Title: The Moon and More
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publication: June 2014
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Genre Category: YA
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
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?
Sarah Dessen’s devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.
REVIEW:
Sarah Dessen is incredible. I love her books. They are easy reads, with feel good stories, heartbreaking issues, and just overall a good way to kill an entire day cuddled on the couch in a blanket.
This story follows Emaline, a teenager about to embark on her first year of college, but first has to endure a summer of working at her families reality office. A winding summer filled with heartache, new love, new friends, old family, and discovering who you are, “The Moon and More” has something for everyone.
Dessen has a way to draw you in and connect you to the characters. This story had me cheering on some of the characters (Morris) and finding extreme annoyance with other characters (Theo). I loved how Emaline stuck true to herself throughout and in the end she seemed to have come out where she should. I won’t tell you if that is a good outcome or bad… but she definitely ended where she should have. Another Sarah Dessen book wrapped up for me and done brilliantly. I’ll definitely be looking forward to more. Four out of five stars.
Make sure to pick up ‘The Moon and More’ at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or a bookstore near you. Also mark it as TO READ on your Goodreads page.
