'The Moon and More'

The Moon and More
By Sarah Dessen
Published: June 4, 2013
Read: January 2014
Format: Kindle edition

Rating: B-

“When you've never gotten love from someone, you don't know what it might look like if it ever does appear. You look for it in everything: any bright light overhead could be a star.” 

Emaline lives in the small beach town of Colby, which is familiar to you if you've read Sarah Dessen's Along for the Ride. But in The Moon and More you read about Colby from the perspective of a local, so it feels a little different. It's the summer before Emaline goes to college and she lives a seemingly good life. But in true Sarah Dessen form, her life gets a little shaken up in the course of the novel. We follow her throughout the summer as she navigates her job, her family, her love life and what it means to leave at the end of the summer.

Emaline has two love interests throughout the book--Luke, her high school sweetheart, and Theo, an interesting visitor from New York--but it's not really a love triangle. The two boys couldn't be more different, and Emaline must decide who makes her happy, or if she even needs a man in her life to be happy. Like most main female characters in Dessen's books, Emaline also has a complicated family life. Her mom got pregnant when she was young and her father has been largely absent from her life. Her mom got married when she was little, and she considers her stepdad her dad. He has two daughters, who she calls her sisters. Her biological father unexpectedly comes into town at the beginning of the summer, bringing her 10-year-old half brother she barely knows. Throughout the summer she grows close to Benji, but must decipher her feelings for her father. 

I liked The Moon and More, but I'm convinced that I would have liked it better if I hadn't read Sarah Dessen before. Having read several of her past books, I've come to expect romance and a certain kind of ending. This book had romance, but not in the way her other books do. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you've read Sarah Dessen before, you may be disappointed. This was a fairly light book, perfect for a light summer read. I read this in the middle of winter of course, but it was still fun. Though there are some awkward and slightly intense moments--mostly with Emaline's family--not a whole lot happened. It is more about character development and what teenagers experience before going off to college than it is about action and exciting events.  

If you haven't read Sarah Dessen yet, this is a good place to start. And if you have, try to get rid of any preconceived notions before starting The Moon and More.