Book Review - Twenty Boy Summer

If you're back in school and already wishing it were summer (or if the weather's got you fooled into thinking maybe it is still summer), pick up Twenty Boy Summer by debut author Sarah Ockler. This hot title has been checked out constantly this summer, but with the arrival of fall, maybe it will be on the shelf a bit more.

Anna, Matt, and Matt's sister Frankie have been friends and neighbors forever. But after Anna's birthday party, Matt surprises her with a kiss, and it looks like maybe two of them have always had stronger feelings for each other. Sneaking around, Matt and Anna find time for moments between just the two of them. They'll tell Frankie, when the time is right, but for now it's a secret. But their plans are shattered when, in an instant, everything changes. With Matt gone, Anna's left with the secret, but can she really tell her best friend that she's been secretly dating her brother for the past month?

Flash forward to a year later. Anna still hasn't told Frankie, and she's been invited to go out to California with Frankie and her parents, who are practically extended family to Anna. Frankie's changed a lot since her brother's death, and she's got a plan for how they'll spend three weeks on the beach in Cali: twenty boy summer. But is Anna ready to move on? Can she let herself fall for someone that's not Matt and never will be? And what can she do about the secret she's kept from her best friend for a whole year?

Find a spot in the sun and soak up what's left of the summer weather with "Twenty Boy Summer," the kind of book you can devour in an afternoon. Sarah Ockler is a new author to watch, and fans of Sarah Dessen, Susane Colasanti, and Deb Caletti, should check this one out.

* * * 1/2
(three and a half stars)