Title: Saving JuneAuthor: Hannah Harrington
Release Date: 1st May 2011 (Aust). 22nd November 2011 (US)
My Rating: 5/5
Blurb:
‘If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’
Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one - so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.
When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going - California.
Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.
Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down - again.
In A Nutshell:
Saving June pretty much had me before I even opened the book. And once I started it, I was in love. As many of you know, I love road trip books. I also love books about music. And swoon-worthy guys and imperfect girls and crazy adventures. And polaroid photographs.... Hannah Harrington somehow managed to grab all my favourite things and put them in her debut novel.
Saving June will pull at your heart strings, make you laugh, cry, swoon and blush. It’s tender and breath taking, filled with love, loss, grief, uncertainty and forgiveness.
My Review: (longest review EVER. Sorry!)
Um, wow...
Saving June pretty much had me before I even opened the book. And once I started it, I was in love. As many of you know, I love road trip books. I also love books about music. And swoon-worthy guys and imperfect girls and crazy adventures. And polaroid photographs.... Hannah Harrington somehow managed to grab all my favourite things and put them in her debut novel.
Our three main characters, Harper, Laney and Jake are all quite distinct personalities and while they initially end up on the road trip by way of necessity and blackmail, the three of them survive and learn a few lessons in life.
Harper is easy to relate to, even if a bit clichéd. She's the younger sister who has never felt good enough, always living in her older sister's shadow. But what happens when said older sister is gone? And gone without an explanation? She can’t just slip into the role of the good, helpful daughter, she has her own grief to contend with. Everyone grieves in their own way and Harper's way is to pay homage to June's dreams, not to pretend like it was 'God's divine plan' and all pain will pass.
I love the friendship between Harper and Laney, both have quite distinct personalities but each complements the other. Laney takes everything in her stride, always knows what to say and has a sense of adventure. She has a penchant for vintage clothing, over-sharing and a fascination with movie stars who died young. Harper, however, is the kind of girl who won’t do something she doesn’t want to. She won’t take s*** from anyone and will stick up for what she believes in. She likes hoodies and black nail polish and isn't good with emotion. They are each other’s buffers and will always be there for the other.
Jake is annoying, sweet, opinionated, considerate, music obsessed and totally swoon-worthy. He may present the bad-boy image but he’s not all that he seems and I totally wish he would make ME a 'mixed CD'. The banter between he and Harper is so delicious and I love how he slowly manages to break down her tough exterior.
As Harper, Jake and Laney get closer to their final destination, they come across a few unexpected events along the way. They end up in the thick of a protest rally in Chicago, get sweaty in a punk mosh-pit, risk rattlesnakes while camping, chill out in a blues lounge in St. Louis, realise that refrigerators can make interesting art, discover Harper can throw a mean right-hook, get sexy with The Doors all while emotions are running high and personal secrets and insecurities come to light.
As I have mentioned, Jake is hugely music obsessed and it is a constant theme throughout the book. From bands such as The Rolling Stones and the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, Hole, Ani DiFranco, Eric Clapton, The Kinks, The Doors, John Coltrane, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, ABBA and Bob Dylan, plus many, many more, classic rock and jazz are covered. All through the book I was thinking I would try and make a playlist of all the songs talked about and then to my delight, at the end of the book were three playlists. Happy, happy, joy, joy!
If you are a peanut butter fan, you probably won’t be able to eat it again without thinking of Jake and blushing. And I don’t think I’ll be able to listen to ‘Tears in Heaven’ by Eric Clapton without swooning at the thought of page 219. And ‘Touch Me’ by The Doors without thinking of pages 298-304. And OMG the song at the end!!!
Saving June will pull at your heart strings, make you laugh, cry, swoon and blush. It’s tender and breath taking, filled with love, loss, grief, uncertainty and forgiveness. I constantly felt that I was sitting in the fourth car seat, next to Laney and totally wanted to jump in and add my own music commentary to Jake’s.
For fans of The Sky is Everywhere and Where She Went.
More Hannah Harrington? Yes please!
Second Opinions
inkcrush
Irresistible Reads
‘If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’
Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one - so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.
When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going - California.
Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.
Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down - again.
In A Nutshell:
Saving June pretty much had me before I even opened the book. And once I started it, I was in love. As many of you know, I love road trip books. I also love books about music. And swoon-worthy guys and imperfect girls and crazy adventures. And polaroid photographs.... Hannah Harrington somehow managed to grab all my favourite things and put them in her debut novel.
Saving June will pull at your heart strings, make you laugh, cry, swoon and blush. It’s tender and breath taking, filled with love, loss, grief, uncertainty and forgiveness.
My Review: (longest review EVER. Sorry!)
Um, wow...
Saving June pretty much had me before I even opened the book. And once I started it, I was in love. As many of you know, I love road trip books. I also love books about music. And swoon-worthy guys and imperfect girls and crazy adventures. And polaroid photographs.... Hannah Harrington somehow managed to grab all my favourite things and put them in her debut novel.
Our three main characters, Harper, Laney and Jake are all quite distinct personalities and while they initially end up on the road trip by way of necessity and blackmail, the three of them survive and learn a few lessons in life.
Harper is easy to relate to, even if a bit clichéd. She's the younger sister who has never felt good enough, always living in her older sister's shadow. But what happens when said older sister is gone? And gone without an explanation? She can’t just slip into the role of the good, helpful daughter, she has her own grief to contend with. Everyone grieves in their own way and Harper's way is to pay homage to June's dreams, not to pretend like it was 'God's divine plan' and all pain will pass.
“As soon as I learned, early on in life, that I could never live up to June, I’d made it a point to be her polar opposite“…. “But I wasn’t interested in being like June, and I definitely didn’t want to live in June’s shadow. Even if mine was less impressive, at least it was my own.”
I love the friendship between Harper and Laney, both have quite distinct personalities but each complements the other. Laney takes everything in her stride, always knows what to say and has a sense of adventure. She has a penchant for vintage clothing, over-sharing and a fascination with movie stars who died young. Harper, however, is the kind of girl who won’t do something she doesn’t want to. She won’t take s*** from anyone and will stick up for what she believes in. She likes hoodies and black nail polish and isn't good with emotion. They are each other’s buffers and will always be there for the other.
Jake is annoying, sweet, opinionated, considerate, music obsessed and totally swoon-worthy. He may present the bad-boy image but he’s not all that he seems and I totally wish he would make ME a 'mixed CD'. The banter between he and Harper is so delicious and I love how he slowly manages to break down her tough exterior.
“At first my stomach twists, and I feel vaguely ashamed, or guilty, or something, for noticing that. But then I think –so what. So what if he’s hot, sometimes. Like every time I look at him. Besides, annoying he may be, but he’s had his shining White Knight Moment, what with the whole saving-me-and-my-best-friend-from-a-brawl-and-probable-jail-time thing. Even if I’m no damsel in distress and he’s miles away from Prince Charming, such displays of gallantry, combined with his not-bad-okay-actually-pretty good looks, make my strange lusty feelings completely justified. Practically obligatory, even.”
As Harper, Jake and Laney get closer to their final destination, they come across a few unexpected events along the way. They end up in the thick of a protest rally in Chicago, get sweaty in a punk mosh-pit, risk rattlesnakes while camping, chill out in a blues lounge in St. Louis, realise that refrigerators can make interesting art, discover Harper can throw a mean right-hook, get sexy with The Doors all while emotions are running high and personal secrets and insecurities come to light.
As I have mentioned, Jake is hugely music obsessed and it is a constant theme throughout the book. From bands such as The Rolling Stones and the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, Hole, Ani DiFranco, Eric Clapton, The Kinks, The Doors, John Coltrane, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, ABBA and Bob Dylan, plus many, many more, classic rock and jazz are covered. All through the book I was thinking I would try and make a playlist of all the songs talked about and then to my delight, at the end of the book were three playlists. Happy, happy, joy, joy!
“And that’s what good music does. It speaks to you. It changes you.”
If you are a peanut butter fan, you probably won’t be able to eat it again without thinking of Jake and blushing. And I don’t think I’ll be able to listen to ‘Tears in Heaven’ by Eric Clapton without swooning at the thought of page 219. And ‘Touch Me’ by The Doors without thinking of pages 298-304. And OMG the song at the end!!!
Saving June will pull at your heart strings, make you laugh, cry, swoon and blush. It’s tender and breath taking, filled with love, loss, grief, uncertainty and forgiveness. I constantly felt that I was sitting in the fourth car seat, next to Laney and totally wanted to jump in and add my own music commentary to Jake’s.
For fans of The Sky is Everywhere and Where She Went.
More Hannah Harrington? Yes please!
Second Opinions
inkcrush
Irresistible Reads
Also, Nic at Irresistible Reads has done a "My Book Boyfriend" post on Jake. Check it out for some yummy quotes and Jake inspired pics :)
i LOVED where she went, so i'll be trying to get my hands on it. the cover is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I'm reading The Taste of Apple now too. It's far better than I thought!
ReplyDeleteNice review. I'm really sad that I didn't discover Harlequin Teen's selection (Aus) earlier. Do you know how you can buy backlist titles on the site, or is it just for recent releases? Regardless, this is one book I really want to read!
Great review. The book sounds amazing, but a little like The Sky is Everwhere. This is definitely going on my TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteAnna - This is the book I bought when we were all at the store last week and I said I really shouldn't buy more books lol. Totally worth it :)
ReplyDeleteCass - It looks like you can buy backlist titles but you have to search for them, you can't bring up a page with them all listed. They should fix that :S And yeh, Taste of Apple is turning out to be better than I thought it would be too.
Lisa - It is amazing. I didn't even think it was like The Sky is Everywhere until I sat back at the end and tried to think of what I could compare it to. Don't worry, it totally stands on it's own two feet. :)
OMG.
ReplyDeleteLove this review. And feel like some peanut butter right now ;) LOL!
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome review! I must get a copy of this - it has a gorgeous cover plus I love the idea of all these music references! Now I just need a road trip as well... hmmm
ReplyDeletethis review is so completely awesome jess.
ReplyDeletei think it is my fave review of yours yet :)
also, i feel very bonded with you over this book :D and it's true ~ peanut butter has suddenly become very sexy ;)
love nomes
Aww thanks Nomes. It's funny, I don't even like peanut butter but for some reason it has more appeal now :P
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds amazing! I think I've only read really positive reviews of it so far, and I love the sound of the music theme. Definitely will be looking this one up!
ReplyDelete