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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
My favorite book of hers. I've read it many times and each way through I fall in love with Dexter (the main "love interest") over and over again. Realistic characters and adorable plot!
im convinced theres a sarah dessen book out there made for me but it aint this one
4.5
Ci ho messo un po' per immedesimarmi con la protagonista (purtroppo abbiamo due caratteri completamente diversi) ma alla fine la storia mi ha completamente conquistata perché, be', perché è Sarah Dessen e ormai ho capito che amo lo stile di questa scrittrice - poi leggerla in lingua è tutta un'altra cosa.
Ci ho messo un po' per immedesimarmi con la protagonista (purtroppo abbiamo due caratteri completamente diversi) ma alla fine la storia mi ha completamente conquistata perché, be', perché è Sarah Dessen e ormai ho capito che amo lo stile di questa scrittrice - poi leggerla in lingua è tutta un'altra cosa.
I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting. The story and dialogue flowed so smoothly. Remy and her high school friends reminded me of mine. We used to hang out on the trampoline to talk and get away from prying adults. We loved getting fountain drinks from the 7-Eleven and partyed in a subdivision called the Arbors back in the day. Where my life and Remy’s differ is her home life. Mom is about to get married for the 5th time. In Texas, I think that is her limit. Remy had to grow up quickly. She basically runs the house due to the revolving door of dads and mom is a writer. Mom gets caught up in her bizarre writing cycle–kids fend for yourself. Remy is also jaded against LOVE. Throughout high school, she behaved destructively due to her pessimestic view of relationships. She perfected the 3 month dating cycle. No long entanglements until Dexter practically knocks her over. He does not fit Remy’s typical short-lived boyfriend. He is tall, gangly and doesn’t quite have control of his limbs. He is also a musician. No musicians–it goes back to her dad that left. She has a few issues to work through. Dexter and his dog, Monkey, start to crack that tough outer shell that Remy carefully constructed.
It was my first Dessen read and won’t be my last. It was so REAL. I have been teaching teenagers for 15 years. This book artfully reconstructed so many things I have seen or overheard or even experienced when I was in high school. The way Sarah expressed the self-loathing when Remy drank too much was so vivid. The path Remy winds through no love, maybe love, no love…is a plausible one given her hang ups.
Sometimes I find little nuggets of wisdom that make me want to tag them with my sticky notes. Now I didn’t find them, because they were purposefully placed there by the author for me to find. I would like to share this one from This Lullaby.
[Mom to Remy] She considered this, really thinking about it, then said, “Well, it’s true that I have been hurt in my life. Quite a bit, But it’s also true that I have loved, and been loved. And that carries a weight of its own. A greater weight, in my opinion. It’s like that pie chart we talked about earlier. In the end, I’ll look back on my life and see that the greatest piece of it was love. The problems, the divorces, the sadness…those will be there too, but just smaller slivers, tiny pieces.”
Remy doesn’t really trust this advice, because of her mom’s history. But I guess if a person that has been married 5 times can still believe in love, maybe we should. When you get to this part in the book, really pay attention. The exchange that follows is even better. Well what I am taking away from this excerpt is that life will always deal you negative. But if you add up the good and the bad, the good always wins. Don’t dwell on the bad. Move past it and look for that next opportunity to love and to live.
It was my first Dessen read and won’t be my last. It was so REAL. I have been teaching teenagers for 15 years. This book artfully reconstructed so many things I have seen or overheard or even experienced when I was in high school. The way Sarah expressed the self-loathing when Remy drank too much was so vivid. The path Remy winds through no love, maybe love, no love…is a plausible one given her hang ups.
Sometimes I find little nuggets of wisdom that make me want to tag them with my sticky notes. Now I didn’t find them, because they were purposefully placed there by the author for me to find. I would like to share this one from This Lullaby.
[Mom to Remy] She considered this, really thinking about it, then said, “Well, it’s true that I have been hurt in my life. Quite a bit, But it’s also true that I have loved, and been loved. And that carries a weight of its own. A greater weight, in my opinion. It’s like that pie chart we talked about earlier. In the end, I’ll look back on my life and see that the greatest piece of it was love. The problems, the divorces, the sadness…those will be there too, but just smaller slivers, tiny pieces.”
Remy doesn’t really trust this advice, because of her mom’s history. But I guess if a person that has been married 5 times can still believe in love, maybe we should. When you get to this part in the book, really pay attention. The exchange that follows is even better. Well what I am taking away from this excerpt is that life will always deal you negative. But if you add up the good and the bad, the good always wins. Don’t dwell on the bad. Move past it and look for that next opportunity to love and to live.
I started reading Sarah’s books a few years ago and the first one was probably the best book I’d ever read. I finished one of her books and then did some research on which one to read next. And this book: the lullaby, was the most appreciated.
At first, I really liked it, Remy seamed like a badass girl and I adored her friends: Lissa, Chloe, and Jess. I enjoyed the first part of the book. She really didn’t care about anything and from my point of view, she was kinda stone cold. Not quite sure I liked Dexter, to begin with, but I too learned to like him.
But to my point. I like Sarah’s books a lot, mostly because they do not require a lot of thought. They’re nice to read and enjoy. But for me, this book was a little dull. There weren’t any tears or screaming or wanting to throw the book into a wall. It was a good book but I would not read it again.
Although I did love the parts about her family, especially since the ones with Dexter were super unclear I liked how she made fun of all her mom’s marriages.
XOXO Annie
At first, I really liked it, Remy seamed like a badass girl and I adored her friends: Lissa, Chloe, and Jess. I enjoyed the first part of the book. She really didn’t care about anything and from my point of view, she was kinda stone cold. Not quite sure I liked Dexter, to begin with, but I too learned to like him.
But to my point. I like Sarah’s books a lot, mostly because they do not require a lot of thought. They’re nice to read and enjoy. But for me, this book was a little dull. There weren’t any tears or screaming or wanting to throw the book into a wall. It was a good book but I would not read it again.
Although I did love the parts about her family, especially since the ones with Dexter were super unclear I liked how she made fun of all her mom’s marriages.
XOXO Annie
The best novel by Sarah Dessen in my opinion. Dexter is so perfect its unreal.
This was my first Sarah Dessen book, but it was not truly my favorite. Although I read others by her, I was not always happy with the way the story progressed. However, I am a huge fan of underlying themes, and I found quite a few here.
See more reviews and other book-related posts at The Reading Shelf.
I feel like my best Sarah Dessen books are behind me; This Lullaby was enjoyable enough, but it wasn’t my favorite like the earlier books from Dessen that I’ve read.
First, I’m going to focus on Dexter, the love interest. Dexter is quite adorable and such, definitely a nice love interest, but there was something that was a bit off for me: he never left Remy alone. Yes, he was a nice guy and not creepy or anything, but it bugged me that he wouldn’t leave her alone when she made it clear that she didn’t want to be in a relationship with him. If a girl makes it blantantly clear that she doesn’t want to be in a relationship with a boy, then the boy should back off unless she changes her mind (Of course, this can apply with versed genders). I wanted Remy and Dexter to end up together, of course, but I wasn’t a big fan of the seemingly underlying message.
This book had interesting secondary characters, which is always a favorite thing for me in Dessen books. Remy didn’t always catch my attention and she often seems to be overly judgmental of people, but she did have her moments, and the secondary characters worked better for me.
There was one thing that happened at the end of the book that annoyed me, though. I’m going to try to be vague, but there still might be some spoilers up ahead: Dexter shows Remy a picture of something that makes Remy really, really mad, and rather than thanking Dexter for brining it to her attention or just leaving without saying anything to him, she automatically assumes that he knew what the picture was about and that he showed her to hurt her on purpose. She basically blew up and cussed him out without even bothering to listen to his side of the story. The whole time, I just knew that she had judged to the wrong conclusion and was needlessly getting all mad at him, which just frustrated me.
Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable book, with a cute romance that had some some underlying issues; not my favorite Dessen book so far, but definitely not the worst.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I feel like my best Sarah Dessen books are behind me; This Lullaby was enjoyable enough, but it wasn’t my favorite like the earlier books from Dessen that I’ve read.
First, I’m going to focus on Dexter, the love interest. Dexter is quite adorable and such, definitely a nice love interest, but there was something that was a bit off for me: he never left Remy alone. Yes, he was a nice guy and not creepy or anything, but it bugged me that he wouldn’t leave her alone when she made it clear that she didn’t want to be in a relationship with him. If a girl makes it blantantly clear that she doesn’t want to be in a relationship with a boy, then the boy should back off unless she changes her mind (Of course, this can apply with versed genders). I wanted Remy and Dexter to end up together, of course, but I wasn’t a big fan of the seemingly underlying message.
This book had interesting secondary characters, which is always a favorite thing for me in Dessen books. Remy didn’t always catch my attention and she often seems to be overly judgmental of people, but she did have her moments, and the secondary characters worked better for me.
There was one thing that happened at the end of the book that annoyed me, though. I’m going to try to be vague, but there still might be some spoilers up ahead: Dexter shows Remy a picture of something that makes Remy really, really mad, and rather than thanking Dexter for brining it to her attention or just leaving without saying anything to him, she automatically assumes that he knew what the picture was about and that he showed her to hurt her on purpose. She basically blew up and cussed him out without even bothering to listen to his side of the story. The whole time, I just knew that she had judged to the wrong conclusion and was needlessly getting all mad at him, which just frustrated me.
Overall, this was a pretty enjoyable book, with a cute romance that had some some underlying issues; not my favorite Dessen book so far, but definitely not the worst.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
More like a 1.5.
This book put me to sleep so many times that I should be grateful because I'm supposed to be resting more before Matty is born.
SO FULL OF CLICHÉS and characters that aren't even remotely interesting. I completely forgot some of the characters names and totally missed the fact that her mom went on a trip that when she said she was home I had to go back to see the part where it said she had left.
I kept waiting for there to be more from Don.
The only amazing thing about the book was the lack of dialogue. How do you expect your characters to grow if they stay in their heads the whole time?
Another annoying thing Remy kept saying she was late to meet a friend, but then she would head home. What? Remy is not a forgetful person. Also, she knew waaaaaay too much about what was going on behind her or after she had driven away from somewhere. How supersonic is her hearing?
I'm glad this wasn't my first Dessen because I would never pick up another after reading this.
This book put me to sleep so many times that I should be grateful because I'm supposed to be resting more before Matty is born.
SO FULL OF CLICHÉS and characters that aren't even remotely interesting. I completely forgot some of the characters names and totally missed the fact that her mom went on a trip that when she said she was home I had to go back to see the part where it said she had left.
I kept waiting for there to be more from Don.
The only amazing thing about the book was the lack of dialogue. How do you expect your characters to grow if they stay in their heads the whole time?
Another annoying thing Remy kept saying she was late to meet a friend, but then she would head home. What? Remy is not a forgetful person. Also, she knew waaaaaay too much about what was going on behind her or after she had driven away from somewhere. How supersonic is her hearing?
I'm glad this wasn't my first Dessen because I would never pick up another after reading this.
3.5 stars. I liked it! It's just not as amazing as her other stuff. But totally liked Dexter.