Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
**read an ARC of this**
anna and her neighbors, matt & frankie (francesca), have been best friends for as long as anna can remember. as anna grows up, her feelings for matt get stronger, and on her 15th birthday, matt returns those feelings when he kisses her after an adorable cake-fight.
but how to tell frankie, matt's sister? matt promises that he will take care of it on their family vacation to california, and matt and anna spend the next month sneaking out at night and stealing moments to be together. but before the perino's trip to california, the three friends are involved in a car accident. matt is dead and anna must keep their secret from grieving frankie.
a year later, matt & frankie's parents decide it is time to face their rental house in california without matt. anna is invited along. frankie, who has grown reckless in her year of sorrow, decides that she and anna will meet twenty boys on vacation, and that one of them will take anna's virginity- frankie's having already been given to a german exchange student called johan. anna, unable to tell frankie that there will only ever be one boy for her, agrees to the plan.
the vacation is full of surprises as boys are met, secrets are uncovered, and loss is experienced anew. the perino family and anna struggle with creating new memories when they cannot bear to erase old ones. anna and frankie are wonderful characters: flawed and messy and confusing and real, and their pain never feels contrived or saccharine.
one complaint: the title makes it sound kind of skanky and doesn't really reflect what the book is about. still: highly recommended. out in june 09.
anna and her neighbors, matt & frankie (francesca), have been best friends for as long as anna can remember. as anna grows up, her feelings for matt get stronger, and on her 15th birthday, matt returns those feelings when he kisses her after an adorable cake-fight.
but how to tell frankie, matt's sister? matt promises that he will take care of it on their family vacation to california, and matt and anna spend the next month sneaking out at night and stealing moments to be together. but before the perino's trip to california, the three friends are involved in a car accident. matt is dead and anna must keep their secret from grieving frankie.
a year later, matt & frankie's parents decide it is time to face their rental house in california without matt. anna is invited along. frankie, who has grown reckless in her year of sorrow, decides that she and anna will meet twenty boys on vacation, and that one of them will take anna's virginity- frankie's having already been given to a german exchange student called johan. anna, unable to tell frankie that there will only ever be one boy for her, agrees to the plan.
the vacation is full of surprises as boys are met, secrets are uncovered, and loss is experienced anew. the perino family and anna struggle with creating new memories when they cannot bear to erase old ones. anna and frankie are wonderful characters: flawed and messy and confusing and real, and their pain never feels contrived or saccharine.
one complaint: the title makes it sound kind of skanky and doesn't really reflect what the book is about. still: highly recommended. out in june 09.
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Before I say anything else, I’ll be honest and say that originally the only reason I picked up Twenty Boy Summer was because of the controversy that surrounded it back in September. Regardless of all this, I am happy I decided to read it and I must say that I really enjoyed it. I don’t read as much contemporary fiction as I would like but I am more than glad that I picked up Twenty Boy Summer.
For the past year Anna and Frankie have been dealing with Matt’s death. Matt was Frankie’s older brother but also Anna’s first love and secret boyfriend, not that anyone knew about that part. Now, a year later, Frankie and Anna are preparing for a summer in Zanzibar Bay and Frankie has convinced Anna to just have fun and enjoy a summer of romance. Once in California, Anna makes attempts to please Frankie and soon enough she meets Sam. With Sam Anna is happy and feels things she hasn’t felt since Matt’s death but at the same time she feels guilty and scared that she’s going to forget all about him. And most of all she is afraid Frankie will find out about her past with Matt and what will happen to their friendship once she knows.
At first I had trouble getting along with Anna at first but as the book moved forward I found myself liking her more and more. At the beginning she struck me a little as feeling sorry for herself and always seemed to be living in the past. But as the story moves forward I found myself liking Anna more and more. She truly evolved and she came out a whole new person at the end of the book. I really enjoyed seeing her move forward with her life and coming to terms with everything that had happened in the past and what was happening in the present. By the end of the book I really liked Anna.
Frankie on the other hand, I had a much harder time liking her but I could understand where she was coming from. She never felt real and it always seemed like she wasn’t being completely honest. Like Anna, Frankie had some learning to do and she did do that learning and I enjoyed seeing her evolution. Even though she changed, for the better for the most part, a lot of her actions made me angry but like I said, I could see where she was coming from.
The story itself was quite enjoyable. It was more than just a story about two friends spending a summer at the beach and hooking up with random boys. The story was all about seeing Frankie and Anna come to terms with the past and the present. Relationships, fights and secrets coming out were all involved in the process and were necessary to that process. While reading the book I enjoyed the story and didn’t think much of it. It was only when I was finished that I truly understood what the story really meant and how important it was.
Overall, Twenty Boy Summer was a story I am glad I took the time to read because it is one that needs to be read. I can’t wait to read what comes next from Sarah Ockler.
For the past year Anna and Frankie have been dealing with Matt’s death. Matt was Frankie’s older brother but also Anna’s first love and secret boyfriend, not that anyone knew about that part. Now, a year later, Frankie and Anna are preparing for a summer in Zanzibar Bay and Frankie has convinced Anna to just have fun and enjoy a summer of romance. Once in California, Anna makes attempts to please Frankie and soon enough she meets Sam. With Sam Anna is happy and feels things she hasn’t felt since Matt’s death but at the same time she feels guilty and scared that she’s going to forget all about him. And most of all she is afraid Frankie will find out about her past with Matt and what will happen to their friendship once she knows.
At first I had trouble getting along with Anna at first but as the book moved forward I found myself liking her more and more. At the beginning she struck me a little as feeling sorry for herself and always seemed to be living in the past. But as the story moves forward I found myself liking Anna more and more. She truly evolved and she came out a whole new person at the end of the book. I really enjoyed seeing her move forward with her life and coming to terms with everything that had happened in the past and what was happening in the present. By the end of the book I really liked Anna.
Frankie on the other hand, I had a much harder time liking her but I could understand where she was coming from. She never felt real and it always seemed like she wasn’t being completely honest. Like Anna, Frankie had some learning to do and she did do that learning and I enjoyed seeing her evolution. Even though she changed, for the better for the most part, a lot of her actions made me angry but like I said, I could see where she was coming from.
The story itself was quite enjoyable. It was more than just a story about two friends spending a summer at the beach and hooking up with random boys. The story was all about seeing Frankie and Anna come to terms with the past and the present. Relationships, fights and secrets coming out were all involved in the process and were necessary to that process. While reading the book I enjoyed the story and didn’t think much of it. It was only when I was finished that I truly understood what the story really meant and how important it was.
Overall, Twenty Boy Summer was a story I am glad I took the time to read because it is one that needs to be read. I can’t wait to read what comes next from Sarah Ockler.
This nearly made me cry. Absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking.
This book was so lovely. The story of grief and pain was sprinkled with sparkles of beautiful moments. The story was so raw and genuine. I could almost hear the ocean whenever I read the book. It was a superb exploration of handling grief and moving on and discovering one's true identity. I adored the innocence of teenage pain in it.
A truly lovely and fresh read.
A truly lovely and fresh read.
So I literally bawled my eyes out through half of this book. It was SO GOOD. The story was different and it took unexpected turns, that all made sense in the end. It was wonderful.
This book really surprised me. I thought it was just going to be another sappy love struck girl who says she will hook up with "20 boys" but then the first one she meets she falls in love with. But it was different it was about struggling with the idea of grief and loss. It was about losing someone you love and having to hide how you loved them from your best friend. Although some of this is superficial and "teenish" I really did love this story and I loved how I felt like I grew with the characters. I would highly suggested this book to anyone looking for a little bit of heartbreak that is restored.
2.5 stars. I liked Anna (the story is from her viewpoint) but I did not like her (girl) friend Frankie. You're supposed to forgive her obnoxious behavior because she's mourning her brother. Despite the very predictable blow-up scene at the end where Frankie finds out Anna's secret and they fight (this is hardly a spoiler—you know it's going to happen); and we find out Frankie's secret (also predictable); and cardboard parents; I thought the end was nicely done, and there were some emotive moments from Anna that I liked.
Totally surpassed my expectations. Sarah Ockler definitely has a talent for turning an ordinary story into a beautiful one with breathtaking writing and heart-wrenching twists and turns. Such a gorgeous story. Love love love.
This book broke my heart three years ago and I still get sad when I look at the cover.