Book Review: The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Emaline is the daughter of a teen mom who had a summer fling while a rich family visited the beach town of Colby.  A couple years later, her mother met a young widower with two young girls. They were married and he adopted Emaline. He is the only dad she ever knew. In elementary school she started a family tree project. She already knew about her past but she wanted to know her father's story. So they exchanged emails and they grew to have somewhat of a relationship that centered mostly around school. As she entered high school her began to talk college with her. He helped encourage her to study and she got into Columbia. He told her to apply and to not worry about the rest (aka money). Right before graduation her sent an email saying that he could no longer pay for her to go. Then she didn't hear from him for a while.

Meanwhile her life moved on during the busy summer of a popular beach vacation town. Her family owned a vacation property management business and pretty much the whole family worked there.She didn't really care for it but she was getting nervous about heading off to college in the fall. She had never been outside of Colby.

She met a guy from New York that was there for the summer. They had a little bit of a fling but I'm glad that it didn't take up a lot of the story; he was kind of boring/annoying. I preferred her 10 year old half brother! Her father was in town to help sell his aunt's beach house so her half brother was there too. He loved hanging out with Emaline and working with her at her job.

The biggest theme of this book was Emaline becoming comfortable with leaving her small town but also still staying close to her family. Out of the three Sarah Dessen books I've read this summer, this and What Happened to Goodbye were pretty similar. I much preferred Saint Anything. But again, still a good read!

Book Review: What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Another Sarah Dessen book review! Like I said, I'm hooked. I bought this book right after Parker was born but I pretty much haven't touched a book since he was born so I never got around to reading it.

This story was about a girl named Maclean. Her parents had a semi-nasty divorce and she decided to live with her dad, who is a traveling restaurant doer-overer (not quite sure what his title would be!?). Basically he takes restaurants that are failing and he revamps them.

Maclean has a troubled relationship with her mother because she cheated on her father with the college basketball coach. The college baskbetball team the Maclean and her father were obsessed with. Yikes.

Every time they move to a new city, Maclean chooses a nickname to go by and a different persona. When they move to Lakeview, Maclean decides to just be herself. She makes real friends and the neighbor boy is really sweet.

As Maclean is really settling in the new town, her dad is ready to move on. But this time, to Hawaii. So Maclean is going to have to move back with her mom and that is just bad news. When her mom sees how upset she is, she works out a deal for her to finish the school year and graduate with her new friends before going off to college.

This book didn't really have any huge plot lines but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It follows the normal Sarah Dessen formula...teen with some life troubles, finds themselves and friends, and then sorts out their troubles. Not my favorite of hers but not bad.

Book Review: Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

On a recent trip to Dale Hollow Lake I read Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen. It is YA fiction and I know, I am no longer a young adult. I am an adult....not quite old yet! However, I am addicted to Sarah Dessen novels. You'll notice this because I read two others in the two previous weeks, and I'll share those reviews as well.

This story was about a high schooler named Sydney. She has an older brother that she really looked up to growing up but was also over shadowed by him. She always felt invisible. He was good looking, a charmer. However once he entered (a private) high school, he started finding trouble. He was fearless and wanted to fit in with the older kids. So he drank, did drugs, shoplifted, and broke into people's houses. Then one night he drove home drunk and hit a 15 year old kid out on his bike leaving him paralyzed.

Sydney's parents also contributed to her feelings of invisibility. Her mom pretty much ran the house and her father usually just agreed with her. Once Peyton (her brother) went to jail, Sydney's mother because obsessed with showering him with attention so he would be okay in jail. Sydney however felt guilty because of the poor boy her brother hit. She was constant;y wanting to apologize or talk with him but thought he probably wouldn't want to speak with her.

Right after Peyton is sent to jail, she decides to leave the private high school and go to the local public high school. She makes friends with Layla who is an outgoing girl with a taste for bad boys. She works at a local pizza place owned by her dad, with her brother Mac who is just a year older. Sydney unexpectedly shares her problems with Layla who listens and sympathizes with her. Her older sister was a promising figure skater but because addicted to pain pills when she had a knee injury. She was then busted when she tried to fake a prescription. Layla's mother also has MS and her health has been going downhill for a while. The family is very close though and Sydney loves being around them.

While Peyton is in jail, his friend, Ames, from rehab is constantly at Sydney's house. He is a total creeper from the get go and I knew bad things would come eventually. He stares too long, he touches her arm or shoulder too much, he lingers for too long. Creeper!

As Sydney starts hanging out with Layla's family more she realizes she's starting to like Mac which she knows can be a big problem...liking your good friend's brother! So they start hanging out more because Layla finds a new boyfriend and is preoccupied.

To get to the end, Layla finds out about Sydney & Mac and is upset at first. She didn't like that they were hiding from her. Then she accepts their new relationship. Sydney sneaks out one night to go to the hospital to meet Mac & Layla because their mother had a heart attack but as she is in the garage, Ames (the creeper, who was also temporarily staying at their house) tried to attack her! Sydney's father heard her scream so he saves the day! Sydney flees to the hospital with her mom hot on her heels. Come to find out, her mom got to the hospital shortly after Sydney but when she looked into the hospital room, she saw that everyone wanted Sydney there; she was part of their family.

The end of the book is about Sydney's family dealing with all their problems: guilt, exclusion, jail, responsibility. Oh, and therapy. Because they obviously need it!

Overall, I was hooked and read it in one day! I usually feel that way about Sarah Dessen novels though :)

Sister Travel!

This weekend Hilary and I are going to California (with Parker) to see our mom. I had a hard time finding cheap tickets so I wasn't able to pick a date that Lindsay was able to join :( 

I am excited to travel with Hilary because we haven't had a trip to gether in a long time! Hopefully Parker is good on the plane so he doesn't tarnish Hilary's thoughts on children flying ;)

I have already asked mom to find us some tickets for the aquarium because Parker really liked it the last time we went and I think this time he will really enjoy it!

Of course I am sure we will go to the beach a couple times. Parker is really into tools and digging so I am sure he enjoy that. Last time we went to the dog beach so I think we might do that again because he loves watching my mom's dog Luna run around!

I'm not sure what Hilary wants to do so I'm sure we'll have some other things planned when we get there! Hopefully I can get Hilary to blog about our trip!!

Survivor Chat: Already a Merge!

I had meant to start my Survivor chats when this new season started because it gave Lindsay and I something to chat about, I like writing, and there was a lot of hype about the new season being a really good cast. 

Well I have been really busy with a lot of random things and every week I have been behind on watching the episodes. And also...I have not really liked this cast. Jeff Probst hyped this season uop so much saying that this was his all time favorite cast and I find them rather...blah. I also really disliked the three tribe split and the splits being called the three collars. I feel like the cast really played into which ever collar tribe they were placed on. Some of the cast may live their lives a certain way but I felt like everything they did was "that's just how white collars or no collars do things" and it got old and seemed fake. I also don't really like three tribes like Lindsay said. The tribes are too small and they almost always have one tribe who loses all their players first so then it becomes a moot point.

So now we made it to an early merge! I am hoping this shakes things up and I can quit hearing about their collars. So far I really like Joe, Kelly (the cop), and Jenn. The rest I don't really like that much. I hope Jenn isn't too big of a personality because I think she'll get voted off too soon. So far she has gotten close to probably annoying some people. 

I was really hoping Shirin was the one to get voted off last week instead of Max but I'm sure she'll be gone soon. 

On the challenges - I am glad we will be getting into the two team challenges alsthough it seems like the two teams are completely mismatched. 

Next week I will try to chat before I forget what the episode was about! Or Lindsay can update next week ;)

Survivor Chat! New Season

I don't like when Survivor does 3 teams. There's too few people in each tribe and the merge or re-organization always happens too quickly. Two teams is better. That aside, I actually like this split more than I thought I would. At the end of last season I thought "oh gag, that's dumb." But so far, it's pretty good.

White Collar

This is the team I like the least. They are all boring stiffs, as you'd expect.

So far I like Carolyn because she seems like a BA Bossy Pants. We'll see how this develops.

I also like Max. He's one of my favorites. He seems pretty groovy, he's a professor, so naturally I feel drawn to him.

I don't know why people don't like Shirin on her team. I think she's funny and generally agreeable. I don't love her, but I don't think she's annoying. 

Tyler -- gzus. So uptight. I don't like him. He is already on my nerves.

Joaquin. My god I hate him. I have nothing redeeming to say about him. He's smarmy and gross. Bleck. 

So...I didn't have much opinion about her. I think she got a bad deal. They should have gotten rid of Joaquin instead.

Blue Collar

Lord, they are some drama queens. I like their work ethic for the most part, but too many "characters" on this team.

I started out liking Dan, but he's gotten annoying pretty fast.

Kelly...I don't really have an opinion of her. She's kind of a non-entity at this point.

Mike is annoying as hell. His voice makes me want to die and he seems like a dull jerk.

Rodney isn't as annoying as Mike, but he kind of seems like a meat head with a chip on his shoulder.

Lindsey, I want to like. Mostly because she's a Lindsay and she's got some cool tattoos. But she might be a little too bitchy for me. We'll see how she develops.  

I like Sierra. She seems like a hard worker and good athlete. I don't have much opinion on her personality yet, but I'll hold out hope for her.

No Collar

I like them the best. They're a little hippie dippy but they seem fun.

I really like Joe. He seems like a sweet, genuine guy. He's hard working, but also fun. I'm rooting for him so far.


Jenn, I'm not too sure about. Sometimes I like her and sometimes she seems like a major jerk. We'll see how it unfolds.

Hali is ok. Neither like or dislike. She's just kind of whatever.

Will is funny and likeable. But I don't think he's going to make it long. He definitely doesn't have the stamina to compete.

Nina was annoying. I hate when people cry all the damn time. I liked the final tribal she was on -- it wasn't about your hearing. It was about you being a drip. I was happy to see her go.

Vince was the most annoying. Way too woo woo and I just wanted him to shut up. He was like Fabio + Coach but more annoying. Hated him. Glad he's gone.

I can't wait to see how the season develops!

Survivor Chat - Backstabbers

Last Wednesday on Survivor several things went down. First at the reward challenge, opposing players had to stand on a wobbly balance beam and try to knock each other off. These challenges are usually fairly lame and this one did not disappoint (or it actually did disappoint because that's lame). I think it would have been more entertaining if someone tried to blow in someone's ear (Lance Stephenson anyone??). Anywhoodles...after winning, Jeremy and Natalie decided to give up their reward to Jon & Jaclyn. 

My first thoughts? Why?? You never do that! It never pays off!

And how long did it take to find that out? A whole two seconds because then Jeremy was sent to Exile. Burn.

While Jeremy is at Exile, bonehead Jon realizes that Jeremy is going to figure out that he has the idol that was hiding on Exile. Sheesh. These players this season lack some serious brains.

At the immunity challenge the players have to build a set of blocks with their feet. Not too boring of a challenge but not that interesting. Baylor wins. Gag. 

Back at camp Jeremy semi questions Jon about the idol but doesn't really press it when he denies finding it. Then Jon goes all crazy against Jeremy and convinces Missy to vote him out. 

All sorts of votes are cast but Jeremy goes home. Natalie whisper freaks out on Missy. I can't wait for next week...because I am hoping that the singletons start axing Jon & Jaclyn and Missy & Baylor! I am now (strangely enough) pulling for Natalie!