Saving June ~ Hannah Harrington (eARC) review

Saving June
Harlequin Teen
November 22, 2011
336 pages
add to Goodreads/buy on Amazon

Harper Scott's older sister recently - and unexpectedly committed suicide shortly before her high school graduation. . . Just a few more weeks and she would have been June who died in June, Harper thinks. But she didn't make it long. Harper's divorcing parents plan to divide June's ashes.

Harper plans to take them to the only place June ever really wanted to go: California. On a road trip with her best friend Laney and a guy, Jake who has a mysterious connection to June, Harper learns things about herself, June and life.




Saving June is an excellent story with very distinct characters. From Harper to Laney to Jake, each character is most definitely their own and when they're in a group, the novel really comes a live. Each of the characters has their own quirks and traits that make them, them - and different not only from each other but characters in other books.

The road trip of Saving June is, admittedly, not one that everyone reading would want to take. The characters do engage in some activities that are not for everyone. Yet, that's part of what makes it great. Whether you're one of the readers who thinks their trips sounds like the greatest one ever and will spend the book working out way to hide out as a stow-a-way or one who knows right a way it's a trip you would not work out on, it's still a book for you.

Neither Saving June's story nor its characters alienate anyone. Love everything the characters are and do or be incredibly put-off by some of it, it's okay. If you're the latter, you can still enjoy the trip vicariously. Harrington doesn't ask that you be the same as her characters to enjoy her book. The closest I can think to compare it to is I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert (yet much lighter).

All of that is not even talking about the absolute music love that is in Saving June. It's a great book for someone who's always watching Behind the Music but you want them to read a book - because it's almost Behind the Music in book form but with plot and emotion and greatness. (And playlists in the back!)

Saving June is really unlike any book I've read in a long, long while and I absolutely love that - and it.

8/10


read through NetGalley & the publisher - thank you!