The Erving library has an extensive collection of Dessen's work and all of them looked appealing to me. I chose this one, based on the cover - entwined feet and a heart drawn in the sand which led me to believe it was a romance. Haley and Scarlett are best friends. Scarlett finds she is pregnant just months after her boyfriend is killed in a motorcycle accident. Haley starts to push away from the close relationship she has with her mother and begins dating a "wild" boy. Two teens on the verge of adulthood explore love, experiment with drugs and sex, and share life's moments in this coming of age novel. Booklist says "Dessen has a perfect ear for the immediate daily details of a middle-class teenager's home, school, job, party scene--the elemental push and pull of family and friends."I've been wanting to read Sarah Dessen's work for a while now. I've read reviews and she seemed a lot like Chris Crutcher (a favorite) in that she writes realisitc, painfully honest, sometimes controversial books. I admire these writers, because I think especially for teens, writers need to speak the truth.
Any children's or YA book that is challenged instantly becomes appealing to me. Dressen's Just Listen was challenged in Florida last year for its sexual themes and language. I'm looking forward to reading it!
The high school girls ADORE Dessen. She is quite good. I think that a lot of her books have the same feel and I can't really distinguish her heroines, but that is just a side effect of reading so darn much YA. She touches on good issues and there is always some romance!
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