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?
So it appears that I'm on a good book streak, for this novel was another example on why Sarah Dessen is my go-to writer for general fiction.
It starts out with this girl, Emaline, who is on her last summer before her first year of college. She's going two hours away and has a wonderful boyfriend, yet some part of her wants bigger things, wants to get out of Colby and not end up like her mother, who was pregnant with her at sixteen. Yet, others (a newcomer named Theo and her biological father) want bigger things for her: Ivy League education, a big city lifestyle, etc.
First off, I would like to congratulate Sarah on having enough romance to hold the attention of any avid romance reader, yet also be able to show that maybe a fairytale doesn't involve Prince Charming. The book immediately relates to anyone who wants the feeling of change, of moving on to bigger and better things. Emaline's voice is just so wonderful, her narrative sounding like the average teenager, yet you can also relate to her struggles.
Sarah has this wonderful skill that made me go from loving Theo to wanting to shove him against the wall. In the end, I can honestly say that he was the one downside to the novel, but I could also see his purpose on being there.
Another perk would be how the focus isn't also on romance, it's on Emaline finding herself, figuring out her relationship with her father that hasn't always been there for her, developing a relationship with her half-brother, Benji. Despite my love of romance, it's refreshing to read books where that isn't the sole purpose of the novel.
The summer atmosphere, interesting characters, and wonderful plot make this book worth five stars. Even with my utter annoyance with Theo.
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