YA Double Feature

Saving June, Hannah Harrington (Netgalley eArc)

Harper Scott, trying to come to terms with her perfect older sister June's suicide, takes a road trip and finds love with a mysterious boy who had a connection to June-- and may know more about her sister's life and death than he's telling.

Harper is a fairly strong, likeable character, and I enjoyed that she wasn't the smart, gifted, academic and nearly good at everything protagonist that is so common in YA--but that's because in her family, that role was filled by her sister, who committed suicide before high school graduation. However, I ended up being distracted by the mystery of why her sister would ever want to get married right out of high school--I barely understand the flock who do so right after college. But that's the point-- there are no answers really, for other people's choices and why they do these things, so we don't really get them, and in turn, your enjoyment of the book will hinge on whether that is something you can deal with. It seems somewhat unfair that this was one of the first YA books I read after Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, which has a superficially similar plot, but I found both far more contrived and compelling, strange how that works. There really was the core of a good book here, but Harper doesn't really come into her own into the second half of the book, in which there is an absolute deluge of plot, while the first half is far slower. I think another reason I had trouble clicking with the earlier scenes in the road trip was because I have never been to any of the states, and some of the characters mentioned offhand or in short encounters was uncomfortably stereotypes, and I never really got a sense of places, which I needed, because I don't know anything about these states.

Verdict: Very strong for a debut, with something there and emotional, but just doesn't quite click.

The Bermudez Triangle, Maureen Johnson (Paperbackswap)

Why I read it: I am unintentionally on a mission to read all of Johnson's books

Since coming together at the age of eleven, the Triangle has never been apart. The summer before senior year, however, Nina goes away to a summer program in California. When she returns, she expects to be welcomed back into her friends’ arms with great excitement. Instead, something has changed in the Triangle—Mel and Avery are acting strangely. There are in-jokes Nina doesn’t get, pauses in the conversations that seem to be full of some meaning that she just can’t grasp. She’s suddenly an outsider, and she has no idea why. Until she wanders into a dressing room and finds Mel and Avery kissing. What exactly do you do when your two best friends in the entire world start dating?

Copying & pasting that description, I just noticed something--when the book was published, I was the same exact age as the characters! Even more reason I should have loved it, right? However, I didn't. There just didn't seem to be quite enough plot, and there was background/offscreen parent syndrome. Maybe the OC and Gossip Girl have ruined YA for me--the parents are there and even have their own storylines on screen, while in this novel, they pop up as needed to dole out advice or be awkward or in the way. Also, I attended summer camp at Stanford several years previous, and it just isn't captured; the kinds of things you remember, the places you hang out at, the fountains you play in, isn't mentioned--at Stanford, you don't really have the bay, and she keeps mentioning it! That was really distracting. Also, as a graduate of their crossbay rival, I now feel like I need to be cleansed after saying that word so many times. I liked the idea of the hippie dippie boyfriend (I would, wouldn't I, after the other information I just disclosed, right?), but he's such a cipher and appears onscreen for such a short, ineffective period of time that it is unfortunate that nearly her entire character arc is based on him.

Looking over some of the other reviews though, I don't necessarily disagree--the characters ARE believable, but in the age of exceptional/whatever YA protagonists, it really just doesn't seem to be enough. It is a quiet portrayal of senior year events and relationships, but that's about it. And sometimes though, that works and is enough in a book. I was about to say that perhaps this would be my last Maureen Johnson book, but then I realized I have yet to read The Last Little Blue Envelope, so yes, I will have to read another of hers!

Verdict: Okay, but nothing special. Also, it is really quite dated!