Synopsis: 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. (Goodreads.com)
Harper is a sarcastic, disdainful, but truly hurting young woman who just cannot comprehend that the perfect June, her older sister, has committed suicide. The thought remains incredibly unbelievable, even at June's wake, the book's opening scene. While Harper is not numb, she is also not totally feeling what it means to have lost her sister. It is Harper's struggle to come to terms with the fact that she will never have the answers she searches for that makes this book so engrossing.
Harper is a good sister. She loved June, and June loved Harper. That much is clear. Sure, they had their spats as siblings are prone to do but she is so freaked out by the fact that there is so much about June that she did not know, starting with Jake Tolan and his mix CD. This CD, and this boy, leads to a road trip across the United States to California, the place June most loved, though she had never been there. It's the kind of love you have for a very engrossing dream, a goal, and a hope. Harper wants to complete that dream for June so she takes her ashes, leaves her mom grieving, her aunt whining, and heads west.
The banter between Harper and Jake is wonderful, humorous and just the perfect amount of sarcastic. It's obvious there is chemistry between them but there are also a myriad of secrets and emotions, all relating to June, that have to be worked out way before anything could happen. Then of course, something pretty darn powerful does happen.
I do not think I'm articulating very well just how much I liked this book, just how very much I was devastated by the loss of June even though she only appears in a few flashbacks. I felt for Harper so very, very much. Harper is a character that I think can be universally empathized with because she is going through a loss so very heartbreaking that it does in fact lift itself off of the pages, straight into the reader's emotional stratosphere.
I really enjoyed the road trip aspect of this book. It started out as somewhat bittersweet but I think Harper eventually got into the spirit of it, enjoying her time with Jake, and her best friend, Laney. They stop at not only notable tourist locations but they go to some pretty darn unusual spots too. I am a fan of road trip books so this particular theme works well for me. I thought it was a fitting end for June, a girl who never had the chance to experience anything outside her small Michigan town.
Music is an important part of this book but I was so, so happy that it was not a book littered with lyrics. I kind of hate that and I think it takes away from the power of the writer. While there were a few lyrics quoted here and there, they did not make up the bulk of the text and in fact, not having them made me enjoy the music aspect of this story more because I could connect with WHY Jake was so passionate about music, what he had to say about music. And the fact that he loves ABBA AND Johnny Cash (who is mentioned twice in this book, YAY!) shows what great taste in music he had. (I am a huge fan of both.)
There is one element of this story that did not work for me and it was the story line Laney, Harper's best friend, went through. It was given short-shrift in this story and was not fully fleshed out, making it this dangling plot line that only took away the focus from Harper's journey. If it had been a stronger element of the story, I think it would have worked a lot better. I really liked Laney as a character and as a support system for Harper, but I think the author was trying to bring her into her own spotlight but there just wasn't enough time in the story to do that, so her big moment felt very abbreviated to me.
However, on the whole, this is a thoroughly engrossing read. I think it would make a great companion novel to Courtney Summers' Fall For Anything. This is Hannah Harrington's first book and I was very impressed with its quality and storytelling. There is a lot to discuss and think about and on top of that, it's just a great emotional story with depth and weight. There are no real answers for Harper but there is some resolution, a chance to go forward with her life without constantly wondering. And on top of that, there is a great romance that blossoms between Jake and Harper. It's not the focus of the story, but rather a great bonus.
Saving June is available now from Harlequin Teen.
Other reviews:
Consumed By Books reviews Saving June
Dear Author reviews Saving June
ARC provided by Netgalley.
