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 :)