"It happened and it was impossible and beautiful and then it ended before it even really began, leaving nothing behind but secrets and broken hearts."

I'll admit it: when I saw the title Twenty Boy Summer, I thought I was getting a fun, light read like 24 Girls in 7 Days by Alex Bradley. However, Sarah Ockler's debut novel is much more than a fun boy-searching romp. On Anna's birthday, she and her best friend Matt share a kiss. One simple kiss changes everything. They begin sneaking out at night to steal moments together. It's what Anna has been longing for. However, Anna's other best friend is Matt's sister Frankie. They are an inseparable trio. Matt makes Anna promise not to tell Frankie about their relationship--he wants to do this himself on their vacation in California. In a tragic turn of events, Matt suddenly dies before he has a chance to tell Frankie about his feelings for Anna. Anna and Frankie are caught in the grief of Matt's death with an unspoken secret creating a distance between them. Anna has promised Matt, so she is left to wonder what might have been and suffer the loss of the unknown on her own through a difficult year.

Then, the following summer, Frankie's parents decide to help heal the wounds by taking the girls back to the family vacation home in California--the trip that Matt and Frankie were supposed to take the year before. Frankie, who has gotten out of control over the year, challenges Anna to a "20 boy summer." They should meet and date 20 boys on their carefree vacation. Anna hesitantly agrees. Throughout their days at the beach, Anna confronts the difficult task of moving beyond her grief and the reality of revealing her secret to Frankie. This is a story of loss and grief, for sure, but also a story of how healing begins and what friendship means. Twenty Boy Summer will be published June 1, 2009.