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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Sarah Dessen is one of the queens of YA contemporary books, with loads of best-sellers. I tend to read more fantasy YA than contemporary, so I've only read one of Dessen's books in the past. But Once and for All sounded like the perfect summer read, so I decided to give Dessen another try.
Once and for All is a great beach read. In one sense, it's a light read, but it also has a lot of depth. It's the story of Louna, who doesn't believe that love can last. She had a perfect romance, but it ended tragically and she doesn't think she'll ever find another lasting love. She works for her mother Natalie's wedding planning business, and Natalie and her business partner take bets after each wedding about whether the marriage will last. All this cynicism about lasting love isn't exactly helping Louna's attitude toward love.
Then along comes Ambrose. He's the charming, but disaster-prone brother of one of Natalie's clients. To keep him occupied and out of his sister's hair, Natalie hires him, and Louna is stuck working with him all summer, the firm's busiest season. Ambrose is the opposite of Louna. He believes in love, so much so that he finds a new love every day. He's all about the chase and is not interested in the follow-through. Louna finds him very annoying at first, but they grow closer as they work together and Louna begins to question whether it's possible she can find love again. (I also found Ambrose annoying at first, but he grew on me, just as he does with Louna.)
I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the wedding industry. Natalie runs a tight ship, and no detail is too small for her planning services. They deal with last-minute wedding cancellations, jittery brides, and annoying relations. (There's a really funny bit with a mother of the bride from hell who tries to walk off with anything that isn't nailed down.) Louna and Ambrose have to work together on all kinds of weird tasks, and it's a nice way to watch their relationship grow.
There were two things that I found a little annoying about this book. One is that Louna's best friend, Jilly, is constantly trying to get Louna to date new people. This seems like bad best friend behavior when she knows all about the horrible way that Louna lost her first love (no spoilers, but it's very sad). It's been less than a year--let the girl grieve. The other issue I had is that there's a wrench thrown into the romance in the third act that felt unnecessary, as if it were just there to extend the book another 50 pages.
Despite these issues, I really enjoyed Once and for All, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light beach read. It's a solid 3.5 stars.
I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.
Once and for All is a great beach read. In one sense, it's a light read, but it also has a lot of depth. It's the story of Louna, who doesn't believe that love can last. She had a perfect romance, but it ended tragically and she doesn't think she'll ever find another lasting love. She works for her mother Natalie's wedding planning business, and Natalie and her business partner take bets after each wedding about whether the marriage will last. All this cynicism about lasting love isn't exactly helping Louna's attitude toward love.
Then along comes Ambrose. He's the charming, but disaster-prone brother of one of Natalie's clients. To keep him occupied and out of his sister's hair, Natalie hires him, and Louna is stuck working with him all summer, the firm's busiest season. Ambrose is the opposite of Louna. He believes in love, so much so that he finds a new love every day. He's all about the chase and is not interested in the follow-through. Louna finds him very annoying at first, but they grow closer as they work together and Louna begins to question whether it's possible she can find love again. (I also found Ambrose annoying at first, but he grew on me, just as he does with Louna.)
I really enjoyed the behind the scenes look at the wedding industry. Natalie runs a tight ship, and no detail is too small for her planning services. They deal with last-minute wedding cancellations, jittery brides, and annoying relations. (There's a really funny bit with a mother of the bride from hell who tries to walk off with anything that isn't nailed down.) Louna and Ambrose have to work together on all kinds of weird tasks, and it's a nice way to watch their relationship grow.
There were two things that I found a little annoying about this book. One is that Louna's best friend, Jilly, is constantly trying to get Louna to date new people. This seems like bad best friend behavior when she knows all about the horrible way that Louna lost her first love (no spoilers, but it's very sad). It's been less than a year--let the girl grieve. The other issue I had is that there's a wrench thrown into the romance in the third act that felt unnecessary, as if it were just there to extend the book another 50 pages.
Despite these issues, I really enjoyed Once and for All, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light beach read. It's a solid 3.5 stars.
I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.
I was very confused about the timeline and did not like the main characters in the book.
This book was an excellent Dessen Book, I was able to read this no problem. It took me longer than expect to finish this book though. Instead of a quick read, that I had expected, it was a four-day-long type of book.
True love only existed once for Louna, and it ended in a tragic way, she does not want to feel that way ever again. Flashbacks of before and after her tragic end of her relationship was making it hard for her to move on.
When I started this novel, I was expecting a romantic story right off the bat between Ambrose and Louna. Instead I was able to see Louna and her life, and how she slowly moved her life into the direction that she wanted it to be. She was able to make the choices so she could move on and become the person she wants to be.
This is a perfect summer read, about second chance at loving. While reading this book Dessen was able to make me feel as if I was Louna, it gave me great anxiety when things that were in plain sight of how Ambrose felt toward Louna, and she did not notice at all.
When Louna first meets charming and handsome Ambrose, the only thing she can think about is that he is handsome and that she already does not like him. Throughout Dessens beautifully written story, we see how Louna cynicism about the failure of true love.
Ambrose was able give me such a book-boyfriend crush throughout the entire novel. He has the biggest heart and was able to make me feel as if he had a crush on me. He cares so much not just about Louna, about people he just met, or a dog who. Ambrose has such a huge caring heart and you are able to see that in Dessen’s writing. You grow to love him.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
DNF at page 170. This was so disappointing. I was so interested in the wedding planning and what had happened to Ethan, but the two main characters were so annoying. Why would anyone like Ambrose? Plus the nice girl changes a bad boy has been done to death.
It's fine for what it is, which just isn't my cup of tea. Narratively speaking, it takes a little too long (44%) to actually get into a structured story goal, and even that isn't really resolved in a way I'd write it, but does it still do something that is good enough? Sure, and I could see it as a Netflix rom/com film some day, but its nothing game changing.
3.5 stars
I love how there is always a sort of theme to Sarah Dessen's books. This one being weddings. This time she added in a semi-plot twist including an epic trauma that's pretty popular currently and a movie-like, tie-up-the-whole-story with mere narration end.
I would have enjoyed it more with less telling and more showing in the paragraphs without dialogue.
"Although a bride locking herself in the anteroom of the church five minutes after the wedding was supposed to begin did not exactly bode well."
But there's something about Dessen's explaining of minuscule details that I also find nice and peaceful. It just doesn't get me to read continuously from hour to hour. Although, the traumatic event in the past did. I need more of that heart-wrenching factor in her books.
I love how there is always a sort of theme to Sarah Dessen's books. This one being weddings. This time she added in a semi-plot twist including an epic trauma that's pretty popular currently and a movie-like, tie-up-the-whole-story with mere narration end.
I would have enjoyed it more with less telling and more showing in the paragraphs without dialogue.
"Although a bride locking herself in the anteroom of the church five minutes after the wedding was supposed to begin did not exactly bode well."
But there's something about Dessen's explaining of minuscule details that I also find nice and peaceful. It just doesn't get me to read continuously from hour to hour. Although, the traumatic event in the past did. I need more of that heart-wrenching factor in her books.
This was a sweet story. Like all Sarah Dessen books, they are predictable but sweet.
I absolutely adore Ambrose. He was so unapologetically himself and I adored it. He was quirky and unique. I loved how even though in some scenes he is portrayed as the play boy, he really wasn’t. He didn’t seem to truly sleep around like most books male leads do, but he was just a genuine person who had a flirty persona. I liked how much you could tell he truly cared for her, in the end when he tells her he loves her, is so heartbreakingly sweet.
The story of Ethan was perfect but also broke my heart. It was clear in the beginning what happens to him, but I loved the way their love story was told and how it was broken up and given to us in little snippets. I fell in love with him along with her. The story of his death is so relevant in the world we are living today and I like how Sarah Dessen slips real life scenarios into her stories.
Sweet story, great characters. 3.5/5 in my opinion!
I absolutely adore Ambrose. He was so unapologetically himself and I adored it. He was quirky and unique. I loved how even though in some scenes he is portrayed as the play boy, he really wasn’t. He didn’t seem to truly sleep around like most books male leads do, but he was just a genuine person who had a flirty persona. I liked how much you could tell he truly cared for her, in the end when he tells her he loves her, is so heartbreakingly sweet.
The story of Ethan was perfect but also broke my heart. It was clear in the beginning what happens to him, but I loved the way their love story was told and how it was broken up and given to us in little snippets. I fell in love with him along with her. The story of his death is so relevant in the world we are living today and I like how Sarah Dessen slips real life scenarios into her stories.
Sweet story, great characters. 3.5/5 in my opinion!
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes