First Love

Sometimes I read a book and I love it so much that I tell myself, "This is why I read." That was exactly how I felt after reading "Something Like Summer" by Jay Bell. This is book is easily the best book I have read in recent memory. As a matter of fact, if I were grading my reviews, I would give this a close to perfect score. It's the story of Ben Bentley, and it starts when he first falls in love at age 16.  And that is the foundation of the whole story: his first love, how it never dies, how it stays with you, how it shapes how you love for the rest of your life. Just like all first loves, Ben's ended up in a lot of heartbreak, and when the first part of the book finished, Bell writes the circumstance with much poignancy that I literally had to stop, and weep.  It made me want to hink, it made me want to digest what I just read. For me, the first third of the book is easily its best part. We then follow Ben as he goes through college life, and as he embarks on his next serious love, and we see him transform from a boy to a man. The rest of the book is a little predictable, but there are enough twists and turns that you are still caught off-guard, and I know a lot of people have had problems with how the book ends, and I initially agree. However, as I thought about it more, I realized that just like real life, we just have to settle with what life gives us, and make peace with it. I saw that I bought this book from Amazon for my Kindle on Feb 12, 2011. (Amazon gives you a little notice when you go back to the book's page)  I don't know why I waited to read it until this week, but maybe I wasn't prepared yet last year because right now I am in a much better place emotionally to fully absorb this story. I recently read that the rights for this book has been bought to be turned into a motion picture, and I welcome a more visual interpretation of this story. But, I doubt it will be able to duplicate the roller coaster of emotions I felt while reading the book. 


BC-16