Once and for All – Sarah Dessen – Viking Books – Published 6 June 2017
♥♥♥♥
Synopsis
Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that’s why she’s cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm’s length. But Ambrose isn’t about to be discouraged, now that he’s met the one girl he really wants.
My thoughts
A summer of weddings, a girl with a damaged heart, an annoying guy, and a bet – what could go wrong? Once and For All is a delightful new novel with Sarah Dessen’s trademark mix of romance, summer, and starting over.
Louna works for her mother’s wedding planning business. Every week she witnesses the pinnacle of true love. Or at least that’s what it should be. But Louna herself knows how badly love can end, leaving her cynical and sure that romance doesn’t come around all that often. Then she meets Ambrose, a serial dater who enjoys the first few perfect moments of a relationship but never commits to more than a day or two. Ambrose drives Louna nuts with his eternally cheerful and haphazard ways. So she is shocked when her mother employs him to help with the summer weddings. But Louna finds herself enjoying spending time with Ambrose (sometimes, when he isn’t making her crazy) and, even stranger, finds herself making a bet with him – she will agree to start dating again and he will try to commit to a relationship that lasts for seven weeks.
This book was described as sugar and effervescent champagne. But I didn’t get that feeling at all. Yes, there are weddings, flirting, and summer days, but it was far more somber than I was expecting. And yet it perfectly fit the Sarah Dessen mould – sweet romance and a light story, tempered with sad tragedy or hard circumstances with which the character must wrestle. I found Louna’s story to be far sadder than I expected. When it says that her last relationship, her first taste of a true and epic love, ended badly, they mean badly. The reader slowly pieces together what happened and how it changed Louna. Meanwhile, we get to know Ambrose. At first, Louna can’t stand him. But as they work together they build a sweet friendship.
As always with a Sarah Dessen novel, there is a fantastic cast of secondary characters. I particularly liked Louna’s mother and her mother’s business partner, William. Both are vibrant characters. I also liked Louna’s best friend, Jilly and the endless parade of siblings she was always carting around.
While I didn’t like Once and For All as much as some of Dessen’s previous titles, it is a sweet book and touches on some very important and timely themes.
The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.
More information
Category: Young adult fiction.
Genre: Contemporary.
Themes: Weddings, wedding planners, romance, love, death, grief, dating, relationships, school shootings,
Reading age guide: Ages 12 and up.
Advisory: Implied sex scene with minimal details. Infrequent coarse language, f*** (2), sh** (7), assh*** (5).
Published: 6 June 2017 by Viking Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook. 400 pages.
ISBN: 9780425290330
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So excited for this one. I <3 Dessen.
Sam @ WLABB
I always get excited about every book Sarah Dessen releases, and Once And For All is definitely worth getting excited about!