Sarah Dessen

At first I was a little put off by the book. But since I love Sarah Dessen, I knew that if I stuck with it that it would get better. When me first meet Colie, we are going through a flashback type thing. She is remembering when both her and her mother were fat, and traveling across the country. When the story really gets going you find out that Colie and her mom are both now skinny, and her mom has turned into this fitness/weightloss guru. Colie is being shipped off to her Aunt Mira's in Colby, North Carolina.
Colie is only 15, so she can't really be left at home for the summer while her mother goes on tour for her fitness program. So Colie gets on a train and travels from Charlotte to Colby, where she is picked up by Norman, her Aunt's boarder. Norman and Aunt Mira turn out to be a little wierd, well wierd to most people. Mira's house is strewn with items that only half work, and Mira herself seems a little off the norm. Mira is overweight and in her world it doesn't bother her. Colie knows that while she is there for the summer that she really can't just sit around, so when she ends up at the Last Chance Bar and Grill, she meets Morgan and Isabel; two best friends that have been together since at least high school.
Colie soon lands a job at Last Chance, and becomes somewhat friendly with Morgan and Isabel. Morgan is the sweet one while Isabel is a little rougher and at times can seem just downright mean.
While working at Last Chance, Colie watches the way that Morgan and Isabel interact and while she never had a friend like either of them before, she learns that they would do just about anything for each other.
Isabel kinda takes a liking to Colie about half way through the book, when she happens to overhear some nasty things that a girl from Colie's hometown has to say about her. Isabel then helps Colie recognize her self-esteem through the rest of the book.
Keeping the Moon is a great coming of age/self-esteem book for young girls. And by the end of the book I was almost in tears with the transformation of Colie.… (more)

I have loved Sarah Dessen since I was handed a copy of The Truth About Forever. I have slowly been getting all of her books and Dreamland of course was on that list. Up until Stephanie was so kind as to get me a copy I hadn't really read much about the book. So without knowing what I was getting into I sat down to read.
I was surprised that Sarah wrote about a subject that a lot of other authors only gloss over or don't touch on at all. The issue of abuse is one that no matter how much we may dislike it and wish it never happened, does happen; and a lot more than we would like to believe.
I can relate to the main character Caitlin in a way, I don't have the same home life that she did in the book, runaway sister, overbearing but still slightly withdrawn mother, and a father that just hangs out on the edge. But I too was in an abusive relationship. I loved him just as Caitlin loved Rogerson and would do just as Caitlin did to make sure that I kept him as happy as possible.
My heart broke for Caitlin every time Rogerson got that look in his eyes and I cringed along with her when she knew that something was going to upset him.
As much as I loved this book, and all the characters, yes even Rogerson; I do wish that the ending was a little different. I would have like to have known how Caitlin handled the first meeting with Rogerson after the time spent away from him. Really, would he have even acknowledged Caitlin? Would she have been able to stand tall and prove that no matter what she was strong?
I guess we'll never know. Though I like to think that after some time she would have been able to be around him without breaking down.… (more)

Just Listen is about Annabel Greene, the youngest of three girls. While her life seems perfect on the outside - she and her sisters are fairly successful models, she's friends with one of the most popular girls in school and has a busy social life - things are actually unraveling on the inside and she finds she has no one to open up to. After an event that takes away her friendships and social life concludes her school year, she starts the next year alone, isolated, and unsure of how to cope - until she meets Owen Armstrong, another loner like her.

This book has many universal themes on many levels, but one of the biggest ones is not judging situations or people until you've really taken the time to learn about them. As things progress in the book, Annabel realizes the one thing she's been so afraid of - people coming to quick conclusions about her - is something she'd been doing to other people.

For me it started off a little slow and I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to enjoy it, but after sticking with it I really did enjoy it.… (more)

This was a nice basic summer romance. Not a lot happens. Colie is visiting with her eclectic aunt for the summer and trying to figure out who she is. She befriends a couple of girls who live next door. One of them is really nice but for the most part the other one can be a bit mean.
At times it was hard reading about how people can be so cruel to others as Colie and her aunt both have people bullying them. They deal with it very differently though.
I enjoyed it but it's not one of my favorite books by Sarah Dessen and I don't think I would read it again.
There is a fair bit of blasphemy.… (more)