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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Minor: Mass/school shootings
I'm afraid Sarah Dessen has lost the magic she once possessed.
This was the first time I struggled to get through a Sarah Dessen novel. Boring characters, predictable plot with a crammed after school special element (like the rest of her books but the after school special usually contributes to character development).
3/5 because I still have hope for her to come back.
3/5 because I still have hope for her to come back.
3.5 Stars
The beginning was slow moving and kind of boring but as I read this turned into a really cute, feel good contemporary. It was like watching a Hallmark Movie, in the best possible way. The flashbacks took some getting used to but overall I grew to love the characters and the albeit predictable plot. A great not too "fluffy" read for fans of 10 Things I Hate About You. Occasional strong language.
The beginning was slow moving and kind of boring but as I read this turned into a really cute, feel good contemporary. It was like watching a Hallmark Movie, in the best possible way. The flashbacks took some getting used to but overall I grew to love the characters and the albeit predictable plot. A great not too "fluffy" read for fans of 10 Things I Hate About You. Occasional strong language.
2.75/5 stars
PROS:
--This book read quick in most places but some of the chapters felt needlessly padded.
--Loved Louna as a main character (despite the dumb origin of her name that was completely unnecessary).
--Everything about Ethan had my heart in shambles by the end.
CONS:
--It's not a good sign when I think the main love interest is legitimately annoying and I hate most of the scenes that he's in. Granted he got better as the story went on, but bro just stole a dog with no consequences and also held up his mom's wedding to hit on a girl. He's a golden retriever in human form in the worst ways. Not to mention he and Louna have zero chemistry and the only reason she starts liking him is the most doctored, fake shit I've read in a romance novel.
--Maybe don't have sex with and then say 'I love you' within five hours of meeting someone.
--I really disliked the author's use of a school shooting as a plot point not once, but twice.
PROS:
--This book read quick in most places but some of the chapters felt needlessly padded.
--Loved Louna as a main character (despite the dumb origin of her name that was completely unnecessary).
--Everything about Ethan had my heart in shambles by the end.
CONS:
--It's not a good sign when I think the main love interest is legitimately annoying and I hate most of the scenes that he's in. Granted he got better as the story went on, but bro just stole a dog with no consequences and also held up his mom's wedding to hit on a girl. He's a golden retriever in human form in the worst ways. Not to mention he and Louna have zero chemistry and the only reason she starts liking him is the most doctored, fake shit I've read in a romance novel.
--Maybe don't have sex with and then say 'I love you' within five hours of meeting someone.
--I really disliked the author's use of a school shooting as a plot point not once, but twice.
Actual rating: 3.5
Before I start commenting on anything, I would advise all readers to look for the trigger warnings of this book, or what the heavy topics are in it. Please take care of your mental health.
“Once and for All” dealt with grief after losing someone. One thing I know about grief is that is not the same for everyone, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Based on that belief, I will only comment on Louna’s journey to healing that it was a painful process to witness. I can’t imagine what is like to go through what she went through with Ethan. The healing felt slow, sometimes backing on its own. I related to that quite a lot. To me, that kind of grief felt ultimately real.
Louna and Ambrose didn’t hit it off from the beginning, and quite frankly, I liked that. The animosity between them (sometimes one-sided from Louna’s part) seemed just right to me. Ambrose never made it easy for Louna to like him—he was irritating, uncommon, simply odd. He was aware that he was a peculiar person that not everyone liked.
I like the steps Louna took. How it seemed that she progressed from what she had with Ethan (such an epic love story) to what bloomed with Ambrose (totally unorthodox and not what someone would expect). It took a little while for that to work, since Louna (and mostly people who grief someone they loved) truly idealized every single moment she spent with Ethan, which prevented her from crawling out of the sadness in which she was for so long.
This story took me a while to digest because it carries a very heavy topic. I had to sit and think about for a couple of days. I sincerely liked it, even though sometimes it felt a bit slow and that things weren’t actually moving, but isn’t that what grief is? That things are never in motion until, someday, at their own pace, they start moving once more?
Before I start commenting on anything, I would advise all readers to look for the trigger warnings of this book, or what the heavy topics are in it. Please take care of your mental health.
“Once and for All” dealt with grief after losing someone. One thing I know about grief is that is not the same for everyone, there’s no right or wrong way to do it. Based on that belief, I will only comment on Louna’s journey to healing that it was a painful process to witness. I can’t imagine what is like to go through what she went through with Ethan. The healing felt slow, sometimes backing on its own. I related to that quite a lot. To me, that kind of grief felt ultimately real.
Louna and Ambrose didn’t hit it off from the beginning, and quite frankly, I liked that. The animosity between them (sometimes one-sided from Louna’s part) seemed just right to me. Ambrose never made it easy for Louna to like him—he was irritating, uncommon, simply odd. He was aware that he was a peculiar person that not everyone liked.
I like the steps Louna took. How it seemed that she progressed from what she had with Ethan (such an epic love story) to what bloomed with Ambrose (totally unorthodox and not what someone would expect). It took a little while for that to work, since Louna (and mostly people who grief someone they loved) truly idealized every single moment she spent with Ethan, which prevented her from crawling out of the sadness in which she was for so long.
This story took me a while to digest because it carries a very heavy topic. I had to sit and think about for a couple of days. I sincerely liked it, even though sometimes it felt a bit slow and that things weren’t actually moving, but isn’t that what grief is? That things are never in motion until, someday, at their own pace, they start moving once more?
Just ok. Overall, this fell flat for me aside from the few moments of depth and self-reflection that surprised me.
I was super stoked to get Once and For All a few days early, so that I could have it done by the time the rest of the world got their hands on it. The book follows the standard Dessen formula: girl meets boy; girl rehashes some past traumatic event; girl avoids getting with boy we all know she should be with; girl ends up with boy, "healed" from trauma. We all know that I am not a romance person. But for some reason, Dessen and her formulaic approach to contemporary romance just really work for me. I love her writing, her stories, her characters...etc etc. Clearly I am a fan......Read the rest of this review on my blog, The Reality of Books: https://therealityofbooks.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/once-and-for-all-by-sarah-dessen/
Actual rating, 4.5
Actual rating, 4.5
Sarah Dessen’s still got it. Cant believe she made this a school shooting story tho
this probably isn’t the worst romance i’ve ever read, but it’s certainly far from being the best. unlike some of the other reviewers, i’d never read any of sarah dessen’s books, so i didn’t come into this with expectations based on what i’d read before. however, i have a few concerns here.
1. why the hell did ethan have to die in a school shooting?? it’s too much of a real-life fear for high schoolers, parents, and teachers. if he absolutely had to die for the story to work, why couldn’t it have happened in any other way? car crash, cancer, falling off a cliff while hiking….. honestly anything else would have been better.
2. if dessen really wanted to kill off louna’s first love, why wasn’t the book about her overcoming her grief? we barely saw that—she changes the radio station away from a news report about another school shooting (i would too! it’s awful!!!) and won’t wear or get rid of what she was wearing the night she met ethan. other than that, she’s just your typical seventeen year old cynic who doesn’t believe in love.
3. enemies-to-lovers tropes absolutely have to involve some level of redemption and character development. we never really see that with ambrose. sure, he’s a sweetie when he needs to be, and he’s clearly infatuated with louna. but he never really moves past the cocky, reckless womanizer we met in the beginning of the story.
4. what, exactly, is the message here supposed to be? it’s cool to stop hanging out with your bestie-since-birth once you both have boyfriends? everyone who’s cynical about love just hasn’t met the right guy? if you’re still grieving your first love’s murder nine months later, you’re not any fun and need to get out more?
i only read this because i’m taking a ya literature class and i’m required to read a romance and something by sarah dessen. i can absolutely say that this will not be in my future classroom for students to read, and i wouldn’t recommend it to young, impressionable teenage readers. is it well written? sure. i mean, i’ve read worse books. but this isn’t a good romance.
1. why the hell did ethan have to die in a school shooting?? it’s too much of a real-life fear for high schoolers, parents, and teachers. if he absolutely had to die for the story to work, why couldn’t it have happened in any other way? car crash, cancer, falling off a cliff while hiking….. honestly anything else would have been better.
2. if dessen really wanted to kill off louna’s first love, why wasn’t the book about her overcoming her grief? we barely saw that—she changes the radio station away from a news report about another school shooting (i would too! it’s awful!!!) and won’t wear or get rid of what she was wearing the night she met ethan. other than that, she’s just your typical seventeen year old cynic who doesn’t believe in love.
3. enemies-to-lovers tropes absolutely have to involve some level of redemption and character development. we never really see that with ambrose. sure, he’s a sweetie when he needs to be, and he’s clearly infatuated with louna. but he never really moves past the cocky, reckless womanizer we met in the beginning of the story.
4. what, exactly, is the message here supposed to be? it’s cool to stop hanging out with your bestie-since-birth once you both have boyfriends? everyone who’s cynical about love just hasn’t met the right guy? if you’re still grieving your first love’s murder nine months later, you’re not any fun and need to get out more?
i only read this because i’m taking a ya literature class and i’m required to read a romance and something by sarah dessen. i can absolutely say that this will not be in my future classroom for students to read, and i wouldn’t recommend it to young, impressionable teenage readers. is it well written? sure. i mean, i’ve read worse books. but this isn’t a good romance.