Title: The Moon and MoreAuthor: Sarah Dessen
Pages: 435 (hardcover)
Publication: June 2013
Summary: 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? Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?
Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.
The Signing: This is the second book signing I've gone to for Sarah Dessen (which took place a couple weeks ago), and it was even better than the last. I was near the front of the signing line, I won a bit of swag (a necklace with a key on it), and everyone was no where near as pushy as they were at the last signing, therefore making it an all around better experience, not to mention my sister and I got to talk to her more than last time. She was funny, nice, down to earth, and very relatable, and she seemed genuinely happy to be there doing this signing for her fans and readers.
She gave us some inside perspective as to her writing process, where the fictional town of Colby, which is the setting of this book and appears in many of her other novels, is based (Emerald Isle, NC), and revealed that she's working on her twelfth novel right now. I was having an awful day the day of the signing, and when I walked into that bookstore and felt the energy of my fellow fans around me, I instantly felt better. I loved it. Everyone was so nice and excited, and there was even free cake (I'm all about the free food), so in other words, yes I definitely plan on attending more of her book signings and I'll probably always treasure her books. I started reading them in high school and they're now as much a part of my learning and growing up experience as The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book series.
My Review: Okay so this wasn't my all-time favorite Dessen novel (that would be Along for the Ride), but it definitely wasn't my least favorite. I felt like it dragged in some areas, yet didn't fully explain what was happening in others. Like for example Clyde's back story or more of Theo's back story. But I never felt like I didn't know who Emaline was as a person or where her development was headed. My favorite part about this book, however, was that it was less about a love triangle and more about Emaline figuring out what she wanted out of life and how change can come in all kinds of packages whether they be good or bad.
It took me forever to read this one (because of summer class finals and life in general) but I found this novel to be very much a beach read. In other words this book included a lot of what I like to call "fluff;" it didn't make you think too much and was very light (no dystopian gore or murder victims) while also packing a pretty deep moral to the story. What did I derive this moral to be? For the most part, I felt like this story conveyed how a girl when moving on in life doesn't need to stray too far from the familiar in order to experience personal growth. If you stray away from who you are and what you know completely, then you lose yourself completely.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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