Keeping The Moon-Sarah Dessen

This was my last Sarah Dessen book left and her third book. I can tell that she had hit her stride with this one after reading the first 2 books. I really enjoyed this one like I did her later ones. The sidekicks were great, the main character lovable, and of course the boy.

Colie used to be overweight and is currently anything, but popular. Her mom is a famous weight loss guru. While her mom travels in London Colie must go stay in a small town in North Carolina with her eccentric aunt. There Colie meets friends, learns about herself, and gets a job. Wow what a busy summer.

Along For The Ride-Sarah Dessen

Along For The Ride is Sarah's newest book. This one follows Auden who has just graduated from High School. She is an insomniac and her parents are divorced. She was always the good child while her brother was the wild child. She has never done the whole "teen scene" . She decides to go to spend the summer before college with her father, his new wife, and brand new baby.

Auden's growth warmed my heart. I loved reading about her mission to be a "teen". Eli was another great male character. Of course I loved the supporting cast of friends she makes and learns how to be a girl friend with. I also loved seeing others pop up (Jason) and them selling the key necklaces.

As always I was not disappointed.

Lock and Key-Sarah Dessen

I truly enjoy Sarah Dessen's books. I was excited to read this book since a lot of people enjoyed it. It started a little slow for me, but there was history that was important to Ruby's character that needed to be introduced. The book really picked up though and I ended up loving it.

Ruby is a great character. She reminded me of myself there for a while. While I didn't have to live with my sister because I did have my father my mother left me also. I was very close to my older sister and often even to this day think of her as a substitute mom in my life.

Can I just say that Nate and Wes (The Truth About Forever) have to be the best males from her books. Nate was not the typical male character from Sarah's books as he was the popular kid instead of the outsider. I really enjoyed that and getting into his life with his father and such.

I actually ended the book wishing that Ms. Dessen would write a sequel to this book.

Dreamland-Sarah Dessen

Dreamland was a sad book. It pulled me right in though. I loved Caitlin's character and felt for her. Rogerson is the first male Sarah Dessen character that I didn't like from the beginning. There was something about him that was just off.

Dreamland is about Caitlin's life after her sister Cass leaves in the middle of the night. She mets Rogerson and things go south after that. We get to see Caitlin at her worst and how she grows a little during a tough time.

Again I think every teen girl should read this book.

Just Listen-Sarah Dessen

This is my 3rd Sarah Dessen book. I liked this one just as much as the others.

Just Listen is about Annabel. She is the youngest of 3 girls. All 3 of them are or have been models with their mother as their "manager". Annabel's and her sisters are all different and the middle sister is sick. Her best friend is mad at her and throughout the book we find out what really happened when her social world got turned upside down.

Annabel becomes friends with the school's bad boy and learns more about herself then she ever thought possible. She begins to mend fences with her sister and come to terms with her friends and what happened.

This book is a great one for girls who are still trying to find their voice. Annabel is a great character as well as her family and her friends.

More Sarah Dessen

I am continuing on with my Sarah Dessen obsession. She continues to write in a way that I forget that it is a Young Adult book. She makes her characters real and so you can root for them.

Macy's mother and sister reminded me so much of my family. Her sister Caroline was like the spitting image of my older sister. The same caring attitude and sticking up for the younger sister.

Macy's boss and friends from work reminded me of my first job. I worked in a restaurant and pretty much all the people I hung out with were people I worked with.

Then there is her friend, the man she actually wants to be with, but doesn't know it. The bad boy turned good. He is written with such thought you almost think he is real.

I highly recommend this book!

This Lullaby-Sarah Dessen

Ahh teen love, angst, friendship, and family; all the makings of a great book. This Lullaby is just that a GREAT book. After reading this I think Sarah Dessen is my new favorite author.

This book is about Remy. She is a recent High School graduate waiting for the summer to end so she can leave her life behind and go to college. Her famous romance-novel writing mother's 5 marriages have made Remy not believe in love. She gets a boyfriend and knows the schedule, she knows when it is time for the end talk.

She has 3 friends that she spends her time with. While helping her mother plan her 5th wedding she meets Dexter. She begins having feelings that she doesn't want to have and begins to live in denial, even when she buys plastic ware for his home (best part of the book is when Dexter finds it). She pushes him away and in the end realizes it is ok to love and to risk getting hurt.

This book dealt with so many issues that I just loved it. Sarah Dessen wrote these teens as real teens. They drank, had sex, and lived their life. While not all teens do that it is a lot more common then most YA books would write about. I loved her relationship with her mother. She always felt that she had to help her when in reality she didn't. Remy could not be a "kid" because of that need to take care of her mom and loved when the role finally switched.

Remy and Dexter made me smile through the whole book. He was sweet and loved her, but wasn't going to take her crap either which is great. I wish he was real and could date my sister. I want them to be together forever and thought about them long after I finished the book.

I would recommend this book to everyone as it is not a typical teen book. Go out and get it now :)