(It also reminded me that, for all the books that claim “the next Sarah Dessen” or “in the spirit of Sarah Dessen,” nobody actually does it as well as she does.

It’s just top-notch from start to finish.Īlso, Saint Anything reminded me of just how much I love a good YA novel. And then the latest three which I liked, but didn’t have quite the same delightful feel of the previous four.īut this one? It belongs in the middle category. Then there is the next set which I think are the very best – This Lullaby, The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, Lock and Key – with great characters, terrific romances, and good writing. There are the first several which are fine and maybe a little bit heavier ( Dreamland, especially). I generally categorize her books into three sections. I packed it for our hospital stay, but ended up reading Upstairs at the White House instead.īut when we got home and my mom was around and I took a week or so off of working and I was nursing all the time, I zipped through Saint Anything in a couple of days. This week, her latest book, Saint Anything, finally came out.īack in January, when I discovered it was being released, I emailed the publicist and asked for a copy. Because she hasn’t written anything in a couple of years. When I first discovered her during my library school days, I read every book she’d written, which I rarely rarely do, and then kept up with every book she continued to release.īut I haven’t written about her in a couple of years. The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans.If you are a long-time reader (and I mean LONG), you know that I love Sarah Dessen. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance.

When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?Įnter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis.

When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and-lately-concern.

Saint anything book