The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

I think I'm feeling the winter blahs.  It's been cold.  Snowy.  Gray.  And I LOVE summer.  There's just something about laying by the pool and reading a good book.  So I went to one of my go-to chick-lit YA authors, Sarah Dessen for a beach read.  The Moon and More is about a teenage girl named Emmaline.  Her mom was a teen mom; her biological father a stranger.  Her family runs a beach vacation home rental business in Colby, North Carolina and each family member does his or her part.

Emmaline starts the summer with a boyfriend, Luke, her high-school sweetheart of four years, and quickly falls for a boy visiting Colby from New York.  She takes a break from Luke and explores a new romance with Theo, who is spending the summer in Colby to film a documentary about a local artist.

The novel itself was fairly predictable, but it was exactly what I needed and (almost) made me feel like summer was here.  (Don't worry - you haven't missed anything.  It's definitely not).

One thing I loved about the narration is that the main character, Emmaline, is extremely intelligent, witty, and wise.  She has so many internal thoughts that I considered golden lines:

• "Again, it occurred to me how weird it was to be permanent in a place that to everyone else was only temporary.  Like I could never be sure if they were the ones who weren't real, or if I was" (Dessen 85).
• "But as was so often the case, it was the one person missing who you thought about more than the ones who were right in front of you" (Dessen 86).
• "You think it's all obvious and straightforward, this world.  But really, it's all in who is doing the looking" (Dessen 266).
• "The mistakes you make now count.  Not for everything, and not forever.  But they do matter, and they shape you.  If you take nothing else from what I've been through, at least remember this: make your choices well.  Because you'll always be accountable for them.  That's what being an adult is about" (Dessen 345).
• "The thing is, you can't always have the best of everything.  Because for a life to be real, you need it all: good and bad, beach and concrete, the familiar and the unknown, big talkers and small towns" (Dessen 435).

I know that was a lot of quotes at once, but I really feel like if you look at Emmaline's internal thoughts and dialogue, you really gain an understanding into her character.  So should you check out The Moon and More?  Yes...though females would probably like it best.  Happy reading!