Sweethearts

by Sara Zarr

As children, Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were both social outcasts.They were also one another's only friend.So when Cameron disappears without warning, Jennifer thinks she's lost the only person who will ever understand her.Now in high school, Jennifer has been transformed.Known as Jenna, she's popular, happy, and dating, everything "Jennifer" couldn't be---but she still can't shake the memory of her long-lost friend. When Cameron suddenly reappears, they are both confronted with memories of their shared past and the drastically different paths their lives have taken.Sweethearts is a story about the power of memory, the bond of friendship, and the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts.

• ISBN10: 0316014567
• ISBN13: 9780316014564
• Publish Date: 5 February 2009 (first published 1 January 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
• Imprint: Little, Brown Young Readers
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

I think about how there are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark.

I don't mean the usual faint impression; He was cute, she was nice, they made me laugh, I wish I'd known her better, I remember the time she threw up in class.

And I don't just mean that they change you. A lot of people can change you—the first kid who called you a name, the first teacher who said you were smart, the first person who crowned you best friend. It's the change you remember, the firsts and what they meant, not really the people.

— This kind of made me nostalgic for people I once knew but am no longer in touch with, because we grow up and life goes on. This was an okay read. I just wish there were two POVs instead of one, because the other sweetheart wasn’t fleshed out as much as I wanted him to be.

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This was quite sad, but I loved the idea, that someone can leave such an indelible mark on our lives.

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[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Initial thoughts: With that, I've read all of Sara Zarr's published novels, including Roomies, which she co-authored with Tara Altebrando. It's evident that Sara Zarr tries to tackle the difficult issues. For her earlier works, I think she showed brat promise and did it well but still had a lot of potential. There were some things I thought she could've pushed more but she left them to rest instead. Either way, I think Sweethearts was well-written and I liked the way Sara Zarr narrated her own book. Plot-wise, some parts didn't entirely add up but that's probably also because it's a fairly short book.

[Chelsea]

Initial Thoughts
My initial thoughts were that this book was going to be a typical teen love story. That was only kind of true. You can tell by the title and the synopsis that it is a love story but there were other circumstances in the book that I enjoyed.

My New Best Friend
I don’t know about a best friend but I loved Alan, the step dad. He was really chill and cool. He’d be a good person to go talk to or just hang out with no pressure. He was like a big teddy bear.

My Crush
I didn’t really have a crush going into this book. I liked Cameron but he had a lot of things going on. The other boys were your typical teenagers who just wanted to have a girlfriend. It wasn’t the kind of book where you really love a character I found.

Writing Style
I thought the writing was really good. It didn’t drag on. It was sweet and simple which I found I really liked. She didn’t elaborate on things that weren’t important. Everything she wrote was relevant in some way.

Closing Thoughts
This was a cute, short and sweet book. It didn’t take long to finish it at all. I love that it wasn’t a typical love story. There was no happy ending, or even a happy beginning. There was some intense stuff happening in the characters lives. I liked that because it meant that they weren’t the usually pretty popular girl who meets the new cute guy. It was refreshing and really enjoyable.

Bonus
I loved the cover for this book. It was really simple but really cute. Extra points for that!

Quote
“Because love, love is never finished. It circles and circles, the memories out of order and not always complete.”

[rakesandrogues]

Originally posted at: http://muggle-born.net/sweethearts-by-sara-zarr-book-review/

SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr is a purely character-driven novel centered around Jenna and her mysterious and troubled past with the new boy, Cam. Growing up, Jennifer Harris was the least popular girl at school. Mercilessly teased by bullies, her only friend was Cam. But Cam suddenly disappears one day and Jennifer is left with no explanation. When she reaches high school, Jennifer reinvents herself as Jenna: sweet, popular, someone that everyone just wants to be friends with. But when Cam comes back as the new boy in school, Jenna struggles to keep the past where it should be: behind her.

I love how Zarr skillfully weaves the past with the present. With each chapter set in the past, Zarr gives only a hint of the full story. Her technique will have you flipping the pages until you find out what it is that happened during Jenna’s 9th birthday.

Jenna is an easily relatable character. My heart broke for her as I read the scenes in which she was bullied when she was younger. Jenna struggles with her identity throughout the entire book. She strives to meet everyone’s expectations to get their approval. Jenna’s worst fear is to become that lonely unpopular girl that she once was, and her fear prevents her from being herself. It pained me to see her hide her true self from others.

When it came to Cam, I still felt unsatisfied with his character at the book’s conclusion. He came a long way since he and Jenna had been little, but we really only get a glimpse of his character in SWEETHEARTS. There is still a lot more that we don’t know about him and I wish that he had opened up a little bit more with Jenna.

Above all, SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr is a novel on friendship – not romance. The relationship between Jenna and Cam is powerful and rare. Zarr captures it beautifully in the pages of SWEETHEARTS.

Let me tell you this: SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr is heartbreaking. Don’t expect a Happily Ever After. I wish I got that warning.