That Summer

Title: That Summer
Author: Sarah Dessen
Pages: (paperback) 198
Summary: For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She's nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister—the always perfect Ashley—is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley's reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

My Thoughts: I've read a quite a few of Sarah Dessen's books (for years they've been my go-to beach reads), and they usually involve the theme of "girl meets boy." This book didn't have that particular trope, and color me surprised. I was waiting for the first half of the book for Haven to meet a future beau, but she never really did. You know what, though? I actually appreciated this lack of romantic entanglement in the end. It was strangely refreshing.

However, I wasn't blown away by the plot progression and I found the pace to be a little slow, especially for the first 100 pages. I wanted something big to happen that didn't involve Haven's whiny sister, Ashley, or her wedding.  I felt bad for Haven, though, when she had to deal with her sister, her disaffected mother, her father, and her new stepmother lovingly called the Weather Pet. In the 198 pages of this book, she goes through one of the hardest summer's of her life, while reminiscing on better times of the past when everything seemed whole.

This was more of a coming-of-age story than anything, and sets out to show how a teenage girl learns a big life lesson as she matures over the summer. After overly romanticizing a summer trip that happened five years before, she realizes that maybe it wasn't all it was cracked up to be and that everyone can be disillusioned by someone or something at one point or another. And that's the best part about Dessen's novels, you feel like you've been on this emotional journey with the protagonist and like you've learned a little bit more about life along the way. It's this reason why I keep going back to her books. I feel like I'm bettering myself as a person once I've finished one of Dessen's novels.
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.