A Review of 'That Summer' by Sarah Dessen

"For fifteen-year-old Haven, there's just too much going on. First, there's her father's wedding to Lorna Queen, the local television 'Weather Pet.' Then, her sister Ashley's wedding to boring Lewis Warsher, who doesn't seem to suit Ashley at all. And Haven can't ignore the fact that she's nearly six feet tall and still growing. Haven can barely figure out who she is anymore, or where she fits in. Then Ashley's old boyfriend, Sumner Lee, shows up and sparks Haven's memories of the summer where her parents were happy, her sister was plucky and carefree, and everything was perfect... or so it seemed."

Another surprise review! I know for a fact that I warned you about these, so I'm not lying to you this time!

I thought this book was okay. Not my favorite novel, but certainly not the worst one on the face of the earth. I enjoyed the book overall, but it was the characters that really got to me.

Haven was a good character (but I suppose she had to be, seeing as she's the narrator/POV). She had hang-ups that were real and I'm sure a good number of people could relate to. It was fun to get in her head. I liked Haven's mother too. She was charming and sweet, even after a tricky divorce. Haven's father didn't know what he had. I am not a big fan of Lorna Queen or Mac McPhail (Haven's father and step-mother). Not because I'm completely on Haven's side, though. Every time one of her father's friends would come up to them in a restaurant on one of their evenings out, he would immediately shift his attention away from his daughter and focus solely on them. Haven is just left hanging while her father tells the other person how great they are (which he tells everyone, no matter how well he knows them) and then talks about sports. It's like he's trying to connect with his daughter, but only because he has to. To me, that's kind of sick. Lorna is just stupid. Sarah Dessen even goes so far as to get Haven to talk about how stupid or insensitive Lorna was in the beginning of the book. Casey was okay, but she was your stereotypical teenage girl; falling head-over-heels over every other boy she laid eyes on, smoking up a storm in her bedroom... that just didn't really click well with me. She was fine once she snapped out of it, but she was never promoted to favorite character. Sumner was awesome. I'll say no more, because you'll just have to read the book to find out! Ha!

I've only read 'This Lullaby' (which was amazing, by the way) and that gave me high hopes for this one, but I wasn't completely impressed. I will say that this book is different because even though there is romance, it wasn't the main character that fell in love this time (even though I really thought she would).

I plan on reading more Sarah Dessen novels in the future, because I like a good romance thrown in here and there. I'm not going to lie.

Have a good weekend, everyone!