Product Description
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.

From the National Book Award nominated author of Story of a Girl, Sweethearts is a story about the power of memory, the bond of friendship, and the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

A Book for the Keeper Shelf
When Jennifer Harris was nine years old, she had a best (and only) friend - Cameron Quick. They were the Outcasts, the poor kids everyone else in school made fun of, but it didn't matter because they had each other. And they shared something more - a traumatic experience they couldn't tell anyone about. Shortly after that horrible day, Cameron disappeared, leaving her all alone. The other kids told her he died, and from that day on, she knew Jennifer Harris had to die with him. Now Jennifer is 17, and she goes by Jenna Vaughn, a new girl in a new school. But it's her birthday, and there's a birthday card in the mailbox from someone she thought was dead - Cameron is back.

I immediately regretted starting this book before I had to go to work. I should have waited until I got home, because I couldn't stop thinking about it. It had me hooked from page one, and I couldn't stand not knowing what was going to happen. Part of that is because we only get bits and pieces of that traumatic day Jenna and Cameron shared when they were nine. We get a little bit more of it every couple chapters, and after every bit of that memory, I was practically shaking, worried what was going to happen next, and afraid for Jenna and Cameron. After rushing home and finishing it, I tried to explain to others my thoughts on this book, and all I could say was "It made me feel." I had to wait until now to try and review it, or talk about it.. just to give myself time to think it over.

I ached for Jenna, having lost her best friend so young. And then suddenly he's back, the same as he was, but she's not the person she used to be. After Cameron "died," she buried her old self and her memories as well, and completely changed who she was, but the old Jennifer is still there, and as the story progresses, you get to see more of who she really is, and how she's changing. And as Cameron comes back into her life, she starts to lose her Jenna Vaughn persona, and the life that goes with it. Jenna Vaughn had everything Jennifer Harris never did - except Cameron. And maybe he was the most important thing of all.

I loved the character interaction, the way these two had to grow up both apart and now that they're together. I absolutely loved this book, and I think that the author, Sara Zarr, cannot be complimented enough. I was a nervous wreck while reading this book, emotionally distraught the whole time.. and I know that's exactly how Jenna had to feel. It's been a while since I've felt such true worry or hurt while reading a book, and Zarr pulled it off perfectly.

As for the ending.. It's not the ending I expected, and maybe it's not the ending the reader wants, but it felt right. I was honestly worried as I neared the end that I wouldn't get an ending that would satisfy me, but Zarr came through. In a way, I thought it was an incredibly beautiful way to finish the story, though I'll always be a little bit upset at how everything and everyone turned out in the end.

So for a rating, I'm giving this book a FIVE out of FIVE (5/5). This book is going on my keeper shelf, I'm telling everyone I know that they simply MUST read it, and I know this will be a re-read over and over for me. As soon as I get over how it made me feel, anyways.

love story with a twist
I love books that have a back story that the author hints to throughout the novel so you dont get the whole back story because it bounces back and forth from past to present day so you keep turning those pages to find out the whole backstory; and this book has that!
It is a love story but not a conventional one by any means which is what makes it special.I loved Jenna/Jennifer and I think she is amazingly relatable. Highly recommend this book.

Not your typical young adult novel
Instead of rehashing the story for you I will just say that this book is so much more than I expected it to be. I felt I could actually relate to the main character, and I learned a few things about myself reading this book. The ending may not be what most people want or expect, but I think it turns out exactly they way it should have. I am looking forward to more books from this author.

Sweet Read
Zarr writes with such eloquence and emotion it would have been difficult for me not to feel a connection to her characters and the stories she builds around them.A shorter book by the numbers, it carried with it as much bang for the buck as a story of much greater length.What I appreciated about her writing is that it made me see and feel without being too flowery in it's prose.On top of that she's created a great plot in which she's infused the story of Jenna and Cameron's relationship with a mystery from their past. She kept me wondering and searching; giving us little bits and pieces here and there until the very bitter end where all was ultimately revealed.Admittedly, I did have some idea of what certain circumstances related to the mystery might have been but there were an equally number ofsurprises that when revealed I really enjoyed.What this equaled to in the end was that I was able to take the journey with these characters as opposed to knowing it all before they did and that made for an excellent read.

Jenna and Cameron are two youngsters bound to each other by their outcast status.Clinging to each other through life's horrible circumstances (most specifically Cameron's family issues) they are quickly and mysteriously separated when he vanishes. At this point Zarr delves into deeper exploration of each of the characters on an individual level as well as in the ways they eventually interact with each other.

Jenna's mother soon remarries and the family is relocated where no one is familiar with her past thus she becomes a girl reborn.No longer the social pariah she was in younger years her new found popularity provides her the much longed for, and missing, comforts of friendship and acceptance.Despite having built new relationships, she still longs for the deeper connection she had with her best friend Cameron.

Cameron, on the other hand, is a child of bad parenting.Having returned to where Jenna lives after having been missing for so long we learn of the many changes in his persona as well.He's distant and self-sufficient, secretive and hardworking.He's alone in the world, but for his rekindling friendship with the one person in his life he could ever trust.Jenna.

A dynamic story of friendship, love and family Zarr paints a very strong picture of dysfunction on several different levels.She digs deep into motivation and morality to create long lasting relationships.I was rooting for Cameron and Jenna to come out the other end successful and together.You'll have to read it to find out if they did though!

on par with Story of a Girl
What an mesmerizing, troubling, tear-inducing read.After finishing Story of a Girl, I immediately wanted to read everything else by Zarr, and Sweethearts basically follows the same story arc, a girl with a somewhat tragic past who learns to overcome.Wonderful writing, semi-poetic and so absolutely real.Nothing is tied up in a big happy package with a big pretty bow, because that's not how life is.Life is messy and unfinished and Zarr delivers that feeling perfectly.But I do have one minor question - kids were not dressing up as Harry Potter characters in 1998, were they?Surely kids were not already dressing up as the characters right around the time the first book was published in America.One minor, weird nitpick about an otherwise great book. ... Read more