This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/This is one of those books that I don’t own but MUST ADD TO MY BOOKSHELVES because I loved it so much. Maybe I’m the only one, but whenever I read a book from the library or borrow a book from a friend and end up loving the book, the bookmonster in me awakes and demands to own the book.
Harlequin Teen was kind enough to send me Saving June in digital version. Unfortunately, that means that I can’t showcase this a-ma-zing book on my physical shelves and am bound to buy a copy eventually.
I’m sure you understand now that I love this book. I basically read it in a day because I could and because there wasn’t anything I’d rather wanted to do at the time. I’ll try to keep it short, because I just want you to start reading Saving June as quickly as possible. Saving June is about Harper who is having a very difficult time coping with her older sister’s suicide. Harper has always felt like she was standing in June’s shadow and doesn’t know where she stands without her sister. Add to that a disappeared father, a mother who tries to find comfort in alcohol and an aunt from hell. Trying to run away from all that, Harper goes on a road-trip with her best friend and a complete stranger (who seems to know June) to the one place June always wanted to go to: California.
What I loved about this book is that it seemed to get me. I know that sounds super cheesy and cliche, but I’m sure you have some books that completely get you too. And the funny thing is, this feeling of a book or a song ‘getting you’ is described in Saving June:
“It's just nice, I guess. Knowing that someone else can put into words what I feel. That there are people who have been through things worse than I have, and they come out on the other side okay. Not only that, but they made some kind of twisted, fucked-up sense of the completely senseless. They made it mean something. These songs tell me I'm not alone. If you look at it at that way, music... music can see you through anything.”
And I recognize this feeling described by Jake. Although he talks about music, I have this feeling with music as well as with books. And this book is one of them. Although my situation wasn’t similar to Harper’s, I did lose family a little over a year ago. The way Hannah Harrington described exactly how Harper felt was weirdly so comforting and reassuring. Despite the fact that Harper is a fictional character, it still feels reassuring to know that someone else has been through this or even worse (like Jake mentions).
Harper’s feelings came across as very authentic to me, but maybe that’s because I recognized Harper’s feelings. Actually, all the characters in this book are so realistic. Of course there’s Harper, who tells you her story herself. Her best friend, Laney, is not just any quirky best friend who’s funny every now and then. Their relationship is very special (and I also recognized a little bit of myself and one of my besties in them). Then there’s Jake, who’s so mysterious and such a charmer. Yet Harper does not get along with him all the time at all! I also love that their relationship is not your typical ‘boy meets girl’ kind of story.
And then there’s the road-trip element. I like the adventurous element of a road-trip and the additional tension of having our three main characters locked up in a car most of the time. And the mixed tapes and the little music history lessons given by Jake go hand in hand with the road-trip. This book even comes with the tracklisting of the mentioned mixed tapes in the back of it.
Just go read this book. Please?