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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
First, let me thank the man whose name I no longer remember for speaking out about how this and Speak are softcore pornography. I hadn’t heard of this book before and without his completely idiotic statements, I may never have read this book. And that would’ve been too bad, because I loved it.
Anna has been best friends with Frankie and her brother, Matt, for her entire life. On her fifteenth birthday, however, things change. Matt kisses her and they agree to let him tell Frankie when their family goes on vacation in a month. But before he gets the chance, he dies. A year later, Anna goes on vacation with Frankie and her family. She’s still grief-stricken (they’re ALL still grief-stricken) but it’s somehow worse because Anna still hasn’t told anyone. She’s decided that the best way to care for her best friend is to keep this secret forever. Since Matt died, Frankie has become a little wild. She’s obsessed with how she looks and she’s lost her virginity. She sets a goal for her and Anna: meet a boy every day so they can each have a summer fling.
This book was so great. On one level, it’s a fun, fluffy summer read, one where you can almost hear your friends laughing and can feel the sun and smell the ocean and suntan lotion. And on the other? It’s one of the most realistic portrayals of grief I’ve ever read, when I would read a sentence and just suck in a breath because it’s SO TRUE and I didn’t know anyone else thought that way.
I loved reading about Anna and Frankie and their fierce, awesome friendship. This book is perfect as it is and doesn’t need a sequel, but I would really like to read about them in college on spring break. (I’m just saying.)
Anna has been best friends with Frankie and her brother, Matt, for her entire life. On her fifteenth birthday, however, things change. Matt kisses her and they agree to let him tell Frankie when their family goes on vacation in a month. But before he gets the chance, he dies. A year later, Anna goes on vacation with Frankie and her family. She’s still grief-stricken (they’re ALL still grief-stricken) but it’s somehow worse because Anna still hasn’t told anyone. She’s decided that the best way to care for her best friend is to keep this secret forever. Since Matt died, Frankie has become a little wild. She’s obsessed with how she looks and she’s lost her virginity. She sets a goal for her and Anna: meet a boy every day so they can each have a summer fling.
This book was so great. On one level, it’s a fun, fluffy summer read, one where you can almost hear your friends laughing and can feel the sun and smell the ocean and suntan lotion. And on the other? It’s one of the most realistic portrayals of grief I’ve ever read, when I would read a sentence and just suck in a breath because it’s SO TRUE and I didn’t know anyone else thought that way.
I loved reading about Anna and Frankie and their fierce, awesome friendship. This book is perfect as it is and doesn’t need a sequel, but I would really like to read about them in college on spring break. (I’m just saying.)
I took this book with me while on vacation with my friend on the coast of North Carolina this summer. It was a great read to get me into a summery mood, while it was also touching and deeply rooted in the ideas of love, loss, and remembrance. The plot at the beginning of the book captivated me, and touched my heart in so many ways; however, as the book went on, it became increasingly shallow as it delved into teenage-girl-romance territory. I'm glad I read this book, of course, because the deeper thoughts within it grabbed hold of my heart and mind. Overall, the book is no masterpiece, but it's a worthwhile young adult read.
I read this book during Banned Book Week. It was challenged in the Republic, Mo. schools in 2010 for being “soft-pornography” and “glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.” I guess there is no quicker way to get me to read a book than to have it appear on the banned and challenged list.
It is Anna’s birthday. She gets the best present ever. A kiss. From the one guy she has loved forever. Matt. Her best friend’s older brother. It is an awesome few months of the two of them sneaking glances and out at night to talk, look at the stars and kiss. They aren’t sneaking around just for the fun of it, but Matt is worried about how Frankie will take it. How will she feel about her best friend and her brother dating? Tragically, they never get the chance. Matt has a heart attack causing him to have a car wreck. Dies. Big Giant Tears.
I so feel for Anna. She lost her true love. She has to heal her broken heart all alone. No one knows about her and Matt. Matt wanted to tell Frankie first. Now Anna isn’t sure if Matt would want her to tell anyone or if she can after all this time. Sobs. Not only does she have to conceal her mourning to that of a friend only, but she feels like she has to try to save Frankie from herself. Matt’s family is refusing to handle it. His mother is a walking zombie and Frankie has developed a bad girl reputation for herself. Smoking. Parties. Boys. Losing her virginity.
The heart of the book is spent at Zanzibar Bay, California. This is where Matt and Frankie’s family goes for months during the summer every year. This will be the family’s first trip back after the death. Emotional. Frankie has raised the stakes. She is challenging them to meet twenty boys over the summer and for Anna to lose her virginity. Or course, it isn’t that easy. Grief will interrupt, erupt and heal on the trip. Anna isn’t the only one with secrets.
This book isn’t anything I expected. One, it is called Twenty Boy Summer. I pictured Girls Gone Wild. Two, it is on the ALA Banned & Challenged list. So again, I pictured Girls Gone Wild. Not the case. This book was an unexpected treasure. It kept me emotionally raw the entire time. I really connected with Anna. I was in love with my best friend’s brother growing up. We spent a lot of time together and everyone thought we would end up together in the end. But we didn’t. I think we were both afraid to mess it up. So I really could imagine how it felt to lose that person you grew up with and hoped to grow old with. Like Anna, I also feel like I should swallow my own sadness for the sake of others. Anna isn’t promiscuous and she doesn’t take moving on lightly. I laugh out loud at the idea that this book is “soft-pornography” and “glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.” I don’t have a problem with someone not wanting their child to read it, but “glorifies” is little too much. There is a party and there is some drinking, but never is any of it focused on drinking. Yes the goal is for Anna to lose her virginity, there is some heavy petting and someone does have sex. But it isn’t glorified. The heavy petting scene is more described that the sexual encounter. In the end, I don’t feel that Anna or Frankie feel that these actions are solutions to their grief. But that this game is a catalyst for both or them to come clean and heal.
It is Anna’s birthday. She gets the best present ever. A kiss. From the one guy she has loved forever. Matt. Her best friend’s older brother. It is an awesome few months of the two of them sneaking glances and out at night to talk, look at the stars and kiss. They aren’t sneaking around just for the fun of it, but Matt is worried about how Frankie will take it. How will she feel about her best friend and her brother dating? Tragically, they never get the chance. Matt has a heart attack causing him to have a car wreck. Dies. Big Giant Tears.
I so feel for Anna. She lost her true love. She has to heal her broken heart all alone. No one knows about her and Matt. Matt wanted to tell Frankie first. Now Anna isn’t sure if Matt would want her to tell anyone or if she can after all this time. Sobs. Not only does she have to conceal her mourning to that of a friend only, but she feels like she has to try to save Frankie from herself. Matt’s family is refusing to handle it. His mother is a walking zombie and Frankie has developed a bad girl reputation for herself. Smoking. Parties. Boys. Losing her virginity.
The heart of the book is spent at Zanzibar Bay, California. This is where Matt and Frankie’s family goes for months during the summer every year. This will be the family’s first trip back after the death. Emotional. Frankie has raised the stakes. She is challenging them to meet twenty boys over the summer and for Anna to lose her virginity. Or course, it isn’t that easy. Grief will interrupt, erupt and heal on the trip. Anna isn’t the only one with secrets.
This book isn’t anything I expected. One, it is called Twenty Boy Summer. I pictured Girls Gone Wild. Two, it is on the ALA Banned & Challenged list. So again, I pictured Girls Gone Wild. Not the case. This book was an unexpected treasure. It kept me emotionally raw the entire time. I really connected with Anna. I was in love with my best friend’s brother growing up. We spent a lot of time together and everyone thought we would end up together in the end. But we didn’t. I think we were both afraid to mess it up. So I really could imagine how it felt to lose that person you grew up with and hoped to grow old with. Like Anna, I also feel like I should swallow my own sadness for the sake of others. Anna isn’t promiscuous and she doesn’t take moving on lightly. I laugh out loud at the idea that this book is “soft-pornography” and “glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex.” I don’t have a problem with someone not wanting their child to read it, but “glorifies” is little too much. There is a party and there is some drinking, but never is any of it focused on drinking. Yes the goal is for Anna to lose her virginity, there is some heavy petting and someone does have sex. But it isn’t glorified. The heavy petting scene is more described that the sexual encounter. In the end, I don’t feel that Anna or Frankie feel that these actions are solutions to their grief. But that this game is a catalyst for both or them to come clean and heal.
Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. The characters felt one dimensional. We only learn about the ways in which they are affected by Matt’s death, and not who they are as people. I couldn’t connect to the characters because of this and even felt like I didn’t know who the characters were at the end of the book. I felt this disconnect even stronger with Anna since the story is written in first person. I felt like we only get a superficial look at who Anna is, even though we are able to see all her thoughts. In fact, I felt uncomfortable with having this story be told through Anna’s perspective and having her compare her grief with Matt’s family’s grief which, I believe, is not comparable at all.
When I read the summary, I felt like this book was going to put a unique twist on the typical summer-beach-romance story. Sadly, it didn’t. I felt like there were two distinct plots going on–dealing with the loss of Matt and finding a summer romance–and instead of these plots meshing together, they felt completely separate which made the grieving of Matt’s death fall flat for me. The summer romance plot was predictable and couldn’t keep my attention.
With all these downfalls in mind, I still enjoyed the writing. I loved the way Ockler described the beach and San Francisco. I also enjoyed how she added moments where certain places or things would remind Anna of something Matt said or did, which I felt was pretty realistic.
When I read the summary, I felt like this book was going to put a unique twist on the typical summer-beach-romance story. Sadly, it didn’t. I felt like there were two distinct plots going on–dealing with the loss of Matt and finding a summer romance–and instead of these plots meshing together, they felt completely separate which made the grieving of Matt’s death fall flat for me. The summer romance plot was predictable and couldn’t keep my attention.
With all these downfalls in mind, I still enjoyed the writing. I loved the way Ockler described the beach and San Francisco. I also enjoyed how she added moments where certain places or things would remind Anna of something Matt said or did, which I felt was pretty realistic.
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I heard about this book before but i never really gave it a second thought but then i read Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler and i figured I'd give Twenty Boy Summer a shot.I have to say I'm definitely glad i decide to read this book.
The cover is cute and sweet and i honesty didn't realize that the pieces of the heart were supposed to represent sea glass till almost the end, I thought they were bits of paper or post-its.
The story revoles around Anna and Frankie.I absolutely loved both characters.Frankie's was spunky,flirty but still fragile.Then there was Anna the narrator who was in love with Matt and had a brief relationship with him before he died but never told a soul, which is completely heartbreaking i definently could never hold something like that in for so long.Matt wasn't alive for much of the story but Matt's presence through memories and flashbacks lets you know him just as well as Frankie or Anna.
Anna and Frankie have practically grown up together and share everything with one another. Except for the fact that Anna has always been in love with Frankie’s brother Matt.So on the day of Anna's fifteen birthday Matt and her share a kiss;after that they start up a secret relationship they don't want to hide it but Matt's worried about what Frankie's his little sister will say so they promise to keep it a secret till the summer.Matt's supposed to tell Frankie when they go on vacation for the summer but then Matt dies before they can reveal the truth.
Just one year later the girls are going out to the beach house were Frankie and Matts family always went to this is the fist time since Matt died.Frankie thinks they should have a twenty buy summer Anna agrees but is still in love with Matt she doesn't think she can move on.
I honestly didn't expect this book to be so heart breaking beautiful.This book made me laugh,cry,laugh then cry a little more.When Anna accepted the idea of the Twenty Boy summer i wanted to hit her i thought she should have just told Frankie then and there but I'm glad she didn't.Cause i she didn't she would have never met Sam.I adore Sam's character and how he helped Anna but i wish there was a bit more dialogue between the two of them.
Whether the secret finally does come out, well, I’ll let you read and discover that for yourself.I would recommend this book to any one teens or adults. The book is adorable and tragic its all about the meaning of friendship, grief and forgiveness.I cant believe i put off reading this book for so long. 5/5
I heard about this book before but i never really gave it a second thought but then i read Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler and i figured I'd give Twenty Boy Summer a shot.I have to say I'm definitely glad i decide to read this book.
The cover is cute and sweet and i honesty didn't realize that the pieces of the heart were supposed to represent sea glass till almost the end, I thought they were bits of paper or post-its.
The story revoles around Anna and Frankie.I absolutely loved both characters.Frankie's was spunky,flirty but still fragile.Then there was Anna the narrator who was in love with Matt and had a brief relationship with him before he died but never told a soul, which is completely heartbreaking i definently could never hold something like that in for so long.Matt wasn't alive for much of the story but Matt's presence through memories and flashbacks lets you know him just as well as Frankie or Anna.
Anna and Frankie have practically grown up together and share everything with one another. Except for the fact that Anna has always been in love with Frankie’s brother Matt.So on the day of Anna's fifteen birthday Matt and her share a kiss;after that they start up a secret relationship they don't want to hide it but Matt's worried about what Frankie's his little sister will say so they promise to keep it a secret till the summer.Matt's supposed to tell Frankie when they go on vacation for the summer but then Matt dies before they can reveal the truth.
Just one year later the girls are going out to the beach house were Frankie and Matts family always went to this is the fist time since Matt died.Frankie thinks they should have a twenty buy summer Anna agrees but is still in love with Matt she doesn't think she can move on.
I honestly didn't expect this book to be so heart breaking beautiful.This book made me laugh,cry,laugh then cry a little more.When Anna accepted the idea of the Twenty Boy summer i wanted to hit her i thought she should have just told Frankie then and there but I'm glad she didn't.Cause i she didn't she would have never met Sam.I adore Sam's character and how he helped Anna but i wish there was a bit more dialogue between the two of them.
Whether the secret finally does come out, well, I’ll let you read and discover that for yourself.I would recommend this book to any one teens or adults. The book is adorable and tragic its all about the meaning of friendship, grief and forgiveness.I cant believe i put off reading this book for so long. 5/5
Jeez, the title does not do this book justice. At all. I can safely say I did not expect to choke up at the mere mention of cake frosting while reading a book entitled Twenty Boy Summer.
At first I thought that it was a typical summer story novel about losing love and finding another. But this books shows how much difficult it is to move on especially when you don't have any idea what could have been. It also shows how important friendship is and how some promises are meant to be let go. It's a good book, not a very heavy one but still, an eye opener for those who finds it hard to move on.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated