Sweethearts.

Sweethearts.
Sara Zarr.

Publisher: Little Brown & Company.

Publication Date:January 1st, 2009.

Genre:YA Friendship,Romance.

Format|Pages:Paperback|217

Source:Library|Goodreads.

4.5 STARS

Sweethearts was a second novel that I read by Sara Zarr and it won’t be my last. I love Zarr’s writing style and the two books that I have read so far, had a different writing style and is what I love in books. No matter what she’s writing, Zarr just sucks you in with her plot, keeping you from putting it down till you finished. I was captured by both Jenna & Cameron from very beginning; I wanted to see what would happen with them next, if things would get better for them.

Cameron was Jennifer’s only friend, through most of her childhood. Jennifer being the fat kid when she was younger, she would constantly get picked on by her classmates. Cameron seemed the only person who even wanted to be around her. Two of them formed a special bond. Then one day Cameron disappears without even saying goodbye to her. Jennifer feels as part of her goes missing, once her best friend is no longer there, to protect her, to stand by her side.

Jennifer soon becomes ‘Jenna’ where nobody knows the real Jennifer. She has loving Stepfather, loving boyfriend Ethan and a great group of friends. Just as Jenna becomes happy again, Cameron comes back after years of being gone, turning Jenna’s world upside down. The more time she starts to spend with Cameron, the more she drifts away from her friends, her boyfriend and old Jennifer starts to re-appear. Jenna wants be around Cameron, but it also brings back memory of secret that her and Cameron kept for years; about the day his father tormented them. However, she finds herself wanting spend more time with him, wanting be close to him.

 There were some slow parts in the book, that’s why I gave it 4 stars. However, I enjoyed most of the book, it was easy read. The bond between Cameron and Jenna felt so real, I had feeling that there was more than friendship, than love there. There was something special between two of them. I was hoping that Cameron would come back, but part of me I knew that he would, that he would come back for her. I could tell from very beginning how important they were to one another. I knew that they made it through those few years till Cameron left because they had each other. This was unlike any other YA romance novel between two childhood friends, it was so much more. I could tell that Cameron was always one she cared about the most, considering fact that even when she thought he was dead, memories of his never faded. Instead of spending her time with her boyfriend, she spends with Cameron instead.

I was bullied and picked in through most of my school years, so I could actually relate to how Jenna was feeling, I felt so bad for her. Part of me wanted to just punch all of those kids. Just because she was fat, doesn’t mean that it gives them way to tormented her way they did. I wasn’t happy with her mother either, I had the feeling that Alan cared about her more than her own mother did. Even after Jenna confessed what happened with Cameron’s father when she was nine, she seemed more concerned about finding Cameron then Jenna; Alan seemed more concerned about her. I felt even worse for Cameron, what happened with her and his father, Jenna was there for it, just once but Cameron had to live with him.

I felt bit badly for Ethan, Jenna wasn’t really fair to him, and she pretty much ditched him, the moment that Cameron came back. I loved Stephanie, now she was a real friend, even after she told her some things, Stephanie was still there and proved to her but no matter what she was, she love her, no matter what. I was just glad that she had other friends to rely on, especially after Ethan left. I wasn’t expecting that, it wasn’t the best ending. I was hoping that he would stay, especially after Jenna told him she loved him. I loved pretty much everything about this book. The cover, I loved it, it really fit the storyline of the novel. I can’t wait to read rest of her novels, which I’m sure I love as much. So far I haven’t been disappointed.