3.5 stars ”Maybe it’s true, and being a girl could not be about interest rates and skinny jeans, riding bikes and wearing pink. Not about any one thing, but everything.” Although the story was a bit slow, it was written nice and easy. I really liked the premise and the characterization of AudenShe grew up under the strict tutelage of her intimidating, condescending mother while her barely visible dad always manages to escape his daddy roles in the guise of perfecting his craft in writing. I ...

And the award for my most vanilla book of 2016 goes to...I think I get it now. The whole appeal with Sarah Dessen and the million or so romance books she's churned; she's no Stephanie Perkins but reading her work is just so easy. Or at least this one was, my first one yet.But more than easy, it was boring. Mundane. Unexciting. VANILLA.Just like vanilla ice cream, it's enough to have me gobbling it up in one go, but doesn't quite manage to leave a satisfied mark like chocolate would. (Of course, ...

Reading Sarah Dessen is like walking into an air-conditioned store after a hot, humid day in the sun. Reading Sarah Dessen is also like drinking an ice-cold smoothie after a long, harsh marathon. And finally, reading Sarah Dessen is like eating comfort food: you always know what you're going to get, a tasty, satisfying treat.Auden has just finished her senior year and looks forward to spending the summer like she usually does: staying home and studying, while occasionally attending the parties h...

3.5 stars! This book was super cute and I loved how it was half romance and half coming of age/slice of life. The reason I gave 3.5 stars is because I felt like it moved a bit slow at parts. If the book was like 100 pages shorter I think it would be a 4 or 4.5 star read. Perfect summer read though! And I'm excited to watch the movie

the thing that i love most about sarah dessen novels is the effortlessness and ease in which i am transported to a younger time, a carefree time. when adult worries are forgotten and young love is all that matters. sigh.however, i have come to notice that SD novels are very formulaic. i mean, i get it - if it aint broke, dont fix it. and even though i have grown to a certain level of comfortability with her stories, i kind of wish she would break the trend every once in a while. but she has a st...

Peoples, this book ain’t worth it.Number one: THERES NO PLOT. LITERALLY NONE. This author was all like, ‘oh let’s put a normal teenage girl who has low self esteem!’ AHEM.BASICALLY HOW ALL CONTEMPORARY NOVELS GO.And let’s not forget about that boy! Of course Dessen went for the typical approach. Meaning- BIKER DUDENow, see I thought it’d be some great guy who’s hot and sports a six pack and all..basically my dream guy in every book.DA HELL TO THE NO.This dude.......*restrains from wanting to str...

not the best sarah dessen, but, you know, not the worst.there's kind of an interesting exploration of feminism and female gender identity in here??? which is not exactly what you'd expect. like, when this book started out by describing the protagonist's mom with this paragraph: "She was an expert on women in literature but didn't much like them in practice. Partly, it was because so many of them were jealous," going on to describe her unbeliiiiiieeeeevable intelligence, success, beauty, and rock...

Even more than John Green, Sarah Dessen repeats the same plot elements over and over again:1. ONE SUMMER, 2. AN OLDER TEENAGE GIRL WHO IS REPRESSED IN SOME WAY -- family secrets, personal secrets, others' expectations, her own cynicism or need for control3. MEETS A WACKY GROUP OF PEOPLE -- long-distant family, a rock band, coworkers, a new group of friends4. INCLUDING ONE UNUSUAL BOY -- usually artistic in some way5. SHE DOES SOMETHING UNCHARACTERISTIC OF HER THAT STARTS OR DEEPENS HER RELATIONS...

Cross-posted from my blog review . Auden is your classic overachiever: she’s studious and entirely too serious. What’s more, she deprived herself of a normal high school experience—one with friends and fun—opting instead for the academic route. Which did indeed work, because she got into a great university, the one she’d be attending come August. In the meantime, there is the whole summer stretching before her, and suddenly, spending it at home with her holier-than-thou, my-feminism-is-better...

This is pure Sarah Dessen. It's a comfort to read her work, because you know you are going to come away with something to think about. I'm afraid I didn't like this one as much as the others. It's because well... it feels a little like I'm reading the same story. Tons of others have mentioned it, but she seems to be sticking to a very strict formula. Which I wouldn't mind too much if the characters didn't seem so similar. They all are so reserved and issue driven. One of the reasons I think that...