Sarah Dessen has a true gift for writing for teen girls. Each of her books is poignant and true. The characters are fresh, believable and hard to say goodbye to. McLean is moving, again, to her Dad's next assignment. He is a restaurant troubleshooter, sent to a troubled restaurant with a mission of evaluating the restaurant's chances of survival or the possibility of success with changes.
McLean's parents are divorced. Her mom took up with the hot basketball coach of Defriese University. Basketball is kind of a religion she shared with her dad -- she was named after the university's all-time winningest coach, until her mother defected, married and had twins with the coach.
So, every time they move, McLean creates a new persona with a new name. She has learned not to get attached to people or places since they are likely to move in 6 - 12 weeks. But she finds herself breaking her self-imposed rules when they move to Lakeview. She makes friends and really wants this restaurant to succeed.
Her mom wants to reestablish a relationship and threatens McLean's dad with legal actions if McLean does not start spending quality time with her mom's new family.
What makes this book special is her evolving relationship with Dave, the guy next door, who has his own family problems and is also a new kid at the local public high school.
These kids have problems, but not the messy drug and sex problems of so many teenage novels. This looks at the meaning of family and friendship and the importance of trust and communication.
No comments:
Post a Comment