Sweethearts is one of those novels that my words will always be inferior in describing. It's one of those novels that is experienced, not just read. It's a novel that makes you question yourself and what you believe about yourself, and the world, and your own personal history. It's what I like to call a "What If" novel. What if this happened to me? What would I do? What if there is no right or wrong way to react?
What would you do if someone from your past, someone you thought was dead (and might as well have been) suddenly reappears and brings along with him secrets and pain of a former life you thought you'd successfully buried long ago? For Jenna, the sudden reappearance of Cameron, her best childhood friend, brings confusing memories as she struggles to reconcile who she is now at 17, with the Jennifer she was in 5th grade.
I loved it. Loved it in a way I've loved only three other books: Raise High the Roof-beam Carpenters, Looking For Alaska, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Novels that made me cry, hold my breath, and hope they would never end.
Sweethearts is the type of book that makes me wish it was around when I was a teen. It's a book I would have loved / needed at that age. Like Looking for Alaska and Nick and Norah, Sweethearts is a book that makes me wish I had the ability to go back in time and experience them again for the first time as a teen.
Rating: 5 closet food binges out of 5.
What would you do if someone from your past, someone you thought was dead (and might as well have been) suddenly reappears and brings along with him secrets and pain of a former life you thought you'd successfully buried long ago? For Jenna, the sudden reappearance of Cameron, her best childhood friend, brings confusing memories as she struggles to reconcile who she is now at 17, with the Jennifer she was in 5th grade.
I loved it. Loved it in a way I've loved only three other books: Raise High the Roof-beam Carpenters, Looking For Alaska, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Novels that made me cry, hold my breath, and hope they would never end.
Sweethearts is the type of book that makes me wish it was around when I was a teen. It's a book I would have loved / needed at that age. Like Looking for Alaska and Nick and Norah, Sweethearts is a book that makes me wish I had the ability to go back in time and experience them again for the first time as a teen.
Rating: 5 closet food binges out of 5.
This is a simple and somewhat interesting teen book about relationships. It gives fictional accounts of an overwhelming change from geek to beauty, which we all no gives false hope to all those teens reading it instead of dating etc. To me is was ok, a good story with likeable enough characters but the book had no complete ending and really in looking back at it, no real story.
Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com
I enjoyed this book. SWEETHEARTS is a character-driven novel where there isn't much action but a big emotional journey with quite a kick.
Jennifer Harris is a social outcast. She is fat and the other girls in third grade are very mean. She eats lunch alone until the day that she decides to make Cameron Quick her friend. After that, she and Cameron are always together, both of them outcasts.
Then, one day Cameron disappears, and the other kids tell her that he is dead.
The book then forwards on to present day and Jennifer has recreated herself. She is pretty, popular, has a cute boyfriend, and has changed her name to Jenna. She is a senior but she feels like she is just acting a part. It takes a lot of energy to be the girl that she is.
Enter Cameron Quick -- who she thought was dead. He reenters her life and the past comes flooding back in big waves. They reconnect and discover what real love is all about. I liked the fact that this relationship between Cameron and Jennifer was real but not sexual. In fact, when she does have sex with her boyfriend she feels unconnected to him. This
love is not about sex but about experiences that will live within you for a lifetime. It rushes in and takes over.
The characters of the story were real and you truly wanted to be their friends. I especially liked Jennifer's dad. He was someone that I wish I could talk with for hours. The book is also one that doesn't have a definitive ending. I kept thinking up fun endings for days afterwards.
I enjoyed this book. SWEETHEARTS is a character-driven novel where there isn't much action but a big emotional journey with quite a kick.
Jennifer Harris is a social outcast. She is fat and the other girls in third grade are very mean. She eats lunch alone until the day that she decides to make Cameron Quick her friend. After that, she and Cameron are always together, both of them outcasts.
Then, one day Cameron disappears, and the other kids tell her that he is dead.
The book then forwards on to present day and Jennifer has recreated herself. She is pretty, popular, has a cute boyfriend, and has changed her name to Jenna. She is a senior but she feels like she is just acting a part. It takes a lot of energy to be the girl that she is.
Enter Cameron Quick -- who she thought was dead. He reenters her life and the past comes flooding back in big waves. They reconnect and discover what real love is all about. I liked the fact that this relationship between Cameron and Jennifer was real but not sexual. In fact, when she does have sex with her boyfriend she feels unconnected to him. This
love is not about sex but about experiences that will live within you for a lifetime. It rushes in and takes over.
The characters of the story were real and you truly wanted to be their friends. I especially liked Jennifer's dad. He was someone that I wish I could talk with for hours. The book is also one that doesn't have a definitive ending. I kept thinking up fun endings for days afterwards.
Wow. This book was great. I would recommend it to anyone who has had a best friend that left a real impression on them.
My Thoughts: This was such a good book! We are introduced to Jennifer and Cameron as children. They are best friends. They do everything together, and Cameron "gets" Jennifer even when all the other kids make fun of her. All of a sudden, one day he is gone, and all the kids tell her he's dead, so she spends weeks crying over him. Years go by, Jennifer has changed into a whole other person. Now she goes by Jenna and has grew out of her "kid stage." Cameron shows back up in town! And he looks different, hot even. Jennifer still feels that connection towards him as kids, not quite a brother, but not a boyfriend either. Don't want to give away the whole book but this is truly a good book. Had me wanting to laugh at times and cry at times. Give it a read!
Overall: I loved it! It was such a good and heartfelt story!
Cover: Its so plain, yet so gorgeous. I love the cookie. It looks like a sugar cookie with pink frosting. Makes me very hungry
Overall: I loved it! It was such a good and heartfelt story!
Cover: Its so plain, yet so gorgeous. I love the cookie. It looks like a sugar cookie with pink frosting. Makes me very hungry
Sweet, short novel.
This was such a sweet book! I fell in love with Cameron<3
