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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Remy has break ups broken down into a formula. There are pre determined steps, pre and post break up, that she follows religiously. Preparing for college on the other side of the country, this summer is no different.
Except she doesn’t account for Dexter. Gangly, scrawny, and with perpetually loose shoelaces, he slams into her (literally) and leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew about love.
Middle school me might have adored this book. Middle school me didn’t have very high standards. The characters are more like caricatures, and the writing is sloppy. Remy’s sad back story is info dumped on us in the span of 3 pages, and her relationship with Dexter changes as break neck speeds. If Dexter were a real person, he would be creepy as hell.
One scene really sticks out for me. Remy breaks down, inexplicably, to Dexter. He proceeds to take her back to his place, where she spends the night. The next morning, she cleans his room and shimmies out of the window. Some hours later, Dexter crawls through her window and they’re making out on her bed. Am I supposed to believe that their relationship changed that dramatically when no new development was introduced? Remy goes from wanting to avoid Dexter, because boy is he persistent in his pursuits, to suddenly wanting to date him.
If these characters were real, Dexter would be a creepy stalker and Remy the girl who no one liked. It’s like every bad tv trope/young adult cliche crammed into less than 400 pages.
It could’ve been cute, but instead it’s really just a joke. A boy doesn’t magically fix your damages, and you can’t just unlearn years of meticulous behaviors with a snap of your fingers.
Except she doesn’t account for Dexter. Gangly, scrawny, and with perpetually loose shoelaces, he slams into her (literally) and leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew about love.
Middle school me might have adored this book. Middle school me didn’t have very high standards. The characters are more like caricatures, and the writing is sloppy. Remy’s sad back story is info dumped on us in the span of 3 pages, and her relationship with Dexter changes as break neck speeds. If Dexter were a real person, he would be creepy as hell.
One scene really sticks out for me. Remy breaks down, inexplicably, to Dexter. He proceeds to take her back to his place, where she spends the night. The next morning, she cleans his room and shimmies out of the window. Some hours later, Dexter crawls through her window and they’re making out on her bed. Am I supposed to believe that their relationship changed that dramatically when no new development was introduced? Remy goes from wanting to avoid Dexter, because boy is he persistent in his pursuits, to suddenly wanting to date him.
If these characters were real, Dexter would be a creepy stalker and Remy the girl who no one liked. It’s like every bad tv trope/young adult cliche crammed into less than 400 pages.
It could’ve been cute, but instead it’s really just a joke. A boy doesn’t magically fix your damages, and you can’t just unlearn years of meticulous behaviors with a snap of your fingers.
See other reviews at my book review blog: http://booksaremybestfriend.wordpress.com
My review:
I fell in love with Sarah Dessen back in 2010, when I was in Grade 8. I read The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, Lock and Key, Along For The Ride and That Summer. They were all British editions that had just came out in South Africa. I adored Dessen’s narration, her headstrong teenage heroines, and her pitch-perfect escapist writing. I was only 14 then, and didn’t know much about the Young Adult Genre. Dessen introduced me to YA books through her unforgettable characters and her beautiful fictional North Carolina towns Lakeview and Colby. She will always be one of my favourite authors.
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Dessen’s stories , I didn’t know what I was missing until I’d stumbled upon This Lullaby, one of her earlier novels., 2 years after my Dessen obsession phase. I read This Lullaby when I was 16, and was amazed by how wonderful it was.
I normally found Dessen’s novels to generally be slow-burn. Some of her novels more than others, it was hard for me to get through the first 30 pages. This Lullaby was typical in Dessen-fashion where it comes to long explanations about the main character’s background, but it was easy reading. It was written interestingly, and because our main character, Remy, is, and I hate to say it, SUCH a bitch, those first 30 pages were a breeze. Also, Dexter, Remy’s love interest, was introduced right at the start of the book. I loved this, because Dessen doesn’t do this in her other novels.
Remy is not like the other Dessen-novel heroines. You don’t feel sorry for her as much as you do the others, you laugh at her opinions…but sometimes you hate her too. Remy was one of those love-to-hate characters. You hated her attitude, but you still rooted for her happiness, she is likeable. Remy has a lot of flaws, including her sour personality, but I liked the way Remy sees herself. She KNEW she had flaws. She knew things were wrong. She knew everything, she was a realist, but that also caused her to keep herself sheltered in a box away from the world and feelings.
Dexter, oh, Dexter. Dexter might be a musician, but not the OMG-HE’S-A-ROCK-GOD kind of musician. He’s goofy, he’s very relaxed about life, and he’s loving, and you just want everything to work out for him and Remy because of HIM. He and Remy had the BEST conversations.
Every character impacted Remy, and this is typical of Dessen novels. It turns a small plot into a deep one, with lovable characters and twists that could make you cringe, each character and situation with their own lesson that they can teach the reader. Dessen’s rich supporting characters made this such an in-depth story.
This Lullaby is my favourite Sarah Dessen novel to this day. A very close second is Just Listen, which was just as worth the read.
Remy and Dexter’s story is probably Dessen’s only romance-focused story, but in my opinion, it’s definitely the best story she’s written yet.
My review:
I fell in love with Sarah Dessen back in 2010, when I was in Grade 8. I read The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, Lock and Key, Along For The Ride and That Summer. They were all British editions that had just came out in South Africa. I adored Dessen’s narration, her headstrong teenage heroines, and her pitch-perfect escapist writing. I was only 14 then, and didn’t know much about the Young Adult Genre. Dessen introduced me to YA books through her unforgettable characters and her beautiful fictional North Carolina towns Lakeview and Colby. She will always be one of my favourite authors.
Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Dessen’s stories , I didn’t know what I was missing until I’d stumbled upon This Lullaby, one of her earlier novels., 2 years after my Dessen obsession phase. I read This Lullaby when I was 16, and was amazed by how wonderful it was.
I normally found Dessen’s novels to generally be slow-burn. Some of her novels more than others, it was hard for me to get through the first 30 pages. This Lullaby was typical in Dessen-fashion where it comes to long explanations about the main character’s background, but it was easy reading. It was written interestingly, and because our main character, Remy, is, and I hate to say it, SUCH a bitch, those first 30 pages were a breeze. Also, Dexter, Remy’s love interest, was introduced right at the start of the book. I loved this, because Dessen doesn’t do this in her other novels.
Remy is not like the other Dessen-novel heroines. You don’t feel sorry for her as much as you do the others, you laugh at her opinions…but sometimes you hate her too. Remy was one of those love-to-hate characters. You hated her attitude, but you still rooted for her happiness, she is likeable. Remy has a lot of flaws, including her sour personality, but I liked the way Remy sees herself. She KNEW she had flaws. She knew things were wrong. She knew everything, she was a realist, but that also caused her to keep herself sheltered in a box away from the world and feelings.
Dexter, oh, Dexter. Dexter might be a musician, but not the OMG-HE’S-A-ROCK-GOD kind of musician. He’s goofy, he’s very relaxed about life, and he’s loving, and you just want everything to work out for him and Remy because of HIM. He and Remy had the BEST conversations.
Every character impacted Remy, and this is typical of Dessen novels. It turns a small plot into a deep one, with lovable characters and twists that could make you cringe, each character and situation with their own lesson that they can teach the reader. Dessen’s rich supporting characters made this such an in-depth story.
This Lullaby is my favourite Sarah Dessen novel to this day. A very close second is Just Listen, which was just as worth the read.
Remy and Dexter’s story is probably Dessen’s only romance-focused story, but in my opinion, it’s definitely the best story she’s written yet.
What the heck. Seriously. What the heck.
Guess what, this was the first YA book I'd ever read back when I was 12 or so. All I remember from that time was that I was mindblown by how cute and amazing the romance in here was.
What the heck, Lucía.
This is going to be quick. Just a few death shots.
First we have Remy, who's cynic and very much not likeable. She cannot think about people changing and growing up or falling in love without throwing a fit. Remy is probably one of the most annoying main characters I've ever read about. She just wants her life to follow her check list and nothing else. Also, she doesn't really do much apart from acting like everybody's mother and cleaning up her room and her car and her everything. Also, her friends didn't really click for me, specially Chloe, who was a pain in the ass most of the time. The only time that got me like "hell yeah" was when Remy yelled at Don for being a jerk. Goals, tbh.
Now we have Dexter. If you don't know, Dexter is this clumsy, funny guy who happens to date Remy by the middle of the book or so (we are getting to that, don't worry). Dexter does also play in a band and has the cutest dog ever (well, all dogs are cute). Dexter's bandmates were okay. Pretty childish for my liking, but realistic for the most part.
So, our romance starts when Dexter sees Remy at a car's dealership and literally shoves her to a wall and tells her they are soulmates. By this point, they are practically married because this is sooooo romantic. Then, one night when Remy is drunk and about to get abused, he appears out of nowhere and helps her. Then, she basically blacks out, so he takes her to his house, from where she escapes without saying her goodbyes. So, obviously, Dexter thinks this is really rude, so he just climbs up a window and sneaks in her room while she sleeps to complain about it, which earns him a makeout session.
Then they start kind of dating, both of them knowing that Remy is leaving for college in a few months. And then Remy decides that she does not like getting attached to this guy that's so out of her standards, so she dumps him. Then she realizes she did almost love him and discovers that she's not a cold hearted bitch after all, all while seeing her brother falling in love and her mother doing everything she can to make her marriage work.
In the first place, I don't have any complains about the love story itself, other than how is started because it was creepy as hell. Dexter turned out to be a sweet and decent guy, and he and Remy had some chemistry that made it work.
My problem was that every single coflict in here was blown out of proportion just for the sake of the plot, instead of just giving us something more interesting than someone telling Remy that Dexter was a player.
Also, as I've said before, Remy is way too bland for a main character. She only talks about having her life clicking together and going away for college and being better than she was years before and how love is the biggets scam ever. She was boring and painful to read, das the tea sis.
It was a nice book, alright?¨I liked the writing and I grew fond for a lot of the characters in here. Still, this is a book from the 2000s (I think?) and it shows. I feel like this is something no one would ever write about these days, starting from the guy stalking the girl that has turned him down multiple times. Also, the ending doesn't have a closure, so a lot of people might not really like all the loose ends.
Guess what, this was the first YA book I'd ever read back when I was 12 or so. All I remember from that time was that I was mindblown by how cute and amazing the romance in here was.
What the heck, Lucía.
This is going to be quick. Just a few death shots.
First we have Remy, who's cynic and very much not likeable. She cannot think about people changing and growing up or falling in love without throwing a fit. Remy is probably one of the most annoying main characters I've ever read about. She just wants her life to follow her check list and nothing else. Also, she doesn't really do much apart from acting like everybody's mother and cleaning up her room and her car and her everything. Also, her friends didn't really click for me, specially Chloe, who was a pain in the ass most of the time. The only time that got me like "hell yeah" was when Remy yelled at Don for being a jerk. Goals, tbh.
Now we have Dexter. If you don't know, Dexter is this clumsy, funny guy who happens to date Remy by the middle of the book or so (we are getting to that, don't worry). Dexter does also play in a band and has the cutest dog ever (well, all dogs are cute). Dexter's bandmates were okay. Pretty childish for my liking, but realistic for the most part.
So, our romance starts when Dexter sees Remy at a car's dealership and literally shoves her to a wall and tells her they are soulmates. By this point, they are practically married because this is sooooo romantic. Then, one night when Remy is drunk and about to get abused, he appears out of nowhere and helps her. Then, she basically blacks out, so he takes her to his house, from where she escapes without saying her goodbyes. So, obviously, Dexter thinks this is really rude, so he just climbs up a window and sneaks in her room while she sleeps to complain about it, which earns him a makeout session.
Then they start kind of dating, both of them knowing that Remy is leaving for college in a few months. And then Remy decides that she does not like getting attached to this guy that's so out of her standards, so she dumps him. Then she realizes she did almost love him and discovers that she's not a cold hearted bitch after all, all while seeing her brother falling in love and her mother doing everything she can to make her marriage work.
In the first place, I don't have any complains about the love story itself, other than how is started because it was creepy as hell. Dexter turned out to be a sweet and decent guy, and he and Remy had some chemistry that made it work.
"But you know," he said, still in my ear, "that probably won't happen."
"I hate you," I told him, and he kissed my neck, finally letting go of the cart.
"Not true," he replied, and started down the aisle, already distracted by a huge display os Velveeta cheese in the dairy section. "Never true."
My problem was that every single coflict in here was blown out of proportion just for the sake of the plot, instead of just giving us something more interesting than someone telling Remy that Dexter was a player.
Also, as I've said before, Remy is way too bland for a main character. She only talks about having her life clicking together and going away for college and being better than she was years before and how love is the biggets scam ever. She was boring and painful to read, das the tea sis.
It was a nice book, alright?¨I liked the writing and I grew fond for a lot of the characters in here. Still, this is a book from the 2000s (I think?) and it shows. I feel like this is something no one would ever write about these days, starting from the guy stalking the girl that has turned him down multiple times. Also, the ending doesn't have a closure, so a lot of people might not really like all the loose ends.
"Did you really believe, that first day, that we were meant to be together?" I asked him.
He looked at me, and then he said, "You're here, aren't you?"
This was an enjoyable book and really cute but it kind of reminded me why I don't really like reading romance novels. I found it boring at times. This is just my personal preference, romance generally bores me.But I do see the appeal.Dexter was definitely my favourite character. I found Remy to be very annoying at times.
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My favorite book of Dessen's. Great story and a highly relatable main character.
The Laughing Listener
June 2018
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Ali Ahn
Length: 10 hours & 30 minutes
Story Rating: 4 Stars
Performance Rating: 3 Stars
Overall Rating: 4 Stars
*Sighs dreamily* I freaking love this book. Although to be fair, about 83% of my love is pure nostalgia. This was a reread for me and I was suuuuuuuper worried my middle school memories would make the real thing dull in comparison. But I’m both relieved and excited to report that’s not the case!
It’s been at least a decade since I last read this and I can still relate to it HARD. Remy and I share the exact same jaded cynicism, which is probably a depressingly terrible thing to say, but it’s still such a relief to see on paper. Remy’s not perfect and makes a lot of terrible mistakes, but that’s actually what I love most about her. Even though she makes some questionable decisions, I understood her motivation behind everything and Dessen did a fantastic job of making Remy feel REAL. Remy might be a fictional character, but she still somehow gives me hope that maybe love isn’t as hopeless as it sometimes seems.
And let’s be honest, Dexter is the one carrying this story. The FREAKING ADORABLE hilarious musician with the FREAKING ADORABLE curly hair and the FREAKING ADORABLE dog named Monkey is pretty much why we’re all here. I love him SO MUCH. And reading the banter between him and his band mates was just the best. I want a Dexter of my own!!!
The downside to Dessen books is that once you’ve read one, you’ve kind of read them all because most of them follow the same general formula. I’ve read four now and even though I love their light hearted romance, there’s nothing revolutionary about them. This was the very first Dessen book I ever read, which is why it holds such a big place in my heart. But if you’ve read her other work, don’t expect anything too different with this one.
Oh, and by the way. Remy’s friends are kind of terrible??? I don’t remember them being that bitchy the first time around, but DAMN. Really wanted to slap her friend Chloe in the face a few times. Just saying.
FINAL WORD
Loved it! Another light hearted romance that brings the humor and is easy to relate to. DIBS ON DEXTER.
Remy doesn't believe in love, or at least, she doesn't think so. She really has no good role models when it comes to that arena -- her father leaving before she was born and her mother moving onto husband number 5. Remy, was a serial dater, who liked to end relationships before they became too involved. All this changes in that "time in-between" -- the summer before college, but after high school, when Dexter "crashes" into her and makes her question herself and her beliefs about love and relationships.
Another great Sarah Dessen story. We have great characters (Remy, Dexter) who have interesting friends (the girls, the band) and several overlapping stories (Remy's, Mom's, Chris's, Lissa's). This tale of growth and self-discovery extends to several of the characters and shows how situations can be interpreted in so many different ways.
Great, fun read. I found myself laughing and smiling often.
Another great Sarah Dessen story. We have great characters (Remy, Dexter) who have interesting friends (the girls, the band) and several overlapping stories (Remy's, Mom's, Chris's, Lissa's). This tale of growth and self-discovery extends to several of the characters and shows how situations can be interpreted in so many different ways.
Great, fun read. I found myself laughing and smiling often.
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Remy is about to leave home for college. She has had plenty of boyfriends, soured on the concept of love by her mother, the romance writer, who is currently on husband number five. Then Dexter forces his way into her life and she can't seem to dump him, even though he doesn't have a single quality that usually attracts her to a guy. Could it be that Remy has finally found love?