Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Title: Saving June
Author: Hannah Harrington
Blurb:
‘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.

 
Links:
Saving June on Goodreads
 
 Kala's Review:
It's the absolute best feeling ever when you go in to a book without expectations and come out going "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AMAZING!"

I was given a free copy of this book via Netgalley (THANK YOU). Prior to this I had just read Speechless, by the same author, and loved it. Speechless was a 5-star read from me, and Saving June surpasses it.

The book starts off with the main character, Harper, reeling from her sister June's suicide six days prior. June was always the "good girl" and Harper was the delinquent. She struggles to figure out the reasons WHY June would take her own life. Harper's parents are too busy dealing with their own issues (her mother still upset about the divorce, her father busy with his new girlfriend) to offer any support for Harper.

When her parents decide they're going to split June's ashes in to two separate urns, Harper takes matters in to her own hands. She takes the urn on a road trip to California, with her best friend and a mysterious boy who had some sort of relationship with June that Harper doesn't quite understand yet. The road trip ends up being more of a self discovery thing for Harper, though it also helps her come to terms with her sister's life and death.

This book is just really really really good. The characters all feel so real and alive. Everyone is so believable and I also love to see an author tackling a subject this difficult with such care and consideration. Suicide is a serious issue that is fairly common among teenagers and Harrington did an amazing job showing the different ways suicide can effect people in a family. She also did a great job slowly unraveling June's character and motivations.

The romance that starts between Harper and Jacob is also so perfectly done. It starts off slowly and progresses realistically. These two are both wounded individuals, both impacted by June's death in different ways, and it takes time for them to figure each other out. The ending between them was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I highly recommend this book! Harrington is going on my auto-buy list for sure. As of now, she's 2 for 2 with amazing books and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

5 out of 5 stars.

Link to Kala's review on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/468060020