Book Review: Twenty Boy Summer

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.

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In a Nutshell: Twenty Boy Summer is a wonderful story of love, loss, and moving on.

Putdownability Factor: This book was addicting! Definitely one of the harder to putdown books of the summer.

Cover Love: I LOVE SEA GLASS!!!! Therefore I love this cover. :)

My Thoughts

I absolutely ADORED Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler so I definitely had some high hopes for Twenty Boy Summer! Well, this book did not disappoint! Sarah Ockler has yet again proven to me what an amazing author she is. Twenty Boy Summer is fun, and feisty, but most of all it has heart. Its not just a fluffy summer novel. Its so much more.

I fell in love with just about every character in this book. But the character I loved the most? Matt. I'm pretty sure I'm speaking for all us book lovers out there when I say that Matt is a gem. I mean he's absolutely obsessed with the written word. What's not to love? This particular quote really got to me:

"Love of reading was something I shared with him alone, because of him alone. It was everything to him."

A guy who can instill a love of reading? Yeah, he's a winner. I know he's already fictional, but it just broke my heart to think that he wasn't alive anymore. SO SAD. :(

What Sarah Ockler creates in her writing is amazing. Moments. Relationships. Memories. Things that stay with you, even after the final page has been turned. There's an emotional depth and intensity to Twenty Boy Summer that doesn't often occur in YA novels. I just LOVE this book.

Twenty Boy Summer is amazing. I give it 4 and a half out of 5 ice cream cones!

Who would I recommend this to? Any teen who is looking for a summer read that is lighthearted and fun, but also touches on some deeper issues. Some of the content of Twenty Boy Summer would probably be a bit more suited to older teens.

Julia :)