""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 anyt... read full description
""Okay.""
""Promise me? Promise you won't say anyt... read full description
reviews
Jan 22, 2011
Arlene
rated it: 
Like the stars, fading with the halo of the vanishing moon. Like the ocean, falling and whispering against the shore. Nothing ever really goes away - it just changes into something else. Something beautiful.
Don’t know why I put off reading Twenty Boy Summer for so long, but I’m very glad I was challenged to read this book sooner than later. I really.really.really enjoyed this story! It has all the ingredients of a well-written and perfectly plotted YA contemporary novel, and I More...
Don’t know why I put off reading Twenty Boy Summer for so long, but I’m very glad I was challenged to read this book sooner than later. I really.really.really enjoyed this story! It has all the ingredients of a well-written and perfectly plotted YA contemporary novel, and I More...
26 comments
like
(16 people liked it)
Sep 11, 2010
Nic
rated it: 
Nothing ever really goes away - it just changes into something else. Something beautiful.
Don’t let the light and fluffy title of this book deceive you. This book will make you cry, break your heart and then fill it up with hope again.
Twenty Boy Summer is an unforgettable story about friendships, love, loss, and finding the courage to let go. This book was an emotional roller coaster ride, it made me smile one moment, cry the next, smile some more, cry again but at More...
Don’t let the light and fluffy title of this book deceive you. This book will make you cry, break your heart and then fill it up with hope again.
Twenty Boy Summer is an unforgettable story about friendships, love, loss, and finding the courage to let go. This book was an emotional roller coaster ride, it made me smile one moment, cry the next, smile some more, cry again but at More...
15 comments
like
(26 people liked it)
Jun 09, 2011
Janina
rated it:
I have been waiting to read this book for ages, and although it wasn't quite as fantastic as I had counted on (maybe my high expectations are to blame?), it was definitely a great read that I would recommend to everybody interested in the genre.
I think this book is one of the books that has made me cry the most while reading it.
Having read the plot summary, this was to be expected.
Anna, Frankie and Matt have been neighbours and close friends since childhood. Anna has had a c More...
I think this book is one of the books that has made me cry the most while reading it.
Having read the plot summary, this was to be expected.
Anna, Frankie and Matt have been neighbours and close friends since childhood. Anna has had a c More...
6 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Oct 26, 2011
Aly (Fantasy4eva)
rated it:
Rating: 3.5
“Don't move, Anna Reiley. Right now, everything is perfect.”
When the boy you love is the brother of your best friend, things tend to get a tad complicated. In Anna's case, the moment Matt kisses her, she knows without a doubt that he's "the one". Anna is overjoyed but Matt wants to wait before he tells his sister, Frankie. The three have always been a trio of sorts, and he fears revealing their relationship too soon could be too much for her.
G More...
“Don't move, Anna Reiley. Right now, everything is perfect.”
When the boy you love is the brother of your best friend, things tend to get a tad complicated. In Anna's case, the moment Matt kisses her, she knows without a doubt that he's "the one". Anna is overjoyed but Matt wants to wait before he tells his sister, Frankie. The three have always been a trio of sorts, and he fears revealing their relationship too soon could be too much for her.
G More...
4 comments
like
(6 people liked it)
Aug 31, 2011
Jude
rated it:
http://inbetweenwritingandreading.blogsp...
It shattered my heart to pieces, It gave me the deepest wounds, It made me stronger than ever, And it put me back together. Those are the words I have to say about this book.
At first, when I bought the book, I really didn’t know what I was getting into, I mean, 20 boys? One each day? I thought it would be a simple comedy and a fun read for the summer. How wrong I was.
Twenty Boy Summer follows Anna through her summer, where More...
It shattered my heart to pieces, It gave me the deepest wounds, It made me stronger than ever, And it put me back together. Those are the words I have to say about this book.
At first, when I bought the book, I really didn’t know what I was getting into, I mean, 20 boys? One each day? I thought it would be a simple comedy and a fun read for the summer. How wrong I was.
Twenty Boy Summer follows Anna through her summer, where More...
5 comments
like
(8 people liked it)
Jan 17, 2012
Stacia ~ platonic
rated it: 
2.5 stars. The beginning and end of the book were great to read and a solid 4 stars. Most of the middle part of the book was 1 star. I'm not sure what else to say. I zipped through the book fairly quickly and liked the idea for the story, but think I wanted more out of the actual vacation and "20 boy challenge" than what was given. There really weren't 20 boys (heck, not even 10!), so the title was extremely misleading.
Mildish spoilers ahead :
What I liked :
More...
Mildish spoilers ahead :
What I liked :
More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Feb 27, 2011
First off, let me just say that I LOVE the cover for this book! And I love that the book has all these references to sea glass, just like the awesomely beautiful cover. Genius!
And the pages between the fantastic cover are just as awesome. This was undeniably one of my most favorite debut novels this year. Anna and Frankie were phenomenal characters. I totally understood Anna, I got her right away, but it took me the entire novel to finally get Frankie. Incredible. Ockler's depictio More...
And the pages between the fantastic cover are just as awesome. This was undeniably one of my most favorite debut novels this year. Anna and Frankie were phenomenal characters. I totally understood Anna, I got her right away, but it took me the entire novel to finally get Frankie. Incredible. Ockler's depictio More...
0 comments
like
(10 people liked it)
Nov 09, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
34 years ago my brother died in a car accident, I was a little over a year old, he was three. I don't remember much about him, save one strange memory of him standing outside the car entertaining me while my mom pumps and pays for gas. I recall the car, the sun sparkling off of the metal on the window and the smell of the summer day mingling with the smell of the gasoline. And, of course, I have the stories, of how he called me Finnie Shell for Stephanie Michelle, how he would chase me around t
More...
13 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Aug 21, 2011
Emily
rated it:
Sometimes when I'm with him, something will remind me of Matt. A shooting star, the smell of someone's shampoo, a long laugh, a turn of phrase from someone passing by along the shore. When it happens, I close my eyes, count to ten, and will him to go away. To give me back my memories so that something as simple as a song floating out from behind a bonfire doesn't bring me all the way back to him every time.
It was hard to choose just one quote to start my (gushing) review of Twenty B More...
It was hard to choose just one quote to start my (gushing) review of Twenty B More...
6 comments
like
(10 people liked it)
Sep 15, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
When the same Republic, Missouri school district that banned Slaughterhouse Five banned this book, I figured it must be good and picked it up at the library (yep, sleepy conservative little Florence, Alabama has it in their library, that's how shockingly outside the realm of decency it is).
What I found was a solid 3.5 YA read. Anna goes on vacation with her best friend, Frankie's family, while they all mourn the loss of Frankie's brother, Matt. The big secret is that Matt and Ann More...
What I found was a solid 3.5 YA read. Anna goes on vacation with her best friend, Frankie's family, while they all mourn the loss of Frankie's brother, Matt. The big secret is that Matt and Ann More...
3 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Jul 11, 2011
Susie
rated it: 
There were many flashes of excellent writing in this book (very good for a debut novel), and overall, the plot is not bad. It's just that it could have used some editing. I understand a bit about grief, but that doesn't mean I want to read a LOT about it.
There were a couple of things I wondered about; the girls had already made a trip to Alcatraz, so why did they seem so surprised at the chaos of San Francisco? You can't get to Alcatraz without being on the wharf.
Ockler More...
There were a couple of things I wondered about; the girls had already made a trip to Alcatraz, so why did they seem so surprised at the chaos of San Francisco? You can't get to Alcatraz without being on the wharf.
Ockler More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Jun 15, 2011
Jasprit
rated it:
3.5/4 stars
Twenty Boy Summer is the story of two best friends Anna and Frankie. They’ve practically grown up together and share everything with one another. Except for the fact that Anna has always been in love with Frankie’s brother Matt, just when Matt and Anna finally admitted their feelings for one another and were getting to spend more time with each other Matt tragically passed away. They had always planned to tell Frankie, but they just didn’t get the time. Now a year later wi More...
Twenty Boy Summer is the story of two best friends Anna and Frankie. They’ve practically grown up together and share everything with one another. Except for the fact that Anna has always been in love with Frankie’s brother Matt, just when Matt and Anna finally admitted their feelings for one another and were getting to spend more time with each other Matt tragically passed away. They had always planned to tell Frankie, but they just didn’t get the time. Now a year later wi More...
3 comments
like
(4 people liked it)
Mar 21, 2010
After reading Sarah Ockler’s “Twenty Boy Summer,” I feel like I’m 16 again, sunning on the beach, about to embark on an epic summer romance. OK, I’m definitely not 16, not even close, but my point is Ockler’s writing is so transportive I dare anyone to read her debut novel and not think they’re on a beach. I could literally smell coconut oil and pineapple shakes and salty sea air while reading. Summer and its attendant romances are infused in every single page of this simultaneously heartbreakin
More...
0 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Jul 04, 2009
Natasha
rated it:
SUPER SPOILER.
AH!
I was about 20 pages into a new book when this came in the mail, a few days late but still.
I saw the package, tore it open and examined. I thought the heart on the cover was made of paper bits, but as it turns out, it was glass shards.
So I read the inside flap. And just like that, I completely forgot the storyline inside those other 20 pages. I plunked myself down on my bed and started reading.
This book left me with a heart wrenching fe More...
AH!
I was about 20 pages into a new book when this came in the mail, a few days late but still.
I saw the package, tore it open and examined. I thought the heart on the cover was made of paper bits, but as it turns out, it was glass shards.
So I read the inside flap. And just like that, I completely forgot the storyline inside those other 20 pages. I plunked myself down on my bed and started reading.
This book left me with a heart wrenching fe More...
3 comments
like
(20 people liked it)
Dec 31, 2009
Laura
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
4 comments
like
(11 people liked it)
Apr 10, 2009
Yan
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
0 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Nov 24, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
I just finished the incredible Twenty Boy Summer, and I'm not quite sure how to begin to review it. Sarah Ockler has a stunning, moving, lyric turn of phrase--so very stunning, so very moving, that I found myself rereading whole passages to take the words in.
Anna, the main character, is so compelling and so so real...and her pain and joy and love and anger and sadness are all so palpably true that you can't help but marvel at how deftly and deeply Sarah has built this lovely characte More...
Anna, the main character, is so compelling and so so real...and her pain and joy and love and anger and sadness are all so palpably true that you can't help but marvel at how deftly and deeply Sarah has built this lovely characte More...
3 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
May 16, 2011
Noelle
rated it:
Jeez, the title does not do this book justice. At all. I can safely say I did not expect to choke up at the mere mention of cake frosting while reading a book entitled Twenty Boy Summer.
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Mar 18, 2009
Kricket
rated it:
**read an ARC of this**
anna and her neighbors, matt & frankie (francesca), have been best friends for as long as anna can remember. as anna grows up, her feelings for matt get stronger, and on her 15th birthday, matt returns those feelings when he kisses her after an adorable cake-fight.
but how to tell frankie, matt's sister? matt promises that he will take care of it on their family vacation to california, and matt and anna spend the next month sneaking out at night and steal More...
anna and her neighbors, matt & frankie (francesca), have been best friends for as long as anna can remember. as anna grows up, her feelings for matt get stronger, and on her 15th birthday, matt returns those feelings when he kisses her after an adorable cake-fight.
but how to tell frankie, matt's sister? matt promises that he will take care of it on their family vacation to california, and matt and anna spend the next month sneaking out at night and steal More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Mar 17, 2009
Diane R.
rated it:
Here is my review posted on SLJ's blog Practically Paradise:
Spring Break is a wonderful time to read books beyond what I need to meet the daily needs of my middle-schoolers. I'm tackling this pile of more mature titles and books for high schoolers. Enter in Sarah Ockler's 20 Boy Summer which will be released in hardcover June, 2009 (Little Brown & Co., ISBN 978-0-316-05159-0, $16.99).
20 Boy Summer is a beautifully written story of love, friendship, summer romances, and d More...
Spring Break is a wonderful time to read books beyond what I need to meet the daily needs of my middle-schoolers. I'm tackling this pile of more mature titles and books for high schoolers. Enter in Sarah Ockler's 20 Boy Summer which will be released in hardcover June, 2009 (Little Brown & Co., ISBN 978-0-316-05159-0, $16.99).
20 Boy Summer is a beautifully written story of love, friendship, summer romances, and d More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 04, 2012
Wendy
rated it: 
It's very possibly my own fault for picking up a book called Twenty Boy Summer. But man, did I ever hate this book.
The premise caught my attention: Anna has been best friends with Frankie and her brother Matt for years. She and Matt start liking each other but keep it a secret from Frankie. Then Matt dies tragically. Now Frankie wants Anna to go on vacation with her and meet some boys. Should Anna tell Frankie about her feelings for Matt? Is she ready to move on?
OK, so t More...
The premise caught my attention: Anna has been best friends with Frankie and her brother Matt for years. She and Matt start liking each other but keep it a secret from Frankie. Then Matt dies tragically. Now Frankie wants Anna to go on vacation with her and meet some boys. Should Anna tell Frankie about her feelings for Matt? Is she ready to move on?
OK, so t More...
Jan 22, 2012
Kylie
rated it:
Twenty Boy Summer is one of my favorite books ever. It touches my heart in ways that other romance novels normally would not. I love how the characters have realistic emotions. The main character, who I believe is named Anna, struggles to get over the death of her secret-boyfriend and brother of her best friend. She doesn't easily forget him or take a dreadfully long time either, it's the perfect amount. And instead of actually forgetting, he just becomes a loving memory instead of this huge wei
More...
Jan 03, 2012
Tori
rated it:
Have you ever had a secret that you had to keep from your BEST friend? It's a hard thing to do as a teenage girl, but Anna Reiley is forced to decide between keeping the secret or breaking her promise to her first love who recently died in a car accident. The trouble is that this secret boy is her friend's brother. The three had grown up together as the inseparable friends and just a month before the accident Anna and her former best guy friend, Matt, became something more. Matt wanted to be the
More...
Jan 02, 2012
Liz
rated it:
Falling in love is a big deal, especially when its happening with someone you know it shouldn't be. In this story the romance is a big key theme, the main theme in fact. A twist of fate somehow manages to bring good things to the two main characters of the story, whom are 16 year old girls. If you like romance, then this is the book for you. This story would be catagorized as being for a young adult.
This was an amazing book, I finished it within the first day I picked it up and star More...
This was an amazing book, I finished it within the first day I picked it up and star More...
Nov 15, 2011
Anna hade the biggest crush on Matt. Matt and frankie(a girl), they were the three amigos even thouhg Matt was older. Matt, Ann and frankie grew up together, they lived next door to eachother. Matt finally made his move and showed Anna that he did like her and they were more than friends on her birthday, the best birthday of her life. Matt and Anna were together but kept it a secret because Matt was scared of the way his sister would react to the news. Matt wanted to tell her during their break
More...
Nov 08, 2011
English
rated it:
34 years ago my brother died in a car accident, I was a little over a year old, he was three. I don't remember much about him, save one strange memory of him standing outside the car entertaining me while my mom pumps and pays for gas. I recall the car, the sun sparkling off of the metal on the window and the smell of the summer day mingling with the smell of the gasoline. And, of course, I have the stories, of how he called me Finnie Shell for Stephanie Michelle, how he would chase me around th
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Oct 29, 2011
Emily (You Are Beautiful)
rated it:
Concept Ideas: 4/5
Storyline/Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars
I just love love loved this book! I did not expect it to be so good. At first, it seems like a typical, light summer read. I was totally wrong. You immediately from page one get sucked into the story that is Frankie, Anna, and Matt. From page one, you know that the story will NOT be easy.
I read Sarah Ockler's "Fixing Delilah" before this one More...
Storyline/Plot: 4.5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars
I just love love loved this book! I did not expect it to be so good. At first, it seems like a typical, light summer read. I was totally wrong. You immediately from page one get sucked into the story that is Frankie, Anna, and Matt. From page one, you know that the story will NOT be easy.
I read Sarah Ockler's "Fixing Delilah" before this one More...
Oct 16, 2011
Cherylann
rated it:
I read this book in honor of banned books week. Now that I'm finished, I don't quite understand why it was banned. The parent who challenged the book cited promiscuity. Okay, I can understand that, I suppose. However, I didn't find the girls to be promiscuous. In fact, they seemed like "normal" 16 year old girls, worrying about the things 16 year olds worry about. Furthermore, I think that Ockler addressed the issues surrounding virginity and sex with sensitivity and frankness. The par
More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Oct 07, 2011
Bibliojunkies
rated it:
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 is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find More...
"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 is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find More...
Oct 01, 2011
Valeria
rated it:
I was actually kind of disappointed with this book. I read so many good reviews that I guess I expected so much more.
I know what loss is like, even though it's a different one. But, even so, the way Anna deals with Matt's death is kind of... strange.
I mean, the crying, freaking out, not talk, supporting Frankie's bad-ass behaviour... all of that I understand and relate to. But it seemed to me that Anna was a little superfual about what she felt for Matt.
I mean, is a year really More...
I know what loss is like, even though it's a different one. But, even so, the way Anna deals with Matt's death is kind of... strange.
I mean, the crying, freaking out, not talk, supporting Frankie's bad-ass behaviour... all of that I understand and relate to. But it seemed to me that Anna was a little superfual about what she felt for Matt.
I mean, is a year really More...
