Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Hardcover, 417 pages
Published May 5, 2015

Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.
The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans.

It is no secret that I loooooove Sarah Dessen (GO HEELS!!!). This is her newest and I was so glad that I got to see her again at my conference and catch up. Seriously, she is the coolest person ever! This book definitely did not disappoint. Sydney is living in the shadows of her older brother Peyton and the mistakes that he has made. While he is away serving time, she is forced to come to grips with who she is, what her life has become, and how she will move forward. Being a teenager is hard enough, but add on a brother in jail, his best friend who gave even me the creeps, a mom who totally doesn't get it (in ANY way, shape or form), and a family who ends up being Sydney's saving grace, and you fall into the story and find yourself wanting to wrap your arms around Sydney and help her figure out life however you can. 

The honesty and raw emotion that I felt while reading were a true testament to Sarah's writing and her ability to suck you into a story and become invested in the character's lives. While being a teenager is tough on most all of us, it is often hard to realize that no matter which side of the tracks you are on or what your life is like, we all experience trials of all shapes and sizes. 

Like Sarah Dessen's other novels, this one will suck you in and take you on an emotional roller coaster while having you beg for more. And I have to say, the ending is perfection. The last like... wow. Enjoy!

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Genre: YA Romance

Age Level: Young Adult

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Speak (May 11, 2004)

Award Winner:

• An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Other Info:

• With Someone Like You, adapted into the motion picture How to Deal, released July 2003, staring Mandy Moore

Fifteen year old Haven thought that life was going according to plan until her dad broke the news that he was leaving for the local weather girl, who is only five years older than Haven’s older sister Ashley. Her parents’ divorce, father’s new bride and her sister’s upcoming wedding to a guy who she believes is all wrong sets her summer into one of complete chaos. She is quietly suffering through all of it and watching from the sidelines while everything around her falls apart. Her best friend comes back from camp with a new lease on life, a new boyfriend, and an idea of what love is which only adds to Haven’s skewed view of love. Add all of this together along with the fact that Haven is taller than everyone else she knows and is still growing which only angers her sister more as the bridesmaids dress has to be altered yet again. Haven feels like she doesn’t fit in anywhere (literally and figuratively) and that the only good times she experienced were during the summer she and her family spent in Virginia Beach with her family and her sister Ashley’s then boyfriend Sumner. Haven spends the summer wondering if her life will ever get back to the happy times of that summer. When Sumner comes back into her life and seems to puller her from her suffering, she can seemingly see the light at the end of the tunnel. She begins to find out, however, that things happen behind closed doors and there are some secrets that should be left between the parties involved.

This book is yet another fun read that makes you think at the same time. Haven is trying to find out where she fits in within every aspect of her life and it causes her too look backwards and forwards at the same time. I love that Dessen has, yet again, written a book that is so relatable to teens and adults alike on many levels. Teens will be able to relate to Haven’s desire to fit in and find herself in the midst of chaos, and adults will be able to put the “Been There, Done That” hat on. This book isn’t you’re a-typical love story because your main character doesn’t fall in love in the book and yet it is because she finds out about love on many different levels and the effects that love can have on a person. She finds that love comes in many shapes and sizes and that it isn’t always something that you can depend on.

Now I am off to watch the movie that combines both of these (“How to Deal” staring Mandy Moore)!!! I will let you know how it is!!

xoxo

jennie

(originally posted July 3, 2009)

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Genre: YA Romance

Age Level: Young Adult

Paperback: 281 pages

Publisher: Puffin Books (May 11, 2004)

Award Winner:

• An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

• A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

• A barnesandnoble.com Best Teen Novel of the Year

• Winner of the South Carolina Young Adult Book Award 2000-2001

Other Info:

• With That Summer, adapted into the motion picture How to Deal, released July 2003, staring Mandy Moore

The themes of teenage rebellion and first love are often over used in today’s young adult fiction. Dessen, however, takes those themes and gives them a fresh face in this novel. They are both moral issues that all teens face at some point and yet there are very few examples of them not being thrown into you face through literature in a cliché way. Halley has grown up with a therapist for a mother and a radio jockey for a father and has been the subject of her mother’s books and her father’s jokes on the radio for as long as she can remember. She had always valued her close relationship to her parents and enjoyed the summer vacations, late night conversations, and complete honesty with them. All of that changes the summer before her junior year in high school. That summer is when she begins to cut loose from her parents and truly discover who Halley was, not who her parents wanted her to be or expect her to be. She and her best friend, Scarlett, spent the first half of the summer hanging out with Ginny Tabor who was "a cheerleader with a wild streak a mile wide and a reputation among the football team for more than her cheers and famous midair splits" and that is when things began to change. Halley dumps her bland boyfriend, Noah, and she and Scarlett set out to change. And change they did. Scarlett was the opposite of quiet, reserved Halley and provided the balance that she needed in order to find herself. When Scarlett and Halley started hanging out with Michael, they had no way of knowing how drastically their lives were going to change. Two months after Michael was killed in a motorcycle accident, Scarlett finds that she is pregnant with his baby and Halley finds herself becoming deeply involved with his best friend Macon, a rebellious boy who her parents have forbidden her to see. Halley and Scarlett are finding themselves walking the line between childhood and adulthood and lean on each other for the support they so desperately need instead of their families. This is a wonderful coming of age story that takes Halley and Scarlett through pregnancy, drugs, alcohol and sex all the while helping them both to find out who they truly are deep down, and not who they are according to their parents, their friends, or even each other.

The characters in this novel are fully developed and the conversations, situations, and outcomes don’t fall into the cliché category at all. I read this book in a day and loved every second of it. I found myself pulling for Halley and Scarlett throughout their turmoil and joy. I found the book very relatable because all teens go through a soul searching period and I could relate to what the girls were dealing with in the larger scheme of things. I highly recommend this book and I am definitely going to be checking out more of Dessen’s books in the future. Her writing is very fluid and was very easy to follow and get sucked into. Check out my amazon.com store for this book as well as others! I have already started another book so I hope to add it soon! Enjoy!

xoxo

jennie

(originally posted July 1, 2009)