Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Hillary

Its been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents
divorceor since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend
a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach
town where they live.

A job in a clothes boutique introduces
Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their
crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect
daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing
loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal
world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden,
to experience the carefree teenage life shes been denied; for Eli, to
come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

Just
by seeing that Sarah Dessen wrote this book you can correctly assume
that you're going to enjoy this book. That's just the way it is with
her books. They are perfection on paper. You can't argue this because,
somehow, there is this gene in all human DNA that makes us crave her
writing. That's a fact. And, to quote a popular vampire, they're like a
drug to me.

Auden was a very complex character and I easily
related to her. She's really lacking in the social experiences
department, thanks to her parents who only measure a person's worth in
intelligence. And is, of course, extremely smart. She's older than most
other Dessen characters. Rather than being in high school this book is
set in the summer before she heads off to college for the first time.
Although she was a bit of a dry character in the beginning, in the end,
after experiencing what she missed in her childhood, she was completely
saturated in loveability juice.

Eli was also pretty complex. His
guilt and overall sadness made him a very likable character. Watching
him open up and get over the tragedy was one of the most enjoyable
parts of the book for me. Also, Heidi was a great character that I
really enjoyed reading about. She was the peppy and joyful part of the
book, even when she really had very little reason to be like that. Her
ever present optimism was really inspirational. She's in my top ten
favorite characters ever.

The story was very enjoyable. The
insomnia was both important and not. Eli and Auden were both insomniacs
and they spent most of their time together during the late night and
early morning when most people are sleeping. But it wasn't a really
important theme in the book. I think that there was a perfect amount of
late night excursions for the book. It wasn't overdone, and still got
the point across. Yeah, I do feel like I would have liked a few more
scenes, but I also wanted more of Wes and Macy in The Truth About
Forever and Hillary in Just Listen. I'm used to this disappointment,
but maybe I'm just greedy. I think that the more important themes in
this book are that stereotypes are bad (and usually incorrect) and that
trying new things can spice up your life. I think that, in the end,
Auden was very spicy.

Overall, you'd be insane to not pick up
this book. What more can I say? You have Sarah Dessen, bikes, a hot
guy, the beach, and as soon as you're finished you can begin your
anxious wait for her next book! And, if you've never picked up a Sarah
Dessen book before (crazy...) I think this would be a great place to
start...but make sure you get Lock & Key and Just Listen asap because they're godly. Go buy it!