Hero: Wes
Heroine: Macy
Series: None
Macy’s summer stretches before her, carefully planned and outlined. She will spend her days sitting at the library information desk. She will spend her evenings studying for the SATs. Spare time will be used to help her obsessive mother prepare for the big opening of the townhouse section of her luxury development.
But Macy’s plans don’t anticipate a surprising and chaotic job with Wish Catering, a motley crew of new friends, or . . . Wes. Tattooed, artistic, anything-but-expected Wes. He doesn’t fit Macy’s life at all&150so why does she feel so comfortable with him? So . . . happy? What is it about him that makes her let down her guard and finally talk about how much she misses her father, who died before her eyes the year before?
Sarah Dessen delivers a page-turning novel that carries readers on a roller coaster of denial, grief, comfort, and love as we watch a broken but resilient girl pick up the pieces of her life and fit them back together.
It wasn’t very long ago that I read this book for the first time but over the long weekend, I just had to read it again…and it was just as good this time around as it was the first time I read it. I must be getting old or something because I had forgotten a lot of what went down in this book and man did I fall in love with Wes all over again.
Wes seriously rocks.
In this book, we follow Macy as she goes through life after the death of her father. She lives with her mother and they don’t…talk about feelings. They have that whole suffer in silence kind of relationship and Macy just tries to be perfect so that her mother doesn’t have cause to worry. They’re both grieving in silence and that can’t be good for either of them but that’s the way that life is and Macy has learned to just go along with it.
Until she meets the catering crew from Wish.
The summer starts and Macy takes over her boyfriend Jason’s job at the library, much to the chagrin of the two hags that work there and the two hags go out of their way to make Macy feel unwelcome at work. Jason, has gone to brain camp and well, you can just imagine the kind of boyfriend he was. A barrel of laughs, for sure. When Macy makes the mistake of telling Jason that she loves him, he puts the brakes on their relationship and Macy finds that she’s got a whole lot of growing to do.
And she does…with the help of the rambunctious catering crew from Wish.
Delia hires Macy on as part of the crew and Macy slowly becomes apart of the crew. I mean, at first, she just worked with them but over the course of the summer, the other workers became her friends and she became one of them.
Macy has spent most of her time after her father died, studying and being the perfect daughter but that summer, she found some friends that made her feel like a teenager again. They accepted that she wasn’t perfect and they showed her that she was a-okay just the way that she was. Kristy became a really good friend of Macy’s and I absolutely adored her. Monica and Bert were adorable additions to the story as well. Monica and her no talking, all knowing self and Bert and his sy fy nerdy self and Delia! Delia was great, her absentminded, always work herself out of a crunch self was such a delight to read and get to know.
Then there was Wes.
The friendship that blossomed between Wes and Macy was the best part of this story. I loved reading about their ongoing game of Truth and just watching them get to know each other (at the same time that we got to know them) was fantastic. Even though this book was told in first person from Macy’s POV, I felt like I knew Wes. There wasn’t anything about Wes that I didn’t know and that was in large thanks to the ongoing game of Truth. I fell in love with Wes right along with Macy and when they finally got things right at the end, I sighed in relief. They were meant for each other and the way that you just knew that Wes had strong feelings for Macy (even though her slow behind didn’t get it until the very last moment) and the romantic in me sighed because they were just too frickin’ cute.
Sarah Dessen exels at writing stories that I will fall right in love with and I’m so glad that I still have books to look forward to reading for the first time by her. She’s fast becoming my favorite YA author and I look forward to reading more from her. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of contemporary romantic YA stories. This book does not disappoint and Wes frickin’ rocks!
My friend owns this book, and I have been meaning to borrow it for a long time now. Sadly, my library doesn’t have any Sarah Dessen. I have never read one, and I want The Truth about Forever to be my first. I have heard its the best. Would you agree? Obvs you liked it alot.
Wes is one of my favorite YA boy. I love this book, it’s such an extraordinary story
Sarah Dessen’s one of my favorite authors. I’m glad you enjoyed it- this is one of my favorites. I loved the game of Truth too, it really pulled the book together. Great review!
Kerleisha @ Collegiate Bookworm
Amelia,
Borrow it, you will love it, I promise! Oh and welcome to my blog!
emily,
Hey you! Wes is one of my favorites too (if not favorite)…I just loved getting to know him!
Collegiate Bookworm,
Isn’t SD great? I so agree, the game of Truth between Wes and Macy is what made this book for me. It helped us readers get to know Wes better than we normally would have in other stories told in first person. It was adorable! Welcome!
*sigh* Wes seriously gives Eli a run for his money, don’t you think?
I really liked the mother/daughter stuff in this one too. I love how she writes relationships.
But yeah, my romantic side ate this book up.
Oh yes, I think that as much as I love Eli..I’ll leave him to you if I could keep Wes, haha. I’ll totally share with you Ames, I promise! haha.
Me too, I loved how Caroline was there to give them both (mom and Macy) a good shake to get them moving toward moving on..she was great!
Same here, we have the same kind of romantic side so it’s all good in the hood!
I can share too. LOL
Yay us!
I’ve been meaning to try her books for some time now. I think you’ve convinced me now.
This is my absolute favorite book of all time. Thank you for reviewing it. Wes is so amazing, I fall in love with him each and every time I read this book. This book is so full of great and inspiring quotes and the last sentence of it just gives me chills. Love it!
Excuse me Miss Rowena. Wes is friggin MINE! I will cut you, beeatch!
Just kidding.
Kinda.
😉
I’m glad you liked this one. It’s my favorite Dessen, hands down.
Mistress of the Dark,
This is a great book and SD is an amazing author, you should definitely try her out.
YA Book Lover,
Welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by. I adore this book and it’s definitely one of my favorites as well. You’re so right about the quotes too, there’s lots of things to love about this book.
Mollie,
LOL, put up your dukes..let’s duke it out! I heart Wes!
OMG, what the heck. Wes is the bomb.com I really love Sarah Dessens books and I think I’ve read like 8 of them.
Thanks for introdcing me to the world of YA Books, I just love that stuff Wena!
Wes- I love his cool, artistic, genuine tell all truth character
Eli- love me some Eli, loving, caring, bike riding hunk
Dexter- free lance, free spirited, determined to get the girl he says he was destined to be with (This Lullaby)
I must admit after reading “Lock and Key” which was the first book of hers that I read, I was hooked! I totally loved it and went right to B&N.com and bought her other books.
I think WES should be the hottie of the month!
This is my second favorite Dessen book (after This Lullaby) and I think Wes is a big part of that. I read this book over and over again and I fall in love with him each time.
I loved This Lullaby. I just think Dexter is genuinely nice, understanding and the total opposite of what Remy expects. He’s classic and doesn’t give up hope. Love me some Dexter indeed!
I LOVE Sarah Dessen books and have read most of them starting when I was 15. (dont ask how long ago that was 🙂 ) Her books tackle issues that most would rather glance away from, but it’s this honesty in her writing that keeps me interested and coming back for more.
Haven,
Wes is totally going to be a Hero of the Month, you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out when…hehe.
I really need to get my butt in gear and read This Lullaby. It’s been on Book Mooch for months but I haven’t gotten it yet. I guess I’ll just have to go and buy it.
Tarah,
Welcome to my blog! It’s been many moons since I’ve been 15 too so I won’t ask if you won’t ask. =)
I totally hear you on the issues in SD books, it’s refreshing to get a look at real life issues in YA books, it’s not the norm and I think I appreciate SD’s books all the more so for those.
Thanks for stopping by!