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katerowan 's review for:
What Happened to Goodbye
by Sarah Dessen
This is more of a 3.5 stars for me. I liked it okay, but it felt very similar to Along for the Ride.
Mclean's parents divorced a couple of years ago after her mom cheated on her dad. Since then, she has been living with her dad, a new city every few months. Each time she moves, she reinvents herself. Finally, she winds up in the familiar town of Lakeview where her dad tries to turn around a failing restaurant. Though she doesn't intend to, rather than reinventing herself as Liz, she grows into a new version of Mclean. Balancing a new social life with the knowledge that she might have to leave with the frustrating relationship with her mom is stressful, to say the least. But she might actually like being Mclean this time around.
Can Sarah Dessen start choosing more normal names for our main character please? The weird name baggage is okay for a bit, but I'm over it a little. I also felt like Mclean's struggle was a little too similar to Auden's. They dealt with it differently, perhaps, but the idea behind it was the same. Dave is just a little meh to me. I feel like I didn't get to know him well enough. It was like he was supposed to be Jason combined with Nate or something. But, I LOVE JASON. I want a book just about him! I'm so happy with his cross-book character arc. I'm just so happy he isn't a tool. I HATED Mclean's mom. Not because of the affair, which was where Mclean's anger stemmed from, but that certainly didn't help. No. Mclean's mom was INCREDIBLY manipulative. I hated the way she spoke to her daughter about Mclean wanting to stay with her dad after the divorce. She would say things about how Mclean wanted to punish her and hurt her and start crying to manipulate Mclean into talking to her and spending time with her. Nope. That is how a 15 year old acts, not a grown woman. Nope.
Only two books left! This book would be good for lots of my students: maybe one instance of underage drinking (but lots of consequences of underage drinking are present, unlike her other books), barely any language, etc.
Mclean's parents divorced a couple of years ago after her mom cheated on her dad. Since then, she has been living with her dad, a new city every few months. Each time she moves, she reinvents herself. Finally, she winds up in the familiar town of Lakeview where her dad tries to turn around a failing restaurant. Though she doesn't intend to, rather than reinventing herself as Liz, she grows into a new version of Mclean. Balancing a new social life with the knowledge that she might have to leave with the frustrating relationship with her mom is stressful, to say the least. But she might actually like being Mclean this time around.
Can Sarah Dessen start choosing more normal names for our main character please? The weird name baggage is okay for a bit, but I'm over it a little. I also felt like Mclean's struggle was a little too similar to Auden's. They dealt with it differently, perhaps, but the idea behind it was the same. Dave is just a little meh to me. I feel like I didn't get to know him well enough. It was like he was supposed to be Jason combined with Nate or something. But, I LOVE JASON. I want a book just about him! I'm so happy with his cross-book character arc. I'm just so happy he isn't a tool. I HATED Mclean's mom. Not because of the affair, which was where Mclean's anger stemmed from, but that certainly didn't help. No. Mclean's mom was INCREDIBLY manipulative. I hated the way she spoke to her daughter about Mclean wanting to stay with her dad after the divorce. She would say things about how Mclean wanted to punish her and hurt her and start crying to manipulate Mclean into talking to her and spending time with her. Nope. That is how a 15 year old acts, not a grown woman. Nope.
Only two books left! This book would be good for lots of my students: maybe one instance of underage drinking (but lots of consequences of underage drinking are present, unlike her other books), barely any language, etc.