Showing posts with label sarah dessen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarah dessen. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (3/11/15): Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen



Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
Expected publication: May 5, 2015


From Goodreads:
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.

I've always loved me some Sarah Dessen. She may choose some heavy subject matter sometimes, but her quirky settings and characters make for an easy, enjoyable read. It feels like it's been forever since her last one! 

(Shout out to my North Carolina authors)


Monday, December 31, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM FLESH & BOOKS (and books we're excited for)



Hello, survivors of the 2012 apocalypse! To celebrate our survival of what we think is the 3rd apocalypse in our lifetime, we have decided to restart our book blog. We apologize for the unannounced and rather long hiatus but life got all “hey, have some extra suck” became lifeish and got in the way like it has a habit of doing. BUT NOW WE'RE BACK. We will try to post a review at least once a week, possibly more if time and life are feeling kind. To kick things off, we are bringing you two books apiece that we're looking forward to in the next year. We hope you all had a safe and happy new year! Enjoy!

Rachel’s picks:



Requiem (Delirium #3) by Lauren Oliver
Publication date: March 5, 2013 (HarperTeen)

As the third and final book in Lauren Oliver’s dystopian series, there are mild spoilers ahead...

From Goodreads:

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancĂ©e of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.



The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Publication date: June 4, 2013 (Viking Juvenile)


 From Barnes & Noble:


Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.
Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.
Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?
Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?




Yajaira's picks:




Altered (#1) by Jennifer Rush

Publication date: January 1, 2013 (Little, Brown & Co.)

From Goodreads:

When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?
Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.
Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.
Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.





Music of the Heart by Katie Ashley

Publication date: February ?, 2013

From Goodreads:

For Abby Renard, the plan was supposed to be simple—join her brothers’ band on the last leg of their summer tour and decide if she’s finally ready for the limelight by becoming its fourth member. Of course, she never imagined stumbling onto the wrong tour bus at Rock Nation would accidentally land her in the bed of Jake Slater, the notorious womanizing lead singer of Runaway Train. When he mistakes her for one of his groupie’s, Abby quickly lets him know she sure as hell isn't in his bed on purpose.
Jake Slater never imagined the angel who fell into his bed would resist his charms by promptly kneeing him in the balls. Of course, the fact she seems like a prissy choir girl makes her anything but his type. So he is more than surprised when after betting Abby she wouldn’t last a week on their tour bus, she is more than willing to prove him wrong. But as Jake’s personal life begins to implode around him, he finds an unlikely ally in Abby. He’s never met a woman he can talk to, joke with, or most importantly make music with.
As the week starts comes to a close, neither Abby nor Jake is ready to let go. Can a sweetheart Country songstress and a bad boy of Rock N Roll actually have a future together?

Comment below and tell us what books will be making their way onto your ToBeRead piles!

Monday, May 16, 2011

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen




Publication date: May 10, 2011 (Penguin)
  
Gus Sweet’s job keeps him busy reinventing local restaurants. His daughter Mclean on the other hand, is busy reinventing herself.

Sarah Dessen’s newest novel What Happened to Goodbye is Mm-Mm-Good to the last drop - warts and all. A public divorce having torn her family apart, Mclean chooses to tag along with her father as he moves from here to there flipping restaurants. Four towns in two years and they all know Mclean as an entirely different person. Once they reach Lakeview, however, she finds herself showing her true colors.

The budding romance between the main character and the boy next door is more of an added bonus. What Happened to Goodbye focuses mainly on the drama and such within the Sweet family, but the heaviness manages not to smother you. I laughed, in fact. It’s the perfect realistic fiction recipe.


It’s so easy to relate and fall in love with Sarah’s whimsical characters, so I’m loving how she has on more than one occasion pulled our old acquaintances into the new books. While not an all time favorite (see Along for the Ride), it definitely does not disappoint and should be given a chance from fans new and old.

"After all these years of just passing through, I was beginning to finally feel at home."


(4.5 out of 5)

- Tabbyc