"The Moon and More" by Sarah Dessen

There is just something about Sarah Dessen's books. I always dive in loving the story and the characters, but somewhere around the halfway point, I begin to lose interest.  Somehow the story looses me and I begin to care less and less about the characters and their potential outcomes. This was sadly the case for me with The Moon and More. Emaline has spent her entire life living in a small beach town where everybody know everybody. She spends her summer working for her family's rental business, making summer guests comfortable during their vacations. Her life is fairly simple, but big changes are headed her way the summer before she starts college. These changes include: a visit from her father (but not her dad, these are two different people. Her father is her biological parent. Her dad is the man that raised her from a young age) and half brother, the second is Theo who is part of a documentary crew that comes to town and his presence leads to change number three, Emaline's relationship status with her boyfriend, Luke.

Again, I started out really liking this book. I was engaged and was rooting for Emaline and the other characters in the book. But I reached a point where I just lost interest. The last two and a half chapters did manage to re-engage me, but there was a good chunk of the book that I felt like I read more out of obligation than anything else. I really do hate that Dessen's books do this to me because I hear so much great things about her (and I know I will make a least one reader upset that I don't share the love for this author). Possibly I am always more interested in the side story that is not romantic (for instance, I am way more into Halley and  Scarlett's relationship in Someone Like You than Halley and Macon's and wish that book focused more on that than the romance). I was very intrigued by the story of Emaline's family and their relationships, much more than I was Emaline's situations with Theo or Luke. I was even interested in spending more time with Ivy's character than with the romance element. I think fans of Dessen's work will love this one just as much, but it sadly just wasn't for me.

Happy Reading!
-Melly