Twenty Boy Summer [NOOK Book]

Completely Amazing Book

I read a lot of books and this is my favorite book I have ever read. I never re-read books no matter how good they were, but this one was just so amazing that I will definitely read it again soon. I gave it to a few friends to read and they loved it. Favorite book ever. Since I read this, nothing can compare. It is truly amazing. You should really read this.

19 out of 20 people found this review helpful.

Stunning book

I was given this book to review.

Twenty Boy Summer, a YA novel about two girls struggling to come to terms with the death of their best friend, hits like a most beautifully wrapped ton of bricks. Frankie and Anna are best friends, journeying on a spectacular trip to California. Last year Frankie's older brother Matt spend a dazzling month secretly dating their best friend Anna before Matt died of an undiagnosed heart problem.

The book starts out describing how lucky the girls were to have survived the accident (Matt was driving when his heart gave), then proceeds to reveal what a misnomer "survival" is. Even a year later Frankie's family is torn apart by their loss, and Anna, having sworn to keep her relationship with Matt a secret, is devastated at not being allowed to properly morn her own loss (or even understand what exactly she's lost).

So the girls make a plan to meet twenty boys in their quest to lose their virginity and leave their heartache behind. But their search only triggers all the fears and emotions left behind, particularly as Anna is terrified that moving on will make what she had with Matt less special.

Twenty Boy Summer is beautiful, heartbreaking and a raw read through and through. While there are very few surprises here, and the plot is all character and angst driven, it speaks, very strongly, to anyone who has lost someone they love and has gone through the mourning process. This is not a fluffy, light-hearted fictional read, or even a fiction tale with serious, dark undertones. Twenty Boy Summer bears a resemblance the nineties film My Girl and the Katherine Paterson book The Bridge to Terabithia, set after the landmark character deaths and in a teen setting. Soulful and beautiful it's a must, but difficult, read.

9 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

A decent read, must be desperate.

I was desperate for a new book, my friend recommended this book to me. I read the whole book in about three days. Yeah sure, it had its good points. Sure, it was written well. But the same point the book is written around is repeated over and over. I can say I did not thoroughly enjoy this book. If you don't mind reading the same paragraph over and over every other page. Then by all means, jump right in.

8 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

Excellent

I enjoyed reading this wonderful book. Very well written with good plot.

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

A Must Read!!!

I can honestly say that twenty boy summer was one of the best books ive ever read. The story behind twenty boy summer was touching and anna's point of view made it all the better. I recommend this book to anybody who wants to read a book that is truly about dealing with grief, loss, friendship and finding yourself.

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Emotional Journey of Self Discovery

hearted girl, the type of friend everyone wishes they had. She falls in love with her best friends brother, Matt, the three of them have been friends all of their lives, neighbours and practically inseparable. On her birthday all her dreams come true when Matt kisses her. They meet in secret afraid of Frankie's reaction to the development of their relationship. Before they are able to tell Frankie, Matt tragically dies from an undetected heart defect, Anna is left to hold the pieces together and unable to tell Frankie that she was in love with her brother.

The story unfolds directly into the action with some points of reminiscing by Anna to give the background details to the plot. In some respects Anna seems far more mature than her age would give her credit for. Anna takes on the role of holding people together has to hide the depth of her own loss. The emotions within the narrative were poignant and tangible. However, I did find myself comparing the story to The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson which also deals with loss, grief and first love. The main difference between the two books was the way in which people grieve was depicted. A good point to compare and contrast.

The one thing I can honestly say I preferred in The Sky is Everywhere is how the issue of losing your virginity was dealt with, with emotion and the whole ideal of making it special. While in Twenty Boy Summer it is treated as an affliction to be cast off as soon as possible. I did sympathise with Anna as in her mind Matt was the one and that was taken away from her, anyone else would always be second best. The whole idea that she was afraid to move on as if it would be an act of betrayal to Matt was touching. The story was an emotional journey of self-discovery for Anna.

The thing I liked most about Twenty Boy Summer was the way in which each persons grief was depicted. For Frankie she acts out, pretends to be a completely different person to the one she was when her brother was alive. She doesn't take anyone else's feelings into consideration and that annoyed me at times. For Matt & Frankie's parents, they shut themselves off completely, not talking about Matt or even allowing anyone into his room. They are so wrapped up in their own grief that they hand responsibility of Frankie over to Anna, who is obviously far too young to be put in that position. While Anna is hiding the depth of her emotions.

The descriptions and imagery are fantastically sensory, you really feel as if you are on the beach with the waves lapping and the sand between your toes. The beach has always been one of my favourite places and never fails to make me feel at peace. So this aspect of the narrative really brought it to life for me.

All aspects of the plot tie together beautifully in the end, offering a bitter-sweet resolution. A great book giving a different view of grief and loss. You may need tissues.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

A Balk (Reviewed by TheBookworm)

Twenty Boy Summer
by Sarah Ockler
Pub. Date: June 2009
3 out of 5 stars
PG-13 - Sexual Content, Sexual References, Profanity, and Alcohol Abuse
Not Recommended

Matthew is dead. He is gone. Forever and ever. Yet, Anna can't stop thinking about him and caring for him. How is she ever going to be able to "move on"?

Frankie, Anna's close-as-sisters best friend, promises Anna an unforgettable trip to Zanzibar Bay. Of course, just hanging out at the beach isn't enough for attention-seeking Frankie. She sets a goal for their twenty-day vacation; meet twenty different boys, one each day. As if bikinis weren't enough to worry about! Could this crazy scheme finally help Anna live again? Or will it just destroy what memories she still has?

"I'm fine. Thanks for not asking."

Twenty Boy Summer's wrapper is elegant and impressive with its textbook grammar, flawless sentence flow, and smooth transitions between present and past events. But the contents of this package were blah, dry, and crumbly. Just because it is pretty on the outside, doesn't mean it is on the inside.

None of the characters were positive role models. Anna treated Sam like a teddy bear. Something to take out and cuddle when you're sad or scared, but also something you dump when you out grow it or don't need it. He deserved better than that. Not only that, she also desecrates her past relationship with Matthew by making tainted choices.

This book had the potential for greatness, like Willow or North of Beautiful. It could have been an amazing book of healing, but instead it dirtied itself with a lack of morals and a main character that couldn't "move on" until she was completely hallow inside.

Twenty Boy Summer was a balk.

Date Reviewed: May 14th, 009


For more book reviews and book information check out my blog at www.inthecurrent.blogspot.com

5 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Highly Recommended...check this book out!

This book was amazing. I could not stop reading it from beginning to end. It was surprising and just an excellent book. It had me wondering what was going to happen next at all times. I could read this book over and over and still feel like I am reading it for the first time. I absolutely love this book.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anna has been in love with her best friend's brother for five years. Now it's her fifteenth birthday and they finally get to be a couple. But this relationship is short-lived when Matt dies in a car accident just a short month later. Now she's got a secret that Matt told her not to tell anybody, a journal that she writes all her secrets in, and a summer in Zanzibar Bay, California with her best friend. This Summer Frankie and Anna make a plan to meet up to 20 boys in California, but what they didn't expect was for Anna to fall in love with her boy #1 and find her thoughts of Matt slowly slipping away.
This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole book, trying to read faster and faster to finish the book. I just couldn't wait. This is BY FAR the absolute BESTTTTTTTTTTTT book i've ever read. Better than Twilight even ;) most definitely worth reading and i would recommend it to everyone that doesn't mind tearing up, major surprises, and finding what life is about. I literally almost cried a bunch of times in this book. READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Twenty Boy Summer

Anna has been best friends with Frankie and her older brother Matt for as long as she can remember. They go and do everything together until one awful day when the unthinkable happens. There is an accident and Matt dies, while Anna and Frankie live. As the girls and their families mourn and try to move on with their lives, Frankie has an idea. When they go on vacation, they make every effort to have a summer fling - to have fun and leave their sadness at home for a few weeks.

Anna reluctantly agrees. In their search for a summer fling they become different people. They lie and sneak around not only from other people but from themselves. Both have secrets they struggle to keep hidden.

While this was a touching story with some lively characters, much of it seemed disjointed or overly stereotyped. An enjoyable read, but could have been better.

3/5

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Eh

Okay book. Nothing special. Not that impressed

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

WOW!

It is a great book, very interesting! The beginning and end were the best and most interesting parts of the book. The middle was very good, but some parts got a little bit boring, but overall very good! You can even feel the exact same emotions the character is feeling!!! I highly recommend it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Looks are Deceiving!

The title and cover of the book make it look like another teenybopper romance, but it is a very emotional book that I think any age can read! The plot is well written and I always check for the authors next book just because this one was so amazing. If you cry easily there might be some tears, but you need a good cry every once in a while! It has friendship, romance, heartbreak of more than one kind, family, and angst and fluffy moments!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I adore this book!

This novel is the perfect summer read! Not only is it cute and fun, but also it's deep and meaningful. It's such a realistic and detailed story of loss and breakthrough. This book was so hard to put down, and I was begging for more even after the last page. I could understand each character perfectly and relate to them easily. It was interesting seeing how Anna and Frankie changed throughout the story - especially from the car crash. Sarah Ockler has amazed me with this story and I can't wait to read what she comes up with next! I absolutely love this cover, too. It's so beachy and symbolic and ties in with the novel greatly. Just looking at this book makes me want to pick it up and see what adventures are inside. A must-read for all ages!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Emotional and Gripping but have Kleenex on Hand

Every now and then a book comes along that truly touches the heart. 20 BOY SUMMER is that book! I picked it up. By the end of the third chapter, my face was covered in tears and my throat had a lump the size of a grapefruit stuck in it. Yet, I felt compelled to keep reading. I needed to know that Anna would be okay.

Neighbors and best friends, Anna, Francesca (aka Frankie) and Frankie's older brother Matt have been involved in each others lives from the day they were born. At her fifteenth birthday party, the one thing Anna wants most happens. Her family celebrates with their neighbors just like every year, but this is the year Matt kisses her.

Soon, Anna and Matt are becoming an item, but he wants to be the one to tell Frankie. Neither of them are sure how Frankie will react. Until she's told, Anna and Matt share stolen kisses, midnight rendezvous and fleeting touches. And then, everything is ripped apart.

On the way home from ice cream, Matt, Anna and Frankie are in a car accident. An undiagnosed hole in Matt's heart lets go. Matt is dead and Anna and Frankie are left to piece together their lives. One year passes and Frankie's family opts to take Anna on their yearly trip to California's coast. Though she's still mourning Matt, Anna agrees to join Frankie on a mission. During their vacation, they will hook up with 20 different guys and see where these romances take them.

So summing this up--20 BOY SUMMER is compelling, emotional and one of the best teen girl romances-of-sorts I think I've ever read. It is a romance, but so much more.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love this book

This is one of my favorite books of all timeee

Amazing!

Twenty Boy Summer combines everything young readers are looking for. Romance, adventures, dealing with the loss of a loved one and learning how to be strong in the toughest of situations. I had a hard time putting this one down. When Anna is invited to go with her BFF to Zanzibar, CA for 3 weeks in the "Absolute Best Summer Ever", things between them will never be the same and neither will Anna. Read this amazing book to find out why!

Wow

This book was sad and kinda innapropriate. D

Amazingly sweet and real

This book was an awesome read for people who want a real and fresh story about love, heartbreak, family, and friendship.

Love this book!

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I was on an emotional roller coaster with the characters. I would definitely recommend it!