The Moon and More

Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen is the perfect romantic YA novel. A gorgeous Summer read. Open the pages and fall in love . . . Emaline is spending her last summer before college in her home beach town of Colby. Everything is familiar - from working for her bossy sister Margo at the family rental company to Emaline's gorgeous (and regularly shirtless) childhood sweetheart, Luke. But when an out-of-town brash New York filmmaker, and her young assistant Theo, come to stay at one of the beach houses, everything Emaline thought she knew about herself changes. But can her heart let go of a life she's loved for so long? Praise for Sarah Dessen: 'Perfect' - Sunday Telegraph 'Unputdownable' - MIZZ 'A compelling story and beautifully written' - Time Out 'A poignant coming-of-age story' - The Big Issue Sarah Dessen is the author of seven stunning YA novels: Just Listen, The Truth About Forever, Lock and Key, That Summer, Along for the Ride and The Moon and More. She is a New York Times bestseller and is sold in over 27 different countries around the world. She lives in the countryside in North Carolina, USA, with her daughter, husband, some lizards and two very spoilt dogs - read her once and fall in love. Sarah-Land.com sarahdessen.com @sarahdessen

Hill

Briar's Reviews

I have never picked up a book by Sarah Dessen before, but she has long been on my TBR list. I have a few of her novels hidden away on my bookshelves, so it only seemed fitting that I finally pick one of them up! The Moon and More copy I have is actually an ARC copy that a local bookstore gave me in exchange for a donation to charity. That being said, the copy I received may be different than the final copy!

This story follows Emaline and her wild summer. Her romances, her family issues, her school decisions and all of the other drama that comes with being a high school senior who just graduated and is going to be whisked off to college. 

I found this book to be a very contemporary novel. It's something I would have enjoyed back in high school - no action, mostly romance and drama, a slice of life-esque novel. It was very "boring" compared to the novels I typically read. There will be readers who absolutely love that this book is so simple to read and doesn't have much going on in the adventure department. It's simply a book about life - high school life. I've grown a bit as a reader and don't enjoy that as much now, but I can appreciate how beautifully Sarah has written this book.

I've seen other reviewers say this book is "mundane" and I definitely agree with that word. It describes it perfectly! And that's not an insult coming from me! I adored how sweet and soft this book was.

Theo is one of the highlights of this book. As an adult, I found him unbearable and crazy - big date ideas, gigantic displays of affection and a mock prom - but as a teen I would have wanted a guy like him. He's spontaneous and sweet and absolutely wild! The intended readers of this book will fall for him HARD. 

Another point that I liked is that this book was so real. Most of the issues and drama that are in this book are super realistic. I knew a lot of people in high school dealing with broken families, cheating boyfriends, difficult college choices and family members walking back into their life. Almost every instance in this story felt like it was something that could actually happen and it didn't feel forced. This book almost read like a journal entry, if written in a story format. Kudos Sarah Dessen - you're a good writer!

If this book had a theme, I'd say it was finding yourself. Emaline was exploring who she is, where she came from and how to be her. It was a very sweet story, even if it wasn't my cup of tea. I honestly appreciate this book, even though I didn't enjoy it. It gets five stars from high school me, but not from current book blogger me.

Overall, this is a sweet and fluffy YA that will be adored by many.

Two out of five stars.

Jeannette Ordas

Good ol' Sarah Dessen - it's a good, reliable YA book that fills my need for a quick and speedy read. Her stories feel the same from book to book (and the locations, some characters and side notes travel along for the ride), but I'm okay with that.

Gisela Ayala 

I really wanted to like it. I've heard that Sarah Dessen is a wonderful writer, but I just could not get into this book which makes me really sad. The characters were just not interesting. I kept reading hoping they they would develop and would reveal some real emotions, but I was over halfway through the book when I couldn't keep reading anymore. Emaline had no real motivation throughout the book, I couldn't figure out exactly what the point was besides the fact that she wants to stay home but also wants to go to college. Her parents felt like they didn't really fit in. She has a pretty good life and is going through a minor breakup. Her sisters were ok. Probably the most interesting character was Clyde. Whether that was done purposefully or not I'm not sure. I think I'll just stop here though because I don't really have much to say. Maybe someone else will like this type of book.

In her eleventh novel, Sarah Dessen returns to the beach town of Colby, setting of some of her best-loved books. Emaline is a Colby native, and so summer at the beach for her means hard work and a new population of beach goers. During this, her last summer before college, Emaline meets Theo while working for her family's rental business. He's a city boy who's come to Colby as the assistant to a high-strung documentary filmmaker who's in town to profile a reclusive local artist. Emaline knows he's not her type, but she can't help feeling drawn to him. And as their relationship develops, Emaline finds herself questioning her own goals, values, and choices in this classic Dessen romance.

Anna Cashman

sarah dessen is my guilty pleasure and this is no exception

Ley Stanton

My least favorite Sarah Dessen book by far. 
I just didn't care for the main character, I found that she was just reacting to everything instead of actually having opinions of her own. The characters had sudden personality changes out of nowhere and not really caused by anything. It was a cute story but it just didn't feel like her other books did.

Jo Young

I quite liked this book, but it wasn't as amazing as some of sarah Dessen's other books.

Maggie El Lethy

Waited all year for this book! Great summer read, but not my absolute favorite of Dessens books. I did not like the ending at all, it annoys me so much.. Nice job, but the book is very similar to her other books. I was happy Auden appeared in the book, but I wished Eli appeared as well.

Jessica Guht

I really tried to give this book a second chance but i just couldn't get into it because I remember how much i didn't like Theo, and I just can't enjoy a book where the main love interest is someone that I don't like. The writing is still great and I love the other story lines, but the main thing I love about Sarah Dessen's novels was lacking.

Steffi

I have read and enjoyed all of Sarah Dessen's book except this one. The story dragged on for 400+ pages, with no character development. I kept waiting for the Sarah Dessen romance, and found this lackluster to say the least.

Lisa Collins

I want to say—before I say anything else—that I’m a pretty big Sarah Dessen fan. I tried not to be biased while reading The Moon and More, and I’ll try not to be biased while I write this review.

To be completely honest: during the middle of The Moon and More I was extremely unsure of how I felt about it. I was liking it, but I was also kind of not liking it. Some of that was for personal reasons, but most of it was due to issues with the characters.

I liked the main character, Emaline, LOVED her family, and really enjoyed reading about her friends and life. I, however, could not STAND Theo. From the moment he entered the story it was one long “Ugh!”. It was fine when he wasn’t there, but when he appeared again I just wasn’t feeling it. (BUT: I really liked Luke. He made a mistake, but I still would have chosen him. Sigh.)

I feel like Emaline was one of the first characters in a looong time that I was able to identify with. And it wasn’t just a decent level of understanding, but full on empathizing with her. I feel like I can never give Sarah Dessen enough kudos for how SPOT ON Emaline’s relationship with her estranged father was. A few times I had to put down the book and talk to my mom about how realistic it was and how much I wondered, “How did she know that? I thought I was the only one.” It’s very bittersweet, but ultimately made me love the book more. (Edit: Honestly, even after a couple weeks I’m still thinking about how realistic and true the little things were. Snaps for Sarah Dessen. Seriously.)

Along with the estranged father plot line there’s Emiline bonding with her younger brother (you guys will love him. He’s so adorable.), boy troubles and swooning, and other general life changes and things. There’s a lot going on in The Moon and More now that I think about it, but it’s all totally interesting and amazingly (sometimes agonizingly) realistic and makes the book A+.

By the end of The Moon and More my faith was completely restored. I loved the way it ended and will actually sort of miss a lot of the characters. If you like Contemporary I definitely recommend this one. It’s a bit more serious than a lot of other Dessen books (Dreamland excluded), but it’s really fantastic and worth the read.

Megan Leprich

Sarah Dessen does it again with this amazing book. I loved all of the characters and the plot immediately drew me in from Chapter 1. I honestly couldn't put this book down.

Allyson Marrs

This was not my favorite Sarah Dessen book. Although the writing was good (as always) it just didn't feel as deep as most of her other books do. Plus, and I hate saying this, but her character Theo was one of the most obnoxious characters I've ever read. I love her characters! Especially her guys! But Theo was just a total pest, and made me wish I could reach my hand into the book and punch him in his dumb face.

That aside, Dessen does what she does so well because her message to young readers always follows a clear plot line and is delivered in a non-cheesy way. Overall, liked it, but didn't love it.

I wanted to love this book. But, I didn't. There were parts that I really enjoyed, but overall I felt like it was lacking... something. I'm just not sure what that "something" was though.

Kenna Armstrong

The characters in this, while are not perfect 3D characters, they all were interesting in their own way and were fun to read about. The story line, while different, kind of bothered me because I felt like if I wasn’t predicting what was happening, the author made it the opposite just so the reader couldn’t guess. The ending was the one thing that knocked one star off my review. I felt like, while understandable with everything that happened, it was still rushed and left me with quite a few questions unanswered about the characters and what they had done. While this was a fun book to finish off my summer with, I’m giving the Moon and More by Sarah Dessen 4/5 st!ars

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

Audiobook Review:

I must admit… this is my very first Dessen book. Ever. And that’s not due to lack of interest by any stretch. I actually own several of her books. And though it’s been recommended to me that I read them in order, I was given a copy of this audio for review so I felt the need to read it promptly. I had pretty over-the-top high hopes for The Moon and More. And though it didn’t blow my mind, I’d still say it’s a winner.

After reading the synopsis I was under the impression this was going to be more of a love triangle type of romance. I was wrong. It didn’t come off like that at all. Emaline is struggling with the balance of her past and her future. All she knows is the beach lifestyle, working in the family business day after day. She longs for what’s in her future, dreaming of Ivy League schools and bigger and better professions. This story seems to revolve more around larger life decisions, and much less about romance.

My favorite aspect of this story (and hopefully Dessen’s writing style as a whole, though I have nothing to compare it to.) was how realistic these characters were. Instead of writing a strong character that we all wish we could be more like, Dessen writes about characters that can be easily related to. Characters that we could have been ourselves as teenagers. This made me really connect with Emaline and the others. From the family and friendly relationships to the mundane daily activities, down to the realistic concerns regarding one’s future, I felt as though I could see exactly where each was coming from in their struggles.

I didn’t feel the romance in this story too strongly, which was a bit of a surprise to me. That may be because I wasn’t a big fan of Theo. He basically got on my nerves more than anything. So I’m sure that had something to do with my lack-of-all-romance feelings. The sibling and parental relationships, however, were strong and carried me through this story.

This was my first audio narrated by Allie Gallerani. Though she could have differentiated between the characters a bit more, she performed very smoothly and clearly overall.

Now that I’ve had my first dose of Dessen, I can confidently say this will not be my last. What this story lacked in plot it made up for in the characters. Dessen definitely knows how teens think and feel, and she flawlessly developed characters that even if you don’t love, you learn to like and respect. This is a perfect summer contemporary beach read.

(Thanks to Penguin Audio and Audiobook Jukebox for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

The Moon and More

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