Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël

On Echo’s fourteenth birthday, she received the worst present ever: new of the disappearance and death of her older sister Zoë. This pain is hard for Echo to deal with, and she still struggles even a year later.

Echo is now fifteen and just starting high school with her best friends Abby and Jenay. The only hard thing about this is seeing Zoë’s old friends and Marc, Zoë’s boyfriend. Echo still isn’t over the death of her sister. She feels pretty empty around her friends and her new boyfriend Parker. So when Marc gives Echo Zoë’s diary, Echo embraces this chance to better understand her sister before her death. Unfortunately, this also leads Echo to imagining she is Zoë, which only messed up her life even more.

Alyson Noël does an incredible job of incorporating Zoë’s journal and Echo’s high school experiences together and makes the story flow nicely. Echo is sometimes hard to understand, but everything is clarified later. While the story isn’t edge-of-your-seat exciting, it is a high worthwhile read is you stick it through, and I was captivated as Echo discovered the truth behind the end of her sister Zoë’s life. The story provides a lot to think about involving sisterhood and love. I’ve only read a couple of books that deal with death, but Saving Zoë is probably one that I will remember the most.

It is pure coincidence that I was listening to the song Light up the Sky by Yellowcard as I read the ending of this book, but I highly recommend you do this too. The song reminds me so much of Zoë and Marc’s relationship, and it definitely heightens the emotions of the ending, as music often does in movies.

Saving Zoë appeals to a wide audience, but I suggest you read it only if you are up for an emotional ride. Fans of Sweethearts by Sara Zarr and The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman will understand the bonds of love between sister and friends presented in Saving Zoë. People who were moves by Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher , Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, and other books regarding dealing with death will also find this a very worthwhile read.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from personal collection