by Sarah Dessen
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Jason was going to Brain Camp.”
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As far as Sarah Dessen books go, this one’s pretty mild. Macy Queen’s dad died a year and a half ago — a heart attack on a morning run; Macy was the one to find him, which led to a lot of people giving “the look” — and Macy and her mom have been scraping by. Emotionally, that is. From the outside, everything looks perfect: Macy’s mom has thrown herself into her work. Macy has thrown herself into being perfect: perfect boyfriend, perfect grades. No waves, no problems.

Except that, deep down, Macy’s not really happy.

She doesn’t realize this until she falls in with a crazy group of caterers (you know those catering types: absolutely insane), and slowly begins to realize what she’s been missing. Real friendship. Real laughter. Real love. Connection.

Of course there’s a boy — Wes, a gorgeous artist with a tortured past. Of course Macy has issues with her mother — she doesn’t want to let Macy grow up and change; heaven help me if I’m EVER this controlling as a mother. Of course the whole thing bubbles and boils over near the end, where everything comes tumbling out, and finally there’s resolution and healing begins to happen. We don’t read Sarah Dessen books for new and edgy. We read them because she’s a good storyteller, good at romance — though this one fell short of some of her others — and unafraid to paint a picture of imperfect teens.

And this book was all of those things. It wasn’t as good as some of the other ones I’ve read, but it was good enough. And for some authors — Sarah Dessen being one of them — that’s okay.