YA Review: Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Hey, look, a review! I know, I'm as shocked as you all ;)

Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Published: May 1st, 2011 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Binding: Paperback
Page Count: 322 in my paperback copy
Part of a series? Nope.
Amazon link.

Summary (from the back of the book 'cause the goodreads one is a bit longer): Harper Scott's older sister, June, took her own lift a wek before high school graduation, leaving Harper devastated. So when her divorcing parents decide to split up June's ashes, Harper steals the urn and takes off cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going - California.

Enter Jake Tolan, a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession... and an unknown connection to June. When he insists on joining them, Harper's just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanor and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might just be exactly what Harper needs. Except... Jake's keeping a secret that has the power to turn her life upside down - again.

Review: Let me start out by saying - this is a BAD book to read while you're wearing makeup. I bawled like a baby reading this. I looked like a freaking raccoon and trust me, that is not a good look. But this was definitely a good book. It was an *awesome* book. I read it all in pretty much one day and the only reason I stopped at the end for a couple minutes because I knew things were about to get sadder and I couldn't handle it all at once. Because I'm a wimp like that.

Then I started bawling to my best friend how she's never ever ever allowed to die but that's another story.

Plot: You read the summary, right? Dead sister, ashes, road trip, best friend, cute boy, California. Got it? Good. Why do I even have this section? :P

Characters: Harper was one of my favourite characters ever. She cursed (a lot), and smoked (which I don't like as a rule - I live with a smoker and let me say, it is not an attractive habit - but it was realistic for her character and people DO smoke) and made really dumb decisions (which is also realistic considering, hello, her sister just killed herself) and I just adored her.

Let's get this out of the way: Jake. Holy heck, that boy was hot. And I know I shouldn't objectify and there were totally other things about him that were awesome - music love, a van named Joplin, plus he could be a total sweetie - but yeah. He was crazy hot.

Laney was an awesome character, too. Only a best friend would agree to go along with your craziness like that. Trust me. I come up with a lot of crazy things that mine won't do :P

There were great side characters, too, except for her aunt. Oh, how I hated her aunt. That woman - ugh. I'm sure she meant well and all, but man, I hated her so much.

Cons, complaints, bad stuff, etc.: It made me cry. A lot. A LOT. For like five chapters.

PG-13 stuff: Cursing, drinking, smoking, adult situations, brief nudity. You name it, basically. But it was realistic and not glorified and felt necessary to the book. I didn't have a problem with any of it even though Harper was only sixteen. You might, but I didn't and I'm kinda picky about this stuff.

Cover comments: I actually like the paperback cover more than the hardcover cover. It's a lot more eye-catching to my personal tastes. I just had to grab it at the library and not just because it was new and I knew that it was new because I always notice when there are new YA books because it doesn't happen that often. I think I've actually seen the stock photo of this before. It just seems familiar. Anyone else?

Anyways, I think it's gorgeous and I like that the focus isn't the girl, really.

Conclusion: In case you can't tell (I mean, it has been a while since I've written an actual review), I adored Saving June. It was sad and sweet and sometimes funny in really random spots that I wasn't expecting at all but really appreciated. I really honestly have no words for this book. I'm not the gushy type by nature and it's hard for me to explain how much I loved it. So just go read it yourself and find out how good it is, okay? Okay. Four and a half roses.

Other notes:

Um. Most of them are either spoiler-y or innappropriate, so... that's all, folks!

Peace and cookies,
Laina