In Which I Review... Twenty Boy Summer By Sarah Ockler

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.

Hardcover, 290 pages

Published June 1st 2009 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Sometimes, just sometimes it seems an injustice to not only  the novel, but to the novelist, to put off a review. When it comes to Twenty Boy Summer, sometimes has become right now. I closed Sarah Ockler's gorgeously written novel just two minutes ago. There is still a feeling of both contentment and ache swirling around me and weighing down my heart. There are still tears, forming a small pool at the edges of my eyes, and soaking my lashes as I type. Ockler's novel started off well. I dealt myself a nice hand of assumptions about how I'd like the novel just 50 pages in. I could tell I would like it. I even thought that if things kept going as it was, I would rate it almost a four. 

What I did not expect was to be caught up in the events of Anna's summer in California. I didn't expect to grow pained by Matt's absence as much as I did, and I didn't expect my heart to become invested in the circumstances of Ockler's story.

As I delved further into the novel, I began to read the pages quicker than before, and by the time I got to the last page of chapter 24 I was crying. As soon as I got a hold on my emotions, and began to calm as  read the novel, I began crying yet again. I wept with the characters, and I wept with the storyline.

I gained wishes for the characters, and I wondered constantly how what was lost in the novel could possibly be salvaged. I fretted over the stigma of Matt's death, I contemplated the future of all of the characters, but especially that of Frankie and her parents, I pondered the relationship of Anna and Sam. I murmured that Jake was a major jerk.

Mainly, as I reached the end of my voyage into the life of Anna, and her loved ones, I realized that things between the characters, especially Anna and Frankie, were forever going to change. I also realized that the change might actually be better for them.

Oh, and the discovery of the necklace SO didn't make up for the feeling of loss that came with the journal, Sarah. But, I guess it wasn't meant to. Feelings, relationships, and the impact simple actions can have on a person can change, get better or worse, but in real life there are no perfect endings. Besides, as Anna said (well, somewhat), after an ending, there is a new beginning.

5 stars and a countless number of both tears and smiles.

And still, it's impact sort of, kind of hurts... but that's okay.