Saint Anything

Saint Anything is a good book and this audiobook has a good reader.

Sydney has always lived in her brother's shadow. When he started doing drugs and getting drunk, her parents had eyes only on Payton and the drama he was dragging their family through. When he ended up hitting a kid with his car after being out drinking, everything changed. And nothing changed. Payton went to jail and everything stayed Payton oriented. Sydney was, as she had been for years, invisible. The good kid. The kid with good grades and always kept her nose clean. Nothing to worry about, so easy to forget.

She then makes the decision to change high schools. She was known as "Payton's sister" never actually Sydney and desperately wanted to not have that stigma. There she finds friends that dissipate the monotony and feels seen for once. Sydney finds that she likes it.

I really liked Sydney and the individuality of all the other characters. It's actually pretty hard to find a good young adult novel with parents being prominent characters that aren't just "my parents" or "the evil bad guys who never want me to have fun" let alone parents who have personalities are individuals with their problems and equal strengths. It's even rarer to find parents in YA novels who actually get along and have each others back. This was nice to see that change where everyone, not just the teens, are real people who have wants and ambitions that go beyond the scope of the plot line of the novel.

The setting that they are in are the same for Sarah Dessen's other novels and characters make appearances from other stories. Seaside Pizzeria makes its appearance in Sarah Dessen novels as well. They are fun little easter eggs that she lays around.

I think one of my favorite things is when the cover and title finally make sense. Those little light bulbs that go one were very pleasing even if one of them took to the end for me to finally get. That was probably my fault. I also very much like it how her books, like this one, come full circle. Practically every loose end is tied and the metaphors she uses work well for the story she is creating. Finding the carousel and the sinkhole and even the thrift stores and valuable things that some people have either lost, given away, or forgotten runs powerfully through the story.

The predictability of the book was kind of sad. I knew what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still satisfying nonetheless.

I love Sarah Dessen's books for the characters and metaphors she uses. They are both always strong. The hopeless romantic in me loves the romance that takes place too. It makes it a fun, enjoyable read, that are often different and give voice to someone who is searching for their own.

Please enjoy.

That Summer

That Summer is Sarah Dessen's debut novel and it shows. 

It follows a fifteen year old girl who is six foot tall and feels very awkward about it. Hey dad is getting married again after cheating on her mom. Her sister is also getting married. And the world ends up just falling apart on her. But then get sister's ex-boyfriend confess into town and is the only person who seems to be listening to her instead of The Bride. 

The story goes on... And it takes forever to get there.  The exposition is soooooo long. I got to page 70, bored for most of the way, and skimmed for most of the rest of the 130 pages of the book looking only really at the dialog that happened.  It was so long winded. On more than one occasion am entire paragraph took up more than a single page.

Will I was sad for her situation, I found I didn't really care for Haven at all. For at least the first quarter of the book, Haven said maybe 20 lines of dialog. Maybe? Her sister was annoying and somehow we are supposed to like her because "she's right" at the end.  Her mom was probably the one that seemed the most real, but even she seemed to be on the flat side.

Then the over arching theme-ish thing was not very well done. The were many examples of it,  but it just felt, again, flat to me. It was too simple and while Haven saw it in the lives of others, she never actually enlightened it herself. Sure she probably had a crush on Sumner back then at age ten or twelve, but I don't think her situation fits.

Ugh, I was disappointed. Sarah Dessen's books do get much better later on,  but this was probably get poorest on I've read. Which mean she has become a much better writer through practice and experience.

Read her others,  not this one.

The Moon And More

Sarah Deaden is really good at writing young adult romances while also hosting life on the page.

The Moon And More is about Emaline and her romantics summer on a beach. Unlike most vacationers, Emaline works at the beach in Colby at her families business renting beach houses for the typical vacationer. New people come in and out of the renting houses all the time, but one house is being rented for two straight months--a very odd occurrence--while they work on a documentary about a man who is just a regular laundromat business man,  right?

Not only are these new people but Emaline's father is making a visit for the summer. He relations wither father have always been strained with his life being so very different than her and her mother's and the rest of her blended family. Her summer is full of boys, family, film, and work to, hopefully, the Best Summer Ever.

I like the way Sarah Dessen writes her books. It is fun to see hints of previous characters from previous books, familiar places, as well as life--not only romances that bloom throughout its pages. There is romance through all of her books,  but there are also bigger questions being asked as well. Bigger situations that exist around her characters more than just, "Does that guy like me?"

Here dealing with a flaky father, disloyalty from a boyfriend, leaving for college, work, a new guy who knows she's too good for her little town, and finding time to watch out for her half brother, Emaline has a lot on her plate. Like real life. I very much enjoy that. And what is great is that Sarah Dessen makes it flow. She makes the chaos of life flow in her stories so then we don't get lost as readers.

There was some language and there was talk of sex though nothing graphic (in the end, I don't really know if it was all that needed. There didn't seem to be much of a purpose to it, which I feel there needs to be in it is put in there).

I was a good book and well done. 

*Spoilers from here on*

The characters here, though there are many, are developed and all have their own story,  their own reasons for being themselves. Benji and Morris are probably my favorite characters. Mainly Morris because of how much growth and development he has throughout the story and how much he is willing to change. He is willing to put Daisy's good ahead of what he wants even though she is very much willing to keep things going. The fact that he made assistant instead of Theo made my day (literally, though it's kind been a bad day). Going from lackless and pretty much unmoving on the job to scrambling for an art show was awesome. He had a very good story arc. He was also pretty cool with Benji, who was probably the real man (at age 10) of the story. 

I also really liked that Emaline doesn't "end up" with any of the guys. She left Luke for good cheating  on her and didn't go back to him by the end of the story, which was a big relief to me. Then there is Theo. He was new and invited her to push herself and try new things, he wasn't a prince charming character either (which Sarah Dessen doesn't really write, no one is perfect in her books). He definitely had his flaws and in the end they overcame how "good of a pick" he was for her. His Best Ever's would probably get on my nerve along especially when making a spectacle in front of people in public places. She felt very much embarrassed as would almost any girl. He also seemed far more excited to for work and hanging out with Clyde (his interviewee) more than he actually did with her unless it was his Best Ever events. That is no kind of thriving relationship. 

I guess Emaline kind of chose Benji at the end of it. If you had to pick one. 

Along for the Ride

Sarah Dessen does it again! All of the books that I've read written by here should all be in literature and writing classes. This one is no different.

Unlike many of the young adult books out there who don't touch on relationships other than within themselves and with a boyfriend or girlfriend, Sarah Dessen explores--in this book especially--troubles with parents. I've noticed that Sarah Dessen talks about and explores divorce between parents, which is so very prevalent in our world today, a lot more than what is common among young adult novels. Let alone the aftermath of divorce.

Auden just graduated from high school looking at practically nothing but her studies. Her mom and dad divorced a few years back. While her dad remarried and is now having another baby with his new wife, her mother is married to her work as a college professor and her little parties she throws with some of her grad students. Everything is about studying and getting into the best college at Auden's home with her mother. But on the spir of the moment decision she takes a summer trip down to live with her dad and new wife, Heidi, and their newborn, Thisbe (what a name right?). Both Auden's mom and dad are rather manipulative, it seems they are consciously unaware of it. Getting Auden to do exactly what they want and making her thing that it is her idea or always getting the last word in.

Auden arrives finding that Heidi, who is normally so happy-go-lucky is completely worn out with her new baby who is constantly screaming, wailing, and not sleeping. Her dad has been no help with the newborn at all, constantly writing and needing his "nine hours of sleep" otherwise he doesn't function (and somehow he had two other kids--Auden and her brother). He's neglecting his wife and child and doesn't realize it.

Auden starts helping out, not only studying all the time for her college classes. She gets a job at Heidi's shop on the beach to get away from the screaming newborn. Here she is surrounded by squealing, giggling girls that are also preparing for college/life after high school. She also meets a boy riding on a bike in the middle of the night, a night she was helping quiet the baby down by taking her on a stroller ride by the beach. Of course, more relations bloom and they do so realistically.

That is something that I've truly loved about her books. The relations are all realistic. The problems are realistic. And the characters deal with their problems in ways that would actually work in this situation.

If I can be a writer like Sarah Dessen... They are magnificent books.

Her use of time, where there is a scene and where there is a summary, is masterful. There is one part where you know some hanky panky is going on, but she doesn't hang out there. Enough detail is given that you know what happened, but nothing is truly described (like some of the other YA/Adult books).

My only other warning is some of the foul language they use. It is sparse, but it is there. But that is really my only complaint. I love the way Sarah Dessen writes.