Twenty Boy Summer

Reviewer: Kristen 
Author: Sarah Ockler 
Pages: 290
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 6 out of 10

Summary (via GR): "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

My Thoughts: Such a cool premise and plot! This books cover totally drew me in - I mean, can we take a minute to appreciate that cover?! Plus, it relates back to the story in a really cool and meaningful way. I love it when that happens, I absolutely hate it when the cover bares no relevance to the story inside - even if it's just me that can't find the relevance. People judge books by the covers, people! Make sure it's something interesting. End rant. Sorry bout that. This cover is really great though, am I right? Back to the actual story. It was good. It was okay. It wasn't great.  I kept checking how many pages I had left till the end. From when I started this book last week, I started and finished to other novels instead of getting to the end of this one. With me, that's usually pretty telling. I don't tend to enjoy jumbling worlds. Though, when I did jump back into Twenty Boy Summer, I knew exactly what was happening without it being thrown in my face repeatedly. Sarah Ockler does a good job at keeping the reader up to pace. I can't even tell you what I didn't like about this book. It's a bunch of little things really. I didn't like that Anna was so obsessive with the promise she made to Matt. I also thought the beginning of the book kind of dragged, while the end kind of speed by things I would have liked to know more about. I really liked the little quirks each character had. Frankie, for example, constantly used the wrong word when she was trying to sound intelligent, and it left Anna always correcting her. Little things like that make the characters feel real. It was good, not great, but it was good. 

Final Thoughts: Quick, easy read. It's alright, especially if you're looking for a bit of romance and a bit of self discovery.