Review: Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

Dreamland follows Caitlin who's life in spirals into darkness after her sister runs away from home. Pressure is put on Caitlin to fill in the shoes her sister left behind after her parents are devastated to find her sister gone. Caitlin finds herself wanting to make her own path even if that means joining in cheerleading (something she hates, getting into a relationship with a dangerous guy and participating in drugs.

This book was a compelling and emotional read. I couldn't keep my tears in because of the Caitlin's terrible situation and anger at the person who caused her emotional and physical pain time and time again. I liked how Sarah wrote the last few chapters to show how the character dealt with what had happened to her. Often times, books skim over the recovery period and leave us with a few hopeful sentences but that wasn't the case for Dreamland.

The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen

Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And she'll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about, the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it.

The Truth about Forever is the second book I've read from author Sarah Dessen. My first one was Just Listen and just like Just Listen, the Truth about Forever sucked me in from the first chapter. The author has really created some memorable characters. I don't know how she does it but in the 300-400 pages easily, there is so much depth and so many things going on but each of the issues are explored in detail. The book deals with family troubles, dealing with loss, discovering oneself, of love and of living life.

I liked the pacing/slice of life of this book. I read it over a span of a few days so it felt like I was living through every day with Macy. But thinking about it, if I had read in one seating I probably would have felt a bit bored due to the lack of those big events (which I find in paranormal reads). I liked Just Listen better but this will definitely not be the last Sarah Dessen book I'll be reading!

★★★★.5