Saving June Review

Author: Hannah Harrington
Release Date: November 22, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Most appropriate for ages: 14+
How I got it: Received for review through Netgalley 

When her older sister commits suicide and her divorcing parents decide to divide the ashes, Harper Scott takes her sister's urn to the one place June always wanted to go: California. On the road with her best friend, plus an intriguing guy with a mysterious connection to June, Harper discovers truths about her sister, herself and life.

I knew that I would love this book when there was a debate on the existence of modern day punk rock in the first eighty pages or so. I was soooo right. Saving June is a completely fantastic book. I devoured it in less than twenty four hours and I loved every single second of it.

...There may be a gush-fest ahead. You've been warned.

Harper Scott (the main character) is a lot like me, and also a lot not like me. We're both sarcastic, have trouble expressing and sometimes even feeling emotions, and like indie rock, but Harper is a lot stronger and tougher than me. She was such a wonderfully realistic character and I loved her.

Every character was realistic and great, actually. I was really impressed that Harper and Laney were so close and always had each other's backs. You don't see enough of that in YA these days. It's all, "Oh you stole my boyfriend," and crap like that but not in Saving June!< And I'm not even gonna try and write about Jake or I'd probably just fangirl for a few paragraphs. You're welcome. Basically, Saving June had everything I ever wanted in a book: a story of grief, a romance, lots and lots of music, a sexy guy, political activism, an amazing road trip, fantastic humor, lots of tears...everything, guys. I referred to it as my Soul Book because of it, and I stand by that.

I have several highlighted quotes on my e-reader of funny jokes, profound thoughts, or just things that resonated with me. As you can tell, I completely loved this book. So. Much. I need my own copy to go on my Favorites shelf because I already want to re-read it. It got to me in all the right ways, and I feel like I can't properly describe exactly how it did that...hence the crappy review you read.

Plot: Brilliant and unique.

Characters: Fantastic.

Writing: Amazing.

Ending: Per-fect-ion.

Kid Friendly? There was sex, drugs, drinking, and swearing.

Overall: