Book Review: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

At First Sight: Annabel Greene is dreading the first day of school, even after a summer spent in near complete isolation; because school means she'll have to face Sophie - her former best friend with whom she had a fall out at the end of the last school year.

At home, things aren't easier: her family is dealing with her older sister Whitney's eating disorder, and their mom's only distraction from it comes in the form of Annabel's modeling career.

 When school turns out to be as dreadful as she thought it would be - and with rumors about her flying about, thanks to Sophie - and after a particularly bad day, Annabel finds herself speaking to Owen Armstrong for the first time.

Owen is a bit of a town loner, known for being big (well over six feet tall), never taking his headphones off and having a violent streak - just the kind of guy Annabel would have never spoken to while being friends with Sophie. But he's also the only one who doesn't seem to care about the rumors as they strike a tentative friendship.

 As they get to know each other, Annabel gets a crash course on Anger Management lingo, she learns that Owen likes all type of music and has his own radio show, that he always tells the truth. The 'Truth' is not something Annabel is very familiar with, not because she outright lies maliciously but because she's used to hiding her feelings behind white lies to keep her family happy, to keep them from worrying about her; because she sometimes just doesn't share what's happening to her- like what really happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.

UK cover



Second Glance: Just Listen is is probably the last of Sarah's books that I truly loved - not just liked like Lock and Key, or thought it was OK like Along for the Ride. Annabel is the peace keeper of her family, the one her parents don-t have to worry about and she's not used to voicing out her feelings, but that all changes when she meets Owen, whom by telling the truth helps her find her own voice.

Now, I love Owen. I love that he deals with his temper, that he puts up with his little sister Mallory - much as he tries his patience - and that he's a pretty decent guy without advertising it. He can be a little snobbish about music, but no guy is perfect, right?

Also love how their lives start to slowly intertwine when they become friends - and that they truly become friends before anything else. Plus, I found the book quite funny, what with Mallory and Rolly - Owen's best friend - and just how crazy Owen gets about music.

Bottom Line: I actually love this book. It's one of my favorites both by Sarah Dessen and in general. I do think that it starts a little slow, and that it takes time for Annabel to build up her courage, but she's very likable and I find Owen kind of swoony (not as much as Wes, but no one is as swoony as Wess. Even Wes)

Favorite Quote: "There comes a time in every life when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn to know the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what its saying."

Cover Comments: I don't like this UK cover so much, though it does have a lot to do with the book

1/2

Sarah Dessen Week is an event hosted by Heidi of YA Bibliophile and  The Reading Housewives of Indiana 

List Maniac 21 - Favorite Secondary Characters by Sarah Dessen

In the spirit of The Sarah Dessen Week (hosted by Heidi @YA Bibliophile and  Jacinda and Jasmine @ The Reading Housewives of Indiana) I decided to make a list of my favorite secondary characters of the books by Sarah Dessen so far.

Kristy Palmetto (The Truth About Forever) - I've always loved Kristy, every time I re-read The Truth About forever, I get charmed by her again. She's fearless in her fashion, confident and just a very nice girl and a good friend. I admire her spirit and would love to call her a friend.

Bert Baker (The Truth About Forever) - Oh, Bert, he makes me smile. He's so fatalistic and awkward, yet that's part of his charm. From the book we know he's a trooper, and that he loved his Mom very much. It would have been hard to grow up next to the near perfection that is Wes, but Bert deals with it surprisingly well, and I think that says a lot about him.

Mira Sparks (Keeping The Moon) - I adore Mira, she's so unique and quirky, and I love the cards she makes - I'm a compulsive card sender, so maybe it has something to do with that. It takes courage to be someone like her, but she has it in spades.

Maggie (Along for the Ride) - She's one of the few things I truly loved about the book (it's not my favorite Dessen). I love that she's girly and smart and loves bikes. There is true strength in all her sweetness and vulnerability, just not the kind that shouts loud. 

Jamie (Lock and Key) - I like a positive yet practical person and I see that in Jamie, sure, he's a bit flamboyant and goes over the top, but in positive ways. He respects traditions, loves his wife and is willing to give everyone a chance, yet he doesn't let himself get screwed over, which I have to admire.

That's me, what says you?

Book Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

US Cover

At First Sight: Remy Starr is kicking off the summer before college by finalizing the details of her mom's latest wedding - number 4 if you don't count her Dad, which Remy doesn't. 

That's also when she meets Dexter, a boy who literally crashes into her, and upsets the balance of Remy's life. Remy isn't interested at first, but Dexter is persistent and gets under her skin and, after a series of casual, random encounters, they start dating.
 

Now, Dexter isn't at all like the boys Remy usually dates - he's messy, a musician and a bit of a vagabond, with no ties other than his dog Monkey and his band, Truth Squad - but Remy, the Queen of Breakups, can't seem to break away from him no matter how much she tells herself he's just a fling like many before him. 

But things are changing, Remy's knows she's leaving soon, her friends claim she's smitten with Dexter and, at home, she has to deal with a new stepfather she doesn't entirely like, a possible future-sister-in-law who's forever reading self-help books and a brother who, despite all their shared experience, still believes in love. 

The only thing that never changes is This Lullaby, the song Remy's father wrote for her upon her birth even though he never met her. The song she uses as a compass in relationships -which states clearing in the first verse 'I will let you down' - a reminder of how love really is... even if she isn't so sure anymore.

UK Cover

Second Glance: I've always thought that This Lullaby is a bit of a turning point for Sarah Dessen. Up this point, she had only written about the quiet-sidekick girls, the best friends, the girls that don't get noticed, the girls that watch; but with Remy, I think she wrote about the other girl, the girl who did and had a strong personality. 

Remy is the gravity center of her group of friends, in some ways she is the thing they have in common. She's hard to like at times - a self proclaimed cold-hearted bitch - and in this read through I had to admit I didn't like her friend Chloe all that much either. But there is plenty of charm in this book, and humor. Dexter is both of those things - charming and funny - and sort of carefree and optimistic. 

The guys in the band were funny in their own ways and I have so many favorite scenes in this book - Monkey the dog always steals the show - and even though it took me a while, I did like Remy in the end.

Bottom Line: This Lullaby is a bit different from Sarah's earlier books, but it has a large dose of awesome, a nice, funny guy and a heroine I grew to respect and like. Also, more than other of Sarah's books, it is a love story at it's core.

Favorite Quote:"Hate Spinnerbait!"

1/3

Sarah Dessen Week is an event hosted by Heidi @YA Bibliophile and  Jacinda and Jasmine @ The Reading Housewives of Indiana 

Book Review: Keeping The Moon by Sarah Dessen

So! today we kick off Sarah Dessen Week! YAY! All of this week - if at all possible - I'll be reviewing books by the fabulous Sarah Dessen.

Sarah Dessen Week is an event hosted by Heidi @YA Bibliophile and  Jacinda and Jasmine @ The Reading Housewives of Indiana and it will be running from today, May 9th, until May 15th.

I was actually kind of surprised I've reviewed only four of her books to date! So, I'm about to rectify that, starting with Keeping the Moon.

Current Cover

At First Sight: Colie was not looking forward to spending the summer at her Aunt Mira's house, but she had no other choice since her mother - Kiki Sparks, of the fitness craze fame - was going on an European tour to promote her products.

Colby, North Carolina might be a typical beach town, but Aunt Mira is anything but typical - she wears bright clothes that don't match, rides her bike everywhere, and her beach front house seems to be a graveyard of yard sell items that never quite work as they should.  

Though at first Colie would have loved to just get out of there, she finds herself landing a job at the Last Chance Bar & Grill, where she's a waitress along side Morgan and Isabel - who have been best friends with each other since forever. Morgan quickly takes to her and though Isabel isn't so keen on her at first, she does take Colie under her wing, eventually.

Colie isn't sure what to do with friends, she has never had them. All her life she has been a bit of an outsider both because she used to be fat and because her mother moved her all over the country during her first few years of life. But at Colby, people just seem to accept her - her Aunt Mira doesn't care if she was fat before, Morgan is just the maternal type and Isabel is always at hand to delver tough love when necessary; and there is also Norman, the guy who lives in the basement of Mira's house and who seems to like her, just because.

Original Cover

Second Glance: I always sort of loved Keeping the Moon, it's just such a perfect beach read, lighthearted and fun. Sarah Dessen created a lovely story not only about knowing who you are but also accepting it, learning that it's okay to work in your own way. 

It's a quiet, sweet story. With a large dose of friendship - the good, true kind that doesn't let you down - and a dash of romance. Norman is not the most swoony of the Dessen Boys, but he's very sweet, and one of my favorites actually.

UK Cover

Bottom Line: I think this is one of the more overlooked books by Sarah Dessen, but it's perfect for this season of lazying about enjoying the nice weather.

Favorite Quote: "For Mira, there were no lost causes. Everything, and everyone, had its purpose. The rest of the world, too often, might have missed that."

2/3

Book Review: What I Did For A Duke by Julie Ann Long

At First Sight: Alex, the Duke of Falconbridge is out to get revenge ever since he came across Ian Eversea in the bed of his fiancee. Beyond the nuisance of it all - as he's close to 40, has been widowed for close to ten years (and there is a nasty rumor going around that he killed his first wife), and now he has to look for a new wife - Alex wanted to be married and he doesn't like to be cheated out of what he wants. 

Knowing Ian was unlikely to share the news that Alex had spared his life and under what conditions - Alex is quite the accomplished duelist - Alex devised a plan to take from Ian something of equal value to what he had taken from him. His chosen victim is Genvieve, Ian's youngest sister, whom he plans to seduce and then abandon. 

Opportunity to do this presents itself when Alex is invited to a house party at the Eversea home, and he's introduced to Genvieve - only that she doesn't turn out to be anything like he expected.

Genvieve is quiet and almost plain, and she's not at all interested in him, which just intrigues him more, particularly when flashes of her temper and wit show to enchant him when he should be offended.

Genvieve really isn't up to play hostess to the duke -though that's the role her mother forces on her - but has little choice in the matter. Mostly she's looking at her two best friends Harry and Millicent, waiting for the moment they'll break her heart. She has been in love with Harry for years, but he has just confessed that he wants to propose to Millicent.

It's in part because of this that Genvieve ends up spending a lot of time with Alex, and entering a game of seduction with him as he promised to help her show Harry what his true heart was, even as Alex planned to steal hers all along. 

Second Glance: What I Did For A Duke is part of the Pennyroyal Green series, but I haven't read any of the previous books so I don't know how it fares in comparison. However, I can say that the story stands very well on it's own. 

The writing is very good though some technicalities fall a little bit short - little things like the workings of the peerage - I didn't much care, as the story is quite engaging from the beginning and I really liked the interactions between Genvieve and Alex - they were definitely the stars of this book and I liked it for it  though nothing much happens besides that. 

Genvieve was a delight to read about, she's funny and sweet and endearing. Alex I liked because he was quite rake-ish, and a true rake is hard to find these days.

Now, I did have a few problems with the story mostly how Alex was kind of hung up on his ex-fiancee at the beginning (though I think it was pride more than anything) , and how Genvieve was so stubborn about Harry- something happened between them near the end that made me ground my teeth. Also, the ending was a bit rushed and disjointed.

Bottom Line: I found What I Did For A Duke a very nice read from an author I had never tried before, with engaging characters and some really steamy scenes. I think I might check this author again, if I like another story line of hers, though I don't feel the need to go back and read every book in the series.

2/3