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Twenty Boy Summer Sarah Ockler Books

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Twenty Boy Summer Sarah Ockler Books

Clearly I'm in the minority here, judging from all the 5/4 star reviews, and maybe my high expectations, stemming from said reviews, are to blame for my disappointment but I just couldn't connect with the main character, Anna. That's a bad thing in a book where the plot's emotional impact rests on the ties the reader has with the narrator. I didn't care about her, she seemed whiny and superficial, despite all the time we, readers, spent in her head. The supporting characters weren't much better. Frankie, her best friend and partner in crime, was a stereotype of the boy-crazed, super girly girl who matches outfits and spends hours in front of the mirror. The parents were clueless and when there was a hint of parental recognition, the author went in a totally different direction, so that both sets of parents involved were left looking like the 90's teen show prototype of parent: easily fooled and only used as plot devices when convenient. The boys... Matt, who we should care about if we're to care about Anna and Frankie, wasn't fleshed out enough and we mostly saw him through flashbacks. Sam was nice but ultimately forgettable. He was a perfectly nice guy who I can't really remember 30 minutes after having finished the book.

The plot itself was also lacking, in my opinion. The first half of the book drags and then everything Anna has felt for a year and a huge fight with her best friend are resolved in the last 10% of the book, without the rest of the book having led us there organically. Anna didn't grow as a character, in my opinion. And the epiphanies she has before leaving California and then the one again in Frankie's room did not feel earned.

If it hadn't made me laugh here and there, mainly thanks to Frankie's dramatic flare, I would have given this a 1 star. It was not the book I was expecting. The premise was good but somehow, it wasted all its depth in exchange for fluffiness.


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Twenty Boy Summer Sarah Ockler Books Reviews

I liked the story. The first half of the book is slow and the main character, Anna, is every bit of a prude. The story begins with what seems like a budding teen romance between Anna and Matt, her bestfriend's older brother. The anticipation of a secret romance sort of dwindles when he dies too soon for the story's sake. Frankie, Anna's best friend and younger sister of Matt, drives much of the drama. She's overly girly, irrational, a liar, and boy hungry - or so she seems.

The story begins to pickup later in the book, when Anna meets sunny California beach-boy Sam and abandons almost all of her inhibitions. One moment she's tragically emotional about Matt and the next she's a familiarly lust teen anticipating a summer fling. True to teen girlhood - she's confusing.

I took off 2 stars because of the long and slow beginning and the slacking character development. I gave it 3 stars because, pace did pickup and I was genuinely interested to see secrets and drama unfolded..I was not disappointed nor was I impressed.
I loved, loved, loved this book. It was the first one I read by Ockler, and I haven't looked back since. Anna and Frankie have a great friendship, and I loved following Anna as she tried to move forward from a tragic loss without revealing her deepest secret to Frankie. My heart broke for both of the girls, but I rooted for them all of the way. This book weighed on my heart and stayed with me. It's a must read for anyone who wants to have the feels.
Twenty Boy Summer is the heartbreaking tale of the death of a girl's first love. Anna and Francesca (Frankie) have been best friends for as long as they've known each other. That being said, Anna was always close with the rest of Frankie's family, including her older brother, Matt. When her birthday wish to be with him finally comes true, she's ecstatic, but after a few short weeks, their relationship ends along with Matt's life. In order to overcome this tough time, Frankie's family takes Anna to the place they used to spend the summer when Matt was still alive and each of the characters learn how to deal with the heartbreak in their own way.

When they get to the beach, they try to distract themselves by making up a game to see how many boys they can flirt with in order to find the right one to take Anna's virginity, even if she's not completely over Matt. The saddest part of the story is that Anna feels that she can't openly express her heartbreak over Frankie's brother because no one but Anna and Matt knew they were together and he asked Anna to promise not to tell Frankie before he did. Since he passed away before he got the chance to, Anna felt that it wasn't her place to tell Frankie what may or may have not become of them last summer.

It took me two tries to really fall in love with this book. While reading it, I was easily drawn into these character's lives. I couldn't believe how emotional some of the scenes made me and how attached I got to Anna the more I read. Her relationship with Frankie started out strong. They were always there for each other, but there's something about losing someone close to you that can both pull you together and split you apart.

Everyone heals at their own pace, but it seems that summer in California seemed to patch the entire family's broken hearts. Twenty Boy Summer was filled with a handful of moments that made you both smile and ache. Sarah Ockler creates a powerful story of being able to fall in love again after experiencing the heartbreak of losing someone you loved before.

(Review from thehollowcupboards.blogspot.com)
Clearly I'm in the minority here, judging from all the 5/4 star reviews, and maybe my high expectations, stemming from said reviews, are to blame for my disappointment but I just couldn't connect with the main character, Anna. That's a bad thing in a book where the plot's emotional impact rests on the ties the reader has with the narrator. I didn't care about her, she seemed whiny and superficial, despite all the time we, readers, spent in her head. The supporting characters weren't much better. Frankie, her best friend and partner in crime, was a stereotype of the boy-crazed, super girly girl who matches outfits and spends hours in front of the mirror. The parents were clueless and when there was a hint of parental recognition, the author went in a totally different direction, so that both sets of parents involved were left looking like the 90's teen show prototype of parent easily fooled and only used as plot devices when convenient. The boys... Matt, who we should care about if we're to care about Anna and Frankie, wasn't fleshed out enough and we mostly saw him through flashbacks. Sam was nice but ultimately forgettable. He was a perfectly nice guy who I can't really remember 30 minutes after having finished the book.

The plot itself was also lacking, in my opinion. The first half of the book drags and then everything Anna has felt for a year and a huge fight with her best friend are resolved in the last 10% of the book, without the rest of the book having led us there organically. Anna didn't grow as a character, in my opinion. And the epiphanies she has before leaving California and then the one again in Frankie's room did not feel earned.

If it hadn't made me laugh here and there, mainly thanks to Frankie's dramatic flare, I would have given this a 1 star. It was not the book I was expecting. The premise was good but somehow, it wasted all its depth in exchange for fluffiness.