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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
An okay Sarah Dessen book will always be better than a) most other YA contemporary books and b) not having a Sarah Dessen book at all. That being said, Once and for All was not a favorite of mine and it left me feeling a bit "meh."
From reading other reviews, I might be in the minority who didn't find Ambrose annoying, except for that name. I get that YA authors are always trying to make their characters memorable and naming them quirky things (here's looking at you, Augustus Waters). But Ambrose? Oy. He didn't even have a nickname so the full name appeared over and over. In any case, Ambrose was funny, a go-with-the-flow sort of guy. Our girl Louna (hello, quirky name) could be a bit stiff at times and she seemed to complain a lot but she was alright.
I loved, loved the wedding planning bits. I don't know if Dessen has friends in the business or she just did tons of research but it all felt very authentic and it was fun to read. That's something I always enjoy about her books, she always has interesting activities for her characters.
What did I dislike? The flashbacks to Louna's perfect (and only) night with her boyfriend (?) Ethan, who as we all know from the get go is no longer with us, so to speak. That was an awful, horrible, no good case of insta love and I thought Sarah Dessen was above such triteness. Apparently I was wrong. Part of what I love about her books is that the love stories are always slow burners. There's no insta anything, everything feels organic, earned. Not here, oh no. It goes from I declined his offer to dance to I LOVE him in the space of a few hours. Ugh. So not believable.
Something was missing in this book, Sarah Dessen's magic in a way. It all felt like it was just chugging along, no surprises, no memorable moments. All the elements seemed to be there: summer, boy and girl, intense family dynamics, grief. They just didn't mesh well.
From reading other reviews, I might be in the minority who didn't find Ambrose annoying, except for that name. I get that YA authors are always trying to make their characters memorable and naming them quirky things (here's looking at you, Augustus Waters). But Ambrose? Oy. He didn't even have a nickname so the full name appeared over and over. In any case, Ambrose was funny, a go-with-the-flow sort of guy. Our girl Louna (hello, quirky name) could be a bit stiff at times and she seemed to complain a lot but she was alright.
I loved, loved the wedding planning bits. I don't know if Dessen has friends in the business or she just did tons of research but it all felt very authentic and it was fun to read. That's something I always enjoy about her books, she always has interesting activities for her characters.
What did I dislike? The flashbacks to Louna's perfect (and only) night with her boyfriend (?) Ethan, who as we all know from the get go is no longer with us, so to speak. That was an awful, horrible, no good case of insta love and I thought Sarah Dessen was above such triteness. Apparently I was wrong. Part of what I love about her books is that the love stories are always slow burners. There's no insta anything, everything feels organic, earned. Not here, oh no. It goes from I declined his offer to dance to I LOVE him in the space of a few hours. Ugh. So not believable.
Something was missing in this book, Sarah Dessen's magic in a way. It all felt like it was just chugging along, no surprises, no memorable moments. All the elements seemed to be there: summer, boy and girl, intense family dynamics, grief. They just didn't mesh well.
I read this on a sick day, mostly because some of my students love Sarah Dessen, and I felt like I should know more. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this story, which wasn't as fluffy or quite as predictable as I expected
Dessen tackles a very dark topic in this book; one that I was not expecting. (If you would like to know what “first love ended tragically” translates to, please see below.) I was taken aback by this at first because it was so unexpected. Fortunately, I was able to move past it and continue the book.
One of my favorite parts of this book was that a bunch of cynics work in the wedding planning business. I actually secretly believe that this is how wedding planners really feel. I mean how can they not watching people get married over and over and over again and then hearing about divorces? But that’s besides the point. I also loved the development of all the characters. Sure Louna grows and changes throughout the book as each of her walls comes down, but it’s more than that. All of Dessen’s characters move through their difficulties and are able to let other people in. Per usual, Sarah Dessen manages to take a dark, terrible moment in someone’s life and find the light at the end of the tunnel.
One of my favorite parts of this book was that a bunch of cynics work in the wedding planning business. I actually secretly believe that this is how wedding planners really feel. I mean how can they not watching people get married over and over and over again and then hearing about divorces? But that’s besides the point. I also loved the development of all the characters. Sure Louna grows and changes throughout the book as each of her walls comes down, but it’s more than that. All of Dessen’s characters move through their difficulties and are able to let other people in. Per usual, Sarah Dessen manages to take a dark, terrible moment in someone’s life and find the light at the end of the tunnel.
I was expecting so much more... I'm a bit disappointed.
Also I didn't feel the romantic connection between Ambrose and Louna AT ALL! I know it's YA and Sarah Dessen romance tends to lean towards the random spark and reading between the lines, but usually it doesn't feel as forced as with this two...
Also I didn't feel the romantic connection between Ambrose and Louna AT ALL! I know it's YA and Sarah Dessen romance tends to lean towards the random spark and reading between the lines, but usually it doesn't feel as forced as with this two...
You know what? In true Natalie & William fashion, I’m going to give Louna and Ambrose a year, tops.
My first impressions to the two leads were that Ambrose was an annoying womanizer and I honestly didn’t find anything compelling with Louna. I was expecting a fun and fluffy read about weddings and wedding-planning and was in thinking I’d have a good time. I was half-right.
Ambrose is like this unlikeable guy that seems to draw your interest even if you will your entire brain not to. Yes, his moments of ‘cute things and quirks YA male leads do’ is cute but I still can’t shake off the guy with zero responsibility. (Flirting with a girl when your mother’s about to get married? Dude, you’re cancelled).
And with Louna, I felt like her main hurdle was to love someone and be in a relationship again, as opposed to dealing and getting to terms with the death of her boyfriend. (Besides, she’s only met Ethan for a night and had sex on the beach and said ‘I love you’ after hours together? Look who’s the real cynic here.)
Honestly, one star is because I can still read the whole thing despite my reservations towards Ambrose (who names their kid Ambrose omg) and another is because I like wedding-themed books. I think I’m gonna give Sarah Dessen books a try, though, since her writing style works for me.
My first impressions to the two leads were that Ambrose was an annoying womanizer and I honestly didn’t find anything compelling with Louna. I was expecting a fun and fluffy read about weddings and wedding-planning and was in thinking I’d have a good time. I was half-right.
Ambrose is like this unlikeable guy that seems to draw your interest even if you will your entire brain not to. Yes, his moments of ‘cute things and quirks YA male leads do’ is cute but I still can’t shake off the guy with zero responsibility. (Flirting with a girl when your mother’s about to get married? Dude, you’re cancelled).
And with Louna, I felt like her main hurdle was to love someone and be in a relationship again, as opposed to dealing and getting to terms with the death of her boyfriend. (Besides, she’s only met Ethan for a night and had sex on the beach and said ‘I love you’ after hours together? Look who’s the real cynic here.)
Honestly, one star is because I can still read the whole thing despite my reservations towards Ambrose (who names their kid Ambrose omg) and another is because I like wedding-themed books. I think I’m gonna give Sarah Dessen books a try, though, since her writing style works for me.
This book was just okay for me. The characters did not jump off the page and I did not feel the chemistry that Dessen wanted us to feel between the main characters. The only things I really liked were the story of Louna's previous love and the wedding business, but even that wasn't as grabbing as I wanted it to be. With this and her last two novels not invoking the same amount of feels that her earlier novels did, I can't say if her writing style is not as good or if I'm just too old for her novels.
On a nit-picky side note: I think a third over could have been done editing wise on this one as I came across so many mistakes, a large one being on the back cover with the misspelling of a major author's name. Didn't affect my rating, but stuff like that annoys me, especially from a big publishing company.
On a nit-picky side note: I think a third over could have been done editing wise on this one as I came across so many mistakes, a large one being on the back cover with the misspelling of a major author's name. Didn't affect my rating, but stuff like that annoys me, especially from a big publishing company.
Maybe a 3.5. I really started out afraid I was going to have to rate this 2 stars and was wondering if Dessen's quality was going down or if my taste was becoming more discriminating. I was frustrated with Louna for being kind of flat and Ambrose really annoyed me. Knowing the formula Dessen uses, I was irked that he was going to be the love interest. But as the story developed, I did start caring for both of them more. Louna's distance made more sense and Amborse became more likeable. And while it isn't my favorite Sarah Dessen book, it wasn't my least favorite. The themes of love, loss, and second chances are strong and I always like a book that makes me feel. And I liked the behind-the-scenes wedding stuff. :-)
This was a really good book. But be warned, very heavy topics and possible trigger dealing with mass murder. *Sigh* Was not expecting the subject matter it dealt with, going into it, I only knew that it was about a wedding planner/daughter of a wedding planner. This book was well done. It made my heart hurt. I just finished reading in the last hour, but there were a few points that I did think could have been done differently/better(?).
I give it 4.25 stars
I give it 4.25 stars
Eine süße Geschichte für zwischendurch. Mir hat der Einstieg einen paar Probleme bereitet, da ich es irgendwie sehr langatmig fand und lange irgendwie nichts passiert ist. Aber ich mochte die Charaktere und irgendwie auch die ganzen Hochzeitsplanungen, obwohl mir die am Anfang irgendwie nicht so spannend erschienen. Die Geschichte hat definitiv Aspekte die ich nicht so gut fand. Alles in allem war es einfach eine nette Geschichte, aber nichts was mir allzu lange im Gedächtnis bleiben wird
