Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Page Count: 336
Stars: 5 / 5

GOODREADS SUMMARY:

‘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.

How do I even explain how much I loved this book? When I first picked it up, I was unsure if I would like it or not. I figured that it would just be a very sad story because of the description. The thing is: it wasn't. Not entirely, anyway.

Once I began this book, I couldn't put it down. Hannah Harrington's writing is SO GOOD - she's become one of my all-time favorite authors because of it. This book was never boring, and I love it when I find a book like this.

THE CHARACTERS:

I connected with Harper, the main character, even though I'm not very much like her. Since this novel is told in first-person, you get to see the inner workings of Harper's mind. Her thought processes seemed very realistic, and she was three-dimensional and I really began to feel for her. When times got tough, I was rooting for Harper all the way.

I struggled to connect with Laney, Harper's best friend, at first. As the story unfolded, I really began to care for her and hope the story panned out well for her.

As for Jake, I was very unsure of him at first. The first scene with him, he seemed very dark and mysterious, leading me to think this would end up like your typical "dark/mysterious cheesy romance" but it wasn't! As I learned more about Jake, I ended up loving him too!

All in all, the characters were perfect and imperfect in all the right ways.

THE PLOT:

Their roadtrip was full of random stops and fun scenes, and I loved how much music played into the story. Being a lover of music myself, it was so fun to see the author make references to artists I listen to and songs I love. Overall, the plot was nicely paced and compelling.

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