Jess - The Tales Compendium's Reviews > Saving June

Um, wow...

Saving June pretty much had me before I even opened the book. And once I started it, I was in love. As many of you know, I love road trip books. I also love books about music. And swoon-worthy guys and imperfect girls and crazy adventures. And polaroid photographs.... Hannah Harrington somehow managed to grab all my favourite things and put them in her debut novel.

Our three main characters, Harper, Laney and Jake are all quite distinct personalities and while they initially end up on the road trip by way of necessity and blackmail, the three of them survive and learn a few lessons in life.

Harper is easy to relate to, even if a bit clichéd. She's the younger sister who has never felt good enough, always living in her old sister's shadow. But what happens when said older sister is gone? And gone without an explanation? She can’t just slip into the role of the good, helpful daughter, she has her own grief to contend with. Everyone grieves in their own way and Harper's way is to pay homage to June's dreams, not to pretend like it was 'God's divine plan' and all pain will pass.

“As soon as I learned, early on in life, that I could never live up to June, I’d made it a point to be her polar opposite“…. “But I wasn’t interested in being like June, and I definitely didn’t want to live in June’s shadow. Even if mine was less impressive, at least it was my own.”

I love the friendship between Harper and Laney, both have quite distinct personalities but each complements the other. Laney takes everything in her stride, always knows what to say and has a sense of adventure. She has a penchant for vintage clothing, over-sharing and a fascination with movie stars who died young. Harper, however, is the kind of girl who won’t do something she doesn’t want to. She won’t take s*** from anyone and will stick up for what she believes in. She likes hoodies and black nail polish and isn't good with emotion. They are each other’s buffers and will always be there for the other.

Jake is annoying, sweet, opinionated, considerate, music obsessed and totally swoon-worthy. He may present the bad-boy image but he’s not all that he seems and I totally wish he would make ME a 'mixed CD'. The banter between he and Harper is so delicious and I love how he slowly manages to break down her tough exterior.

“At first my stomach twists, and I feel vaguely ashamed, or guilty, or something, for noticing that. But then I think –so what. So what if he’s hot, sometimes. Like every time I look at him. Besides, annoying he may be, but he’s had his shining White Knight Moment, what with the whole saving-me-and-my-best-friend-from-a-brawl-and-probable-jail-time thing. Even if I’m no damsel in distress and he’s miles away from Prince Charming, such displays of gallantry, combined with his not-bad-okay-actually-pretty good looks, make my strange lusty feelings completely justified. Practically obligatory, even.”

As Harper, Jake and Laney get closer to their final destination, they come across a few unexpected events along the way. They end up in the thick of a protest rally in Chicago, get sweaty in a punk mosh-pit, risk rattlesnakes while camping, chill out in a blues lounge in St. Louis, realise that refrigerators can make interesting art, discover Harper can throw a mean right-hook, get sexy with The Doors all while emotions are running high and personal secrets and insecurities come to light.

As I have mentioned, Jake is hugely music obsessed and it is a constant theme throughout the book. From bands such as The Rolling Stones and the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, Hole, Ani DiFranco, Eric Clapton, The Kinks, The Doors, John Coltrane, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, ABBA and Bob Dylan, plus many, many more, classic rock and jazz are covered. All through the book I was thinking I would try and make a playlist of all the songs talked about and then to my delight, at the end of the book were three playlists. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

“And that’s what good music does. It speaks to you. It changes you.”

If you are a peanut butter fan, you probably won’t be able to eat it again without thinking of Jake and blushing. And I don’t think I’ll be able to listen to ‘Tears in Heaven’ by Eric Clapton without swooning at the thought of page 219. And ‘Touch Me’ by The Doors without thinking of pages 298-304. And OMG the song at the end!!!

Saving June will pull at your heart strings, make you laugh, cry, swoon and blush. It’s tender and breath taking, filled with love, loss, grief, uncertainty and forgiveness. I constantly felt that I was sitting in the fourth car seat, next to Laney and totally wanted to jump in and add my own music commentary to Jake’s.

For fans of The Sky is Everywhere and Where She Went.

More Hannah Harrington? Yes please!