This book is called The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen. My sister recommend this book to me so that’s how I found it. Sarah Dessen is also a number one New York Times Bestselling Author and I’ve never read a book by her so that also influenced me to read it. This book is prevalent to my life now because the main character, Emaline is going into her last summer before college like me. This book is fiction which is the genre I usually read which is why I felt most comfortable reading it. Even after reading one book by Sarah Dessen I noticed that she has a common theme which is each character finding out their identity. This book is about the main character Emaline who works for her family’s real estate agency in her home town Colby over the summer getting ready for her first year at a local college with her boyfriend Luke. But of course this doesn’t go as planned because Emaline’s biological father turns up in Colby and has been urging Emaline to apply to Ivy League schools because he knows she has the capability for it. Then, Emaline starts to notice that her and Luke have been separating from each other and aren’t as close as they used to be. After finding out Luke cheated on her she turns to Theo even though she later realizes Theo is using her for his own use. In the end, Emaline comes to conclusion that what is actually important in life is her family and she no longer needs a life outside of Colby to consider herself successful. I felt like there was a weakness in character development in this book. Morris and Daisy were supposed to be Emaline’s best friends but they both felt distant throughout the book. Morris was just the irresponsible friend who can’t keep a job and Daisy was the friend who was obsessed with fashion and gave Emaline all of her fashion advice. A strength in the book that I noticed is that Sarah Dessen is good at themes. A common theme that I saw in the book is identity. From the beginning to the end of the book Emaline tries to figure who she is. She likes the idea of being outside of her home town, Colby but she also has an urge to leave and see what it’s like in the outside world. The character Theo represents the life outside of her home town Colby,and Luke represents her life in Colby. In the end, she finds out that she doesn’t need to choose one in order to be happy but she can leave and always be able to return back home. Another theme I noticed in the book is what do you value. The character Clyde became famous at a young age and left Colby to become an artist. After doing so, he realized that the fame didn’t make him happy so he returned back to Colby to focus on the more important things in life such as his home friends. Another person who deals with this is Emaline. She studies hard to try and get into Ivy Leagues and be successful in college. But she also works hard at her family’s real estate agency; Colby Realty to support her family. After trying to balance both, she realized that college is not the most important thing in her life but it’s still important to try her best.
This book is about the main character Emaline who works for her family’s real estate agency in her home town Colby over the summer getting ready for her first year at a local college with her boyfriend Luke. But of course this doesn’t go as planned because Emaline’s biological father turns up in Colby and has been urging Emaline to apply to Ivy League schools because he knows she has the capability for it. Then, Emaline starts to notice that her and Luke have been separating from each other and aren’t as close as they used to be. After finding out Luke cheated on her she turns to Theo even though she later realizes Theo is using her for his own use. In the end, Emaline comes to conclusion that what is actually important in life is her family and she no longer needs a life outside of Colby to consider herself successful.
I felt like there was a weakness in character development in this book. Morris and Daisy were supposed to be Emaline’s best friends but they both felt distant throughout the book. Morris was just the irresponsible friend who can’t keep a job and Daisy was the friend who was obsessed with fashion and gave Emaline all of her fashion advice.
A strength in the book that I noticed is that Sarah Dessen is good at themes. A common theme that I saw in the book is identity. From the beginning to the end of the book Emaline tries to figure who she is. She likes the idea of being outside of her home town, Colby but she also has an urge to leave and see what it’s like in the outside world. The character Theo represents the life outside of her home town Colby,and Luke represents her life in Colby. In the end, she finds out that she doesn’t need to choose one in order to be happy but she can leave and always be able to return back home. Another theme I noticed in the book is what do you value. The character Clyde became famous at a young age and left Colby to become an artist. After doing so, he realized that the fame didn’t make him happy so he returned back to Colby to focus on the more important things in life such as his home friends. Another person who deals with this is Emaline. She studies hard to try and get into Ivy Leagues and be successful in college. But she also works hard at her family’s real estate agency; Colby Realty to support her family. After trying to balance both, she realized that college is not the most important thing in her life but it’s still important to try her best.