Saturday, May 23, 2009

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer follows the characters of Anna and her best friend Frankie during their summer adventures with Frankie's family in Zanzibar Bay, California. That would be normal, were it not for the fact that a year earlier, Frankie's older brother died tragically in a car accident. Also, Frankie didn't know that Anna liked him due to a promise that she, Anna, made to him, which she planned on keeping until the day that she died. Their A.B.S.E (Absolute Best Summer Ever) plan to get twenty boys in approximately twenty days comes to an end when they fall for Jake and Sam. For the first time since Frankie's brother Matt died, Anna feels as if she can care about someone the way she did with Matt, and Frankie appears attracted to Jake. Unfortunately, secrets are revealed in the worst possible way, and it appears that Frankie and Anna's friendship is destroyed when Anna's journal is discovered.

This book was decent, but not amazing. The characters seemed realistic in their actions, as did the fact that Anna got through her grief by writing letters in her journal to the deceased and beloved Matt. Twenty Boy Summer wasn't anything special and didn't really "grab" me. The language wasn't awful but neither was it mesmerizing. This is an ok book for a quick read when one is rather bored but not if one's looking for a worthwhile book. It does have good aspects such as the plot, but overall is severely lacking in character and originality and is pretty mediocre.

There were aspects involving the social lives of Frankie and Anna that would not be suitable for readers below high school.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Charleston, SC US