Sweethearts

Jennifer changes her looks and her life but cannot forget the experiences of her childhood and her first friend/love. Told in flashbacks with increasing promises of horrors of the past, this was a dramatic and memorable read. ( )

I think my biggest beef with this book is the cover and title. The story itself was good and fairly moving at times. The characters were interesting enough. But the romantic element that the cover and title lead you to expect? Yeah, not there. You can't call a book "Sweethearts" if there isn't a romantic element! You can't put a pink heart-shaped sugar cookie on the cover if there is no romance! WTF, people? I mean, okay, the main characters were CHILDHOOD sweethearts. 8 YEARS ago. That doesn't count! Was the bite out of the cookie supposed to indicate something to me that I didn't pick up on? I guess that's what I get for not reading the inside flap carefully enough. Although it doesn't lead you to believe that there won't be romance in the book! *Pssshhh*

ANYWAY, the story is interesting. I thought Cameron was a really complicated and intriguing character. Jennifer/Jenna... meh... I thought she could have used a little more development over the course of the story. You could tell she grew a little bit, but it was SLOW. I mean, she had her issues... but I dunno. They just didn't seem like enough to me—enough to be such a strong motivation in her life. *shrugs*

So yeah, it was an all right book. Not my favorite. ( )

This is the second Sara Zarr book I've read (listened to on audio), and I really, really like her writing. Jennifer Harris/Jenna Vaughn is a completely believable, compelling, and sympathetic character. As a pretty, popular high school student (Jenna), she is ashamed of her fat, lonely younger self (Jennifer), and afraid that if her new friends find out what she was really like, they won't like her any more.

But this is far more than a shallow story about a girl who's afraid her friends won't like her if they really know her; the story hinges on a traumatic event in Jennifer's past, an event that took place at her friend Cameron Quick's house on her ninth birthday. Cameron was her only friend, and shortly after the birthday incident, he disappeared; other kids at school told Jennifer he died, and she believed them. So it's a shock when, on her seventeenth birthday, he returns.

Cameron's return prompts desperate questions and swirling emotions on Jenna's part, jealousy in Jenna's boyfriend Ethan, curiosity from her friends Katie and Steph, and guilt in Jenna's mom. Readers will be eager to find out the answers to Jenna's questions - where has Cameron been? If he knew where she was, why wasn't he in touch earlier? The truth about what happened when they were nine is revealed in pieces interspersed with the present narrative. Overall, Sweethearts is a truly satisfying story.

Quotes:

...I'd spent all of junior high and high school observing those around me to see what "normal" looked like. I'd tried to learn it from the outside in... (disc 5 / p. 176)

...the longing that lurked just beneath all my looking began, finally, to poke through the surface. (disc 5 / p. 210) ( )

The last chapter or so of this book made me really nostalgic for my friends. It made me want to call them each up to tell them why I love them so much and to just hear their voices. Though, like any other book, there were aspects of this book that I didn't like (that I will leave out for the sake of not having spoilers), there were far more moments where I felt a connection with the characters, I felt the emotions, and I felt like the words and descriptions Zarr used were perfect.

I read this book in one sitting and I don't regret it at all. I loved the friendship between Jennifer/Jenna and Cameron Quick. ( )

This one started out with a bang and ended with a bit of a fizzle. A good one for girls and realistic fiction fans. Overall, an enjoyable read, but the ending wasn't great. ( )