Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Release Date: November 22, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Rated: YA 14+
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Buy: Amazon ❘ The Book Depository
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‘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.

Going into this book I had no idea what to expect– but in the end I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Granted, I'm a person who is easily content with the books I read, but I really didn't look at the blurb for this one, so I had no real idea of what the story was going to be like.

Harper was a great character– totally the opposite of June, as you'd have guessed. She has that whole badass thing working for her, yet her emotions through the novel are so well played out, her whole struggle with accepting her sister's dead and respecting her wishes makes the reader empathic to her problem.
Laney is another great character. Harper's friend is much more bubbly, open and adventurous than she is (which is what you'd usually expect from the "sidekick" to be honest!) and she's just such a great support, and she has her own little story as well, which I thought blended into the plot very well.
Oh. My. God. JAKE! I'm flipping out right now from over-fangirling. He. Is. PERFECT. Love him. Love his love for music, and since I've always had this thing for musicians, he's even more than perfect.

Speaking of music, there is a TON on the road-trip which these three characters take. I'm absolutely smitten with some of them, and I made an entire playlist for songs to get from this book. Completely inspirational :)
Honestly, I have no idea what took me so long to get to this book. I feel kind of like an idiot right now, reading it so long after it published. Seriously, I'm beating myself up about this, because I'm so full of regret at the moment.

Even though it seemed like a typical young adult contemporary, Saving June is far from that. It's deep– it's got that raw deep emotion in it, which preys on the hearts of humans, evoking tears and laughter. Hannah Harrington has written a brilliant debut, and I can't wait to start on Speechless!

If you like this, try...

• Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard ◆ Goodreads
• Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett ◆ Goodreads