I have read a number of Sarah Dessen’s books, so that makes me no stranger to her stories formula and style and I have to admit that I have loved many of those. After reading The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks last week, I was still in the mood for something that’s light and chill, that’s how Dessen came to mind.
The Moon and More is about Emaline, a small-town 18 year-old girl from Colby, spends her last summer before she’s off to college, trying to figure out a lot of things in her life. She works in their family business, has a great family, has a perfect boyfriend and a full ride to a college just two hours away from her home. Sounds great, right? Then suddenly comes in the picture her biological father, who has been MIA for most of her life, who also wants her to go to Columbia for college. She starts to have issues about her relationship with her boyfriend, Luke. She also has to deal with two New Yorkers who rented one of their beach houses: Ivy, an award-winning filmmaker and Theo, her intern who will make Emaline realize the huge possibilities that outside of Colby can offer.
The book has many elements that made me happy. It portrayed things that happens in a normal day-to-day life. The characters were believable and very relatable. I found comparing myself to Emaline for a few times. I have also related to her a lot about the family thing and being anxious yet excited for the future. I admired Emaline’s character because she was simple and content of the life she has, in a sense that she wasn’t too eager to get out of that small town and she wasn’t obsessing about the grand things that life can offer although she was still curious as to what’s outside of Colby has. I found Theo’s character frustrating towards the latter half of the novel, maybe because he was overly optimistic that he had the tendency to become overly persistent and pushy. I know it wasn’t bad at all but to me he somehow became too confident and close-minded. Setting wise, of course I loved it, as I’ve said before I love me a story set in a small-town and add in the beach, oh boy will I ever get tired of that. ^^
I enjoyed reading this book and will recommend it if you want to read something to kill time but I will say that this isn’t my favorite out of all the books of Dessen’s, she has better books than this one. I know I wanted something light to read but this is too light to my liking. For me, this is a so-so book, not so great but not so bad either. 🙂
Here are some of my favorite quotes I’ve found in the book:
“As long as you were moving, you were always going somewhere.” – I don’t know what it is but this somehow is inspiring for me.
“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.” – Another inspiring one isn’t it? Yes? No? 😀
“You can never be sure of anyone until you’re close enough to see them clearly.” – I found this striking because I know for sure that it’s true.
“Life is long. Just because you don’t get your chance right when you want or expect it doesn’t mean it won’t come. Fate doesn’t punch a time clock or consult a schedule.” – For me, this is the most inspiring out of them all.
“The mistakes you make now count. Not for everything, and not forever. But they do matter, and they shape you. If you take nothing else form what I’ve been through, at least remember this: make your choices well. Because you’ll always be accountable for them. That’s what being an adult is all about.” – This has been a constant reminder/nagging for me since I’ve read it, make your choices well. Being an adult is truly hard.
“The thing is, you can’t always have the best of everything. Because for a life to be real, you need it all: good and bad, beach and concrete, the familiar and the unknown, big talkers and small towns.” – I agree.
That’s all folks, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this one. Feel free to let me know your thoughts about this folks if you’ve read it. 🙂
Gerrytology. 