Definitely a very female version of a coming of age story. Also a sister of the bride story. Sarah Dessen's first novel doesn't have the widespread appeal of some of her later works but the story does show her talent for crafting likable, realistic characters that one easily empathizes with.
In this case, Haven who's six years younger than her older sister and becoming frustrated with her sister's wedding plans, her best friends changed persona since returning from summer camp and the effect that the parents' divorce is having on all the members of her family.
At 198 ages this is shorter than the rest of her books and is a more tightly focused plot than her later works but I found it enjoyable, engaging, and certainly worth the reading time.
The plotline is something that a lot of her female readers will have lived through and there are critics that have called it boring. Being a guy, I'd not seen or thought about a lot of these aspects of what it might be like to be coming of age as a girl/child and how that's different than what man/child goes through, so much of this was new to me. Yet the commonality was there and identifiable and worthy of understanding.
Overall a good first effort but I am glad that this was not the first of Sarah Dessen's books that I'd read.
In this case, Haven who's six years younger than her older sister and becoming frustrated with her sister's wedding plans, her best friends changed persona since returning from summer camp and the effect that the parents' divorce is having on all the members of her family.
At 198 ages this is shorter than the rest of her books and is a more tightly focused plot than her later works but I found it enjoyable, engaging, and certainly worth the reading time.
The plotline is something that a lot of her female readers will have lived through and there are critics that have called it boring. Being a guy, I'd not seen or thought about a lot of these aspects of what it might be like to be coming of age as a girl/child and how that's different than what man/child goes through, so much of this was new to me. Yet the commonality was there and identifiable and worthy of understanding.
Overall a good first effort but I am glad that this was not the first of Sarah Dessen's books that I'd read.
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