Contemporary

Along For the Ride

Published by on June 19, 2013 | 1 Response

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058_alongfortherideTITLE: Along For the Ride

AUTHOR: Sarah Dessen

GENRE: YA Contemporary

FORMAT: eBook, 383 Pages

Auden has always felt more alive at night. She escapes the confines of her quiet, scripted life and drives out into the darkness, drinking coffee in all-night diners or just feeling the wind on her face. When she decides to do something different for the summer and stay with her father, stepmother and newborn stepsister in the seaside town of Colby, Auden doesn’t expect her nocturnal existence to change. But as it turns out, she isn’t the only one who stays up all night, and despite everything she’s learned to believe, change still can happen to anyone and anything.

I have so much love for this book. I know it’s often the case that the first book you read from an author is the most magical experience and you won’t be able to recreate it. Sort of like a law of diminishing returns, only for books. But Along For the Ride surprised me by quickly becoming a contender for my favorite Dessen book ever, and this is after reading four of her books within the last few weeks. If you choose The Truth About Forever as your first Sarah Dessen novel, make Along For the Ride your second.

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Lock & Key

Published by on June 18, 2013 | 2 Responses

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055_lockandkeyTITLE: Lock & Key

AUTHOR: Sarah Dessen

GENRE: YA Contemporary

FORMAT: eBook, 283 Pages (2008)

Ruby knows how to fend for herself. After all, she’s been doing that for the past few months. Scraping a living together from her after school job, living alone in the little yellow house she used to share with her mother, she finally has a degree of independence. But the show is over, because her mother is missing and now Ruby’s estranged sister has reappeared in her life after years of not being there when they needed each other the most. Cora and her husband Jamie take Ruby back with them to their palatial home in the suburbs, enroll her in a prestigious private school, and seem determined to give her everything she lacked throughout her childhood. But why is living the easy life so much harder than getting by on her own?

Ruby, the product of a broken  home and a single parent who isn’t much of a parent at all, is an entire world removed from the protagonist of The Truth About Forever, which was my first ever Sarah Dessen book. While Macy has a roof over her head, money in the bank and a pretty secure existence, Ruby has had to cope with abuse and neglect. When her sister whisks her away from what she knows, it’s like being relocated to an alien planet. Lock and Key deals with some tougher issues than I’ve seen so far in this author’s work, and while it had some flaws, I still think it handled those difficult topics very well, and that it ended with a familiar sense of hope that is iconic of Dessen’s books.

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The Truth About Forever

Published by on June 17, 2013 | Leave a response

dessenbanner052_truthaboutforeverTITLE: The Truth About Forever

AUTHOR: Sarah Dessen

GENRE: YA Contemporary

FORMAT: Hardcover, 376 Pages (2004)

The pursuit of perfection is something Macy knows by heart. She strives to be the perfect student, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect daughter, to the point that she can barely remember who the real girl is underneath. Deep inside, the real Macy is weighted with guilt and regret, still grieving in the wake of her father’s death and feeling disconnected from everyone and everything. But this is the summer when Macy will learn to let go — to be her true self, and to live fearlessly, despite how unpredictable and imperfect life can be.

So! This was my first ever Sarah Dessen book, recommended to me by the lovely Ana at Anahera Reads when I was looking around for a good YA Contemporary for this event. I have to admit that I’ve been hesitant to try this author’s books for YEARS. I came in half expecting something insubstantial and/or hormonal to the extreme, but my perceptions were completely changed by the time I turned the last page. Well, long before that, actually. The fact that I loved this book so much is kind of crazy, because I am definitely not a big contemporary reader, and definitely not in the YA genre. I’ve mentioned before that I find it hard to enjoy contemporary books because they just don’t seem like enough of an escape for me, but I am now making an exception for Sarah Dessen.

… Actually, this book kind of sent me on a crazy Dessen binge. I HAVE NO REGRETS. The Truth About Forever surprised me with its candid look at grief, the vibrance and believability of its characters, and the small, poignant moments that I still haven’t forgotten even weeks after reading it.

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The Sea of Tranquility

Published by on June 13, 2013 | 6 Responses

sea-of-tranquilityTITLE: The Sea of Tranquility

AUTHOR: Katja Millay

GENRE: Contemporary YA

FORMAT: Ebook, 448 Pages (Atria Books)

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.
Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to. (from Goodreads)

The Sea of Tranquility is a beautiful, heartbreaking, gut wrenching, haunting, dark and hopeful novel. I finished it about a week ago (after reading it in one sitting!), and the emotions it caused in me still feel fresh and truthfully I am still processing them. Can you tell I loved it? Because I think saying I loved this book is an understatement.

Nastya Kashinkov is a strong but broken teenager. Hoping to escape her past, she moves in with her aunt and starts at a new school. But she isn’t the daughter and niece her family remembers: she’s hasn’t spoken in over a year and dresses as in provocative manner (she calls it her “russian whore” look). Right from the novels start, we’re made aware that something horrific has happened to Nastya, she was a piano prodigy but is no longer, she has died and been brought back to life (but not to who she was). Nastya story’s is purposely revealed in a slow manner and in works. I’m not usually a fan of slow reveals but in this case, it was done so well and in a natural manner that is really worked for me. The story is told from the POV of Nastya and Josh, something that works incredibly well here. I really enjoyed getting each character’s perspective and in the case of Nastya, it showed the duality of just how strong she is while also being deeply affected by the past events.

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