The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
"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?"- summary from Amazon

I love reading a new Sarah Dessen book. It's like coming home. I liken it to reading a Meg Cabot book; I just get so lost in their worlds and absolutely love every second I'm reading their books. I just can't help it! It's fun reading a Dessen book though because she's set up two different locations for her books; this one takes place in Colby, where Along for the Ride took place, and I'm sure has been mentioned other times in previous books. But since there's basically two locales for her books, the reader really gets to know about a place and revisit it in future books.

Emaline is a wonderful main character and I really enjoyed reading her journey. And of course there's all the great side characters too- Emaline's family and her interactions with them are usually hilarious. It was great learning more about Clyde too, who I feel we got to meet in Along for the Ride but didn't learn much about him (I could be wrong though; it's been so long!). Theo and Ivy, the New Yorkers, were interesting additions too coming to a small town from a big city and seeing how they dealt with that was fun. Her absentee father (suddenly not absent) too provided some great character development for Emaline and some depth to the story.

I also really liked how the story ended, though I don't want to say anything about it for fear of giving away a spoiler. If you've read it though, chat with me!

Overall, ... COME ON! It's a new Dessen book- just go get it!

FTC: Received ARC from publisher (thanks Elyse!). Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.