The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More

by Sarah Dessen 

Hardcover, 435 pagesPublished June 4th 2013 by Viking Juvenile 

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.
Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.
Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?
Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?
Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance, yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.

Sarah Dessen is one of my Favorite YA contemporary authors. That is a very.... very small list. So she should be honored ;) She is on my list of  "I will read ANYTHING this woman writes" authors. That's why I picked up The Moon and More. It didn't intrigue me quite as much as my favorites from her ( Lock and key, The Truth About Forever and Just Listen ) But I was like... Dude... It's SARAH DESSEN. 

I think I hyped it up a bit much for myself. While I still really enjoyed The Moon and More. I didn't love it. It fell a bit flat for me and I was CONSTANTLY annoyed with the " Love interest " Blech.. Blech.... and more BLECH. But ya know... To each their own. He was just annoying and obnoxious. Over the top and just... really unlikeable to me. I understand that for Emaline it was new and exciting, But within the first few interactions with him I was personally like " Please Emaline.. no, just no." I enjoyed the parts of this story that were NOT about Theo.

 I adored Emaline's little brother with his "can do" attitude. I kind of remember being his age and thinking how much I wanted to help out and rushed to be the first one to offer. He was just a super endearing character and he took his family problems in stride, as much as a preteen could. I loved that the main family was a step family, and a HAPPY one. The family dynamic was fun and honest, not always perfect, but still full of love. I really connected with this part of the story, which also made the relationship with Emaline and her " father" tough for me as well. It's hard not to want some kind of relationship with your biological father if he has never really done anything to hurt you. It's not like you as the child have much of a say in his leaving, or how much he is around. I liked how Sarah Dessen tackled this part of the story. Her father isn't portrayed as a bad guy, or the good guy "done wrong" he is just there. Being himself, the good and the bad. 

But while I enjoyed parts of the story, the whole was a bit of a let down compared to her other novels. The problem... didn't feel as deep. I know that not all contemporaries need to have a deep problem to be interesting, but I just felt like The Moon and More was a bit empty, lacking in a richness. So while I liked this story. I did not love it. I would, however, still HIGHLY recommend Sarah Dessen's Novels. My favorites again being : 

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