This month’s hero of the month is a hero that I read just a couple of months ago. I enjoyed the story so much that the guy in this book immediately went onto my list of possible Hero of the Months for the blog…
…and his name came up again when I was picking this month’s Hero of the Month.
I couldn’t get him or his story out of my mind for the past couple of weeks so I started thinking about this post and before I knew it, I was 100% sure that Matt had to be this month’s HotM.
So this month’s spotlight is on Matt Perino from Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler.
If you haven’t read this book then you need to fix that soon because this book does such an incredible job of breaking your heart and then putting it back together again. You can read my entire review on this book here.
Here’s the blurb for the book:
“Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it.”“Okay.”
“Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?”
“Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?”
According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in ZanzibarBay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there’s a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie—she’s already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.
Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.
The reason I chose Matt to be this month’s Hero of the Month is because even though we lost him early on in Twenty Boy Summer, I literally grieved for him throughout the entire book. The whole time that Anna and Frankie are grieving for Matt, I was too.
We first meet Matt when Anna is thinking back to her fifteen birthday, the night that Matt kissed her for the first time and Ockler did such a great job of describing the event because I could see everything as it happened as clearly as if I was there myself. I could taste the frosting from the cake that Matt smashed in Anna’s face, I could feel my breath hitch as I thought Matt was going to kiss Anna right in the middle of her backyard boogie and my heart stopped when they’re cleaning up and this happened:
“Come here,” he whispered, his hand still stuck in my wild curls, blond hair winding around his fingers.
“I still can’t believe you made that,” I said, not for the first time. “It’s so –cool.”
Matt looked down at the glass, his hair falling in front of his eyes.
“Maybe I’ll give it to you,” he said. “If you’re lucky.”
I smiled, my gaze fixed on the blue triangle. I was afraid to look at him, because if I let my eyes lock on his, he might try to–and then everything would be–and I might just —
“Happy birthday,” he whispered, his breath landing warm and suddenly close to my lips, making my insides flip. And just as quickly as he’d surprised me with the cake, he kissed me, one frosting-covered hand moving from my hair to the back of my neck, the other solid and warm in the small of my back, pressing us together, my chest against his ribs, my hip bones just below his, the tops of our bare summer legs hot and touching. I stopped breathing. My eyes were closed and his mouth tasted like marzipan flowers and clove cigarettes, and in ten seconds the whole of my life was wrapped up in that one kiss, that one wish, that one secret that would forever divide my life into two parts…”
*swoon*
If I was fifteen and that kind of first kiss with the boy that I was crushing on big time, I would have melted into a puddle of lust right at his feet. What makes Matt so special is it took me a page and a half to adore the heck out of him.
I loved his playful demeanor, the way that he talked to Anna, the way that he cared about her and just the way that he was when he was with Anna. It was too cute for words. He was a total flirt and I just adored him to pieces.
I adored when he said:
“Happy birthday Anna,” he said, picking me up and spinning me around in a giant hug, telling me with a wink that he’d see me tomorrow, just like he’d done on a thousand other nights. “Write something for me tonight.” (He gave her a journal for her birthday)
*sigh*
Matt was such a great addition to this story and I missed him sorely after he left it. My heart was broken for a good chunk of this book because I wanted more Matt.
Memories, dreams, I didn’t care, as long as he was in them and when the story ended, I was okay again. Ockler did a great job of making it okay. For me, the draw to this book wasn’t Anna, Frankie or the trip to Zanzabar but Matt.
His sparkling personality, getting to know him through the people who loved him was an interesting way to get to know him and it made me love him all the more. He was a great character, a most memorable character and if you haven’t read this book and you don’t know the goodness that is Matt Perino then I urge you to fix that because this book rocked and knowing Matt rocked too.
Matt had dark hair and bright blue eyes, the only person I could think of that would make a good Matt was Zac Efron because he’s a little hottie. He’d make the perfect Matt in my eyes. =)
Until next month..that’s your scoop!
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
