes for this book. It kills me to give this book 2 stars but I am going to have to as I didn't enjoy this book. Hopefully someone else will love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you so much for your comment! I will do my best to reply to every comment that is left. This blog is an award free blog. I appreciate the thought, but I do not have the time to follow up.