Review: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
Release Date: May 1st, 2010
Source: Bought on Amazon
Series: No
Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary (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 her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever 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 that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago. 

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

o0.| My Thoughts |.0o

I know I said I was only going to read/review Halloween-ish books for the month of October but I read this in honor of Banned Book Week and I really wanted to finish and review it. I'm sure you all understand, cause you're all awesome :)

It's been awhile since I've read a contemporary novel (excluding erotica) and so I was expecting some super emotional tragic unrevealing information at some point of this novel. But it never came. Twenty Boy Summer took me on a journey, a rather painful journey, into the life and the mind of Anna. What she felt, what she saw and how she coped. This novel was very well written and for me, I could feel Anna's pain. I could feel her emotion though the pages and all i wanted to do was hug her really tight, let her know I was here and that she would be okay.

Anna was easy to relate to. Not to mention I loved how she corrected Frankie all the time! Her situation felt very real and if I were in her shoes, I probably would had done the same thing. Frankie on the other hand totally got on my nerves! I get that she was coping with her brother's death the best she knew how, but the way she reacted after finding Anna's journal was just... insane. She had no right to do what she did, to say what she said and if I was Anna, I would had thrown Frankie in the water and left her there! Un-believe-able! Seriously, I still get upset thinking about it. Ugh! I liked Sam, and I'm curious to know what happened to him later and of all the characters... I liked Matt the best. He seemed like a really interesting person. Maybe because he likes books and I like books and yah know!

As we all know, this book was recently challenged and I can't really figure out why. Sure, Twenty Boy Summer sounds bad but the novel itself really had nothing to do with the title. There's a slight sex scene but nothing erotica worthy and it was as vague as you could get it. There was a little bit of drinking but nothing over the top, just a few games of beer pong and other than that... that was pretty much it. The story is mostly focused on the people in Matt's life and how they coped with him being gone. 

Also! This novel takes place in California, in my area actually and I would really like to know... where the heck can I find sea glass around here?! I've recently taken an interest in it but as far as I know, there aren't beaches in San Francisco that have sea glass. I'm jealous of how beautiful Sarah makes San Francisco sound,  but it might just be because I'm jaded lol. 

o0.| Favorite Line |.0o

"I'm not the one who planned this - this - prepottemous vacation!"

Preposterous, Frankie. Preposterous.

- Pg 80

"Don't worry, Mom. You can call off the helicopters and police dogs. Turns out - get this - I didn't actually lose my virginity. I just cast it off somewhere between here and Monterey. Can you believe it? It could be anywhere by now, what with all that wind."

Danger! Wild virginity found here! Swim at your own risk!

- Pg 192-193

I thought the above line was funny because I had a similar conversation with my at the time best friend about "how does one lose their virginity" when I was like, 14.