genre: young adult romancerating: 4/5
On Anna's 15th birthday, her deepest wish comes true. And if she can't tell her best friend Frankie (a girl) about it for a little while, that's okay, right? Life is bliss, with a side of guilt, until Anna and Frankie are blindsided by a tragedy that changes everything. One year later, the two girls head to California for vacation - to find new boys and have the best summer ever.
20 Boy Summer is about first loves and devastating loss. It's about relationships and about purposefully loosing one's virginity and all the drama and emotion that entails. I think that the author got teenage angst just right. Anna and Frankie's relationship felt unforced and natural - imperfect with some teenage selfishness and a lot of sarcasm.
Older teens, especially teens who have had to work through a serious loss, will really respond to this book. And while I personally don't advocate shedding one's virginity while in high school - and this book leaned too far towards the "it's a good idea" camp for me - I am very aware that it is a major issue to be dealt with and the book didn't get crude or glamorize it.
I cringed at their choices and I had a hard time believing that Anna and Frankie truly got away with some pretty crazy antics. It felt like authentic teenage drama and if you like young adult romance, you'll probably love this one, not only for the romance, but for the depth of feeling shown by the characters.
1 comment:
Great review! I'm not sure it's the book for me though, because I don't like romance.
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