Twenty Boy Summer

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 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.

summary from book

My Rating: 5/5

Twenty Boy Summer surprised me. I bought it impulsively before I went on vacation this summer because I was looking for some summer themed books to read. Based on the title alone, I thought this book was going to be something completely different then it was. What I got was a beautiful and heartbreaking story revolving around loss, first love, and friendship. I could not have been happier with this book. From the very beginning, my attention was held. The opening chapter starts this story off with a bang. It's so powerful and moving, I couldn't help but be sucked right into Anna's life.

This is Sarah Ockler's first book and I have to say that I can't wait to read more from her. The writing in this is very beautiful. The imagery was fantastic, surroundings and so on being described in such vivid detail I felt as if I was at Zanzibar Bay with Anna, Frankie, and her parents. I love summer novels that make me feel as if I myself am lying in the sun and walking down a sandy beach etc.

I think this book was drawn out perfectly and I also think the ending provided just enough closure for the reader to be satisfied. I have to say, I love the last ending line. I don't want to give it away but it really is perfect. I also like that things weren't sugarcoated in this novel. It all felt so raw and real. I have to say that the characters felt very realistic. From the first chapter, I already felt like I knew them.

The back stories on Anna, Frankie, and Matt are greatly etched out and detailed. I always love to know what happened to a character before the point they're at when you begin the first chapter. I love when they reminisce about past situations or moments in their life that held meaning to them. Technically, characters only exist in the now. They don't have childhoods and such because well, they don't really exist. But I still love to know what happened to them before, not just what's happening to them now.

I really recommend this book to anyone, especially readers that enjoy stories centered on loss and the journey that follows.