Sarah Dessen

I liked a lot of this one, the friendships, the depiction of an emotionally bruised family, the little things like the french fry obsession and the yum yums, there were just areas here and there that I wanted more fleshed out.

This isn’t the plottiest of novels, it’s more focused on characters and relationships than on page turning happenings so I imagine some readers will find it slow or meandering particularly since it’s on the long side for contemporary YA. There was a repetitive feel to the story, but I wasn’t bored with it nor did it feel draggy (as has been the case for me with some contemporaries of this size), I guess I was in the right mood for following a character through their everyday life, it felt realistic that someone’s day to day would kind of be a repeated pattern only occasionally doing something outside her norm that slightly alters her course.

The other really realistic area to me was the family dynamic, anyone with a sibling who takes up a lot of the oxygen be it for good or bad reasons will relate to the way Sydney is often lost in the shuffle or at other occasions pays the price for her sibling’s actions and how the happiness or unhappiness in her home is dependent on whatever is going on with her brother at any given moment. I understood all of that to an almost uncomfortable degree. That aspect I would have given five stars for getting it very right.

I’d probably give two stars or less to the Ames situation. He’s the brother’s best friend, immediately gives off bad vibes to Sydney, her friends, and the reader, yet for the majority of the book her parents treat him like family. This guy, who has a history nearly as checkered as the brother’s, who is only a couple years older than Sydney, is trusted to stay alone overnight “babysitting” seventeen year old Sydney. I get that the mother liked that this guy is a yes man, agreeing with everything she says, and he’s a connection to the son who is slipping away from her, still, Ames just came off as so obviously smarmy and I had a hard time fathoming any parents, no matter how caught up they are in their own emotions over their son, would think it’s safe to leave their teenage daughter alone for the weekend with a twenty something guy. I needed way more of an explanation for how and why they trusted him so thoroughly.

There is a romance here, I was okay with their chemistry, but the emotion between them never really advanced beyond a surface level, same goes for feeling like I didn’t know him all that well beyond surface stuff like he’s good at repairing things and he’s lost weight. There was rarely enough depth to their interactions, certainly not depth in comparison to Sydney’s friendship with Layla, which I guess is why I kind of resented it when not only did their friendship take a backseat to the romance, the romance also hindered the friendship and for a reason that to me felt contrived.

While I had no problem with how things wrapped up for the characters, the ending did feel somewhat rushed, like the final page coming to an abrupt halt and stuff with the parents that was more summed up than shown. This wasn’t a matter of wanting tidy bows put on anything, there were just certain conversations that felt so vital to the story and having those conversations left mostly to the imagination shortchanged the reader a bit.… (mais)

This was not what I was looking for. I had wanted a super happy book about weddings.

This novel was tragic, sweet, fun, and filled with hope all at once.

Basically, the reader soon learns that Louna (the main character) fell in love with this guy. He died tragically and ever since she has been guarded. Then she has to work with this guy Ambrose and they make a bet.

The flashbacks about Ethan and what happened to him were heartbreaking. Yet, somehow this novel was satisfying. And while I will never read this again (too upsetting) it will certainly remain in my heart. I highly recommend.… (mais)