Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Title: Saving June

Author: Hannah Harrington

Age Group: Older Teens

# of Pages: 384

My Rating: 4.5/5

Harper's sister, June, committed suicide. Devastated, Harper has no idea why her perfect older sister decided to do so. In order to fulfill June's wish to go to California, Harper decided to embark in a journey to spread her sister's ashes to the place she always dreamed of living in. Tagged along with her is her best friend, Laney, and Jake, a classic-rock fanatic who had a connection with June.

On a road trip to the west coast, the three encountered new people and new experiences. Harper learns about herself and her sister on the journey when she discovers that nothing is all it appears sometimes.

I somewhat expected the novel to be a really depressing from the fact that the protagonist's sister killed herself. However, it turned out to be a very swell contemporary novel that I am sure many people of all ages will enjoy and take to heart.

I had conflicts with Harper sometimes in the novel. There were times where I would really like her personality as she would stand up for herself and take no crap from anyone. Then there are the times where she would get slightly under my nerves in certain situations. Overall though, I found her to be extremely dimensional with personal conflicts who still has a lot to learn. Jake and Laney who have problems themselves also added to the enrichment of the story. Although none of them are perfect, you can tell that later down the road they would take a lot from this trip together.

This novel has a lot to do with music, especially songs from your parents time. However, not being much of a classic-rock person myself, it wasn't in my interest. I did think that it added a very nice touch to the story though, because it seemed that it worked so nicely with the road trip.

Saving June is a deep novel with many layers that practically anyone could relate to, teen or not. It is a thought-provoking read with amazing music similar to Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert, without the pure rawness. I highly recommend it! However, the novel will not be out until December 2011 so hold tight! As well, there would be a cover change.

Review copy provided by Harlequin Teen.