100 YA Novels: The Truth About Forever
Book 6
In my quest for the perfect summertime novel, I've gone on a bit of a Sarah Dessen binge. She writes mainly contemporary YA romances, which is a welcome change after some of the more serious books I've read lately. I absolutely adore love stories, and Sarah Dessen does them so well.
In The Truth About Forever, Macy's boyfriend Jason goes off to "Brain Camp," a summer camp for really smart, really driven high school students. He hands over the keys to his job at the information desk at the library, leaving Macy to deal with two stuck-up girls, who go out of their way to make her already miserable summer even more miserable. Then, to make matters worse, Jason emails her from camp to say it would be best if they took a break from their relationship for the summer.
Macy is stunned. The perfect life she'd been trying to maintain since the death of her father a year and a half before is now shaken. Then, at an open house her mother is throwing, Macy finds herself in the kitchen with a catering crew. The chaotic nature of their business appeals to Macy because of the stark difference from her orderly life. She ends up taking a second summer job working with the good people of Wish catering. She makes new friends, begins to come out of her shell, and falls for Wes, the bartender at Wish.
As in most of Sarah Dessen's books, there is parental conflict. It's actually pretty great that she addresses this since a lot of YA authors ignore parents completely. In this novel, Macy's mother freaks out at the changes Macy is going through, changes that consist of her going out with friends, getting a job with a catering service, and not enjoying working with snotty girls at the library. Her mother is also dealing with the stress of trying to sell a community of luxury townhouses and coping with the death of her husband, so it's difficult for her to see steady, reliable Macy expand her horizons.
The only thing that really irked me about this book was the library scenes. Macy seemingly lives in small town and yet they have three people working the "information desk. There would only need to be one person there, especially if it was slow. Second, the "information desk," as she writes it, is actually the reference desk. In my library system, a librarian or another high-level member of staff handles this, so it seems like an unrealistic position for high school juniors. A more realistic library job for a high school student would be a page. I suppose it's a pretty small nitpick overall because I absolutely loved this book. It's my favorite of all her books (at least of the ones I've read so far). The characters are all so vivid and memorable. I just adored Wes and Macy, and I really liked watching Macy take her life back after experiencing the tragedy of losing her father. Definitely worth reading!
In my quest for the perfect summertime novel, I've gone on a bit of a Sarah Dessen binge. She writes mainly contemporary YA romances, which is a welcome change after some of the more serious books I've read lately. I absolutely adore love stories, and Sarah Dessen does them so well.
In The Truth About Forever, Macy's boyfriend Jason goes off to "Brain Camp," a summer camp for really smart, really driven high school students. He hands over the keys to his job at the information desk at the library, leaving Macy to deal with two stuck-up girls, who go out of their way to make her already miserable summer even more miserable. Then, to make matters worse, Jason emails her from camp to say it would be best if they took a break from their relationship for the summer.
Macy is stunned. The perfect life she'd been trying to maintain since the death of her father a year and a half before is now shaken. Then, at an open house her mother is throwing, Macy finds herself in the kitchen with a catering crew. The chaotic nature of their business appeals to Macy because of the stark difference from her orderly life. She ends up taking a second summer job working with the good people of Wish catering. She makes new friends, begins to come out of her shell, and falls for Wes, the bartender at Wish.
As in most of Sarah Dessen's books, there is parental conflict. It's actually pretty great that she addresses this since a lot of YA authors ignore parents completely. In this novel, Macy's mother freaks out at the changes Macy is going through, changes that consist of her going out with friends, getting a job with a catering service, and not enjoying working with snotty girls at the library. Her mother is also dealing with the stress of trying to sell a community of luxury townhouses and coping with the death of her husband, so it's difficult for her to see steady, reliable Macy expand her horizons.
The only thing that really irked me about this book was the library scenes. Macy seemingly lives in small town and yet they have three people working the "information desk. There would only need to be one person there, especially if it was slow. Second, the "information desk," as she writes it, is actually the reference desk. In my library system, a librarian or another high-level member of staff handles this, so it seems like an unrealistic position for high school juniors. A more realistic library job for a high school student would be a page. I suppose it's a pretty small nitpick overall because I absolutely loved this book. It's my favorite of all her books (at least of the ones I've read so far). The characters are all so vivid and memorable. I just adored Wes and Macy, and I really liked watching Macy take her life back after experiencing the tragedy of losing her father. Definitely worth reading!