Just Listen by Sarah Dessen Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads
Synopsis:
Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything" — at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf's Department Store.
This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong.
Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen's help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.
*New Mommy Review #1* (Meaning: Not great, but at least I’m getting some thoughts out there…)
In all honesty, this book started out so great. I was comparing to one of my all time favorites, Some Girls Are, almost immediately. But where SGA got more intense as it went along, JL fell apart, for me, as it continued.
I lost interest in our main character, was beyond annoyed at her childish reasoning for each situation where she simply only had to say ‘just give me a minute’, and, ultimately, I just got bored. I loved Owen, but even he wasn’t enough to save this boring and anti-climactic story. Hell, I couldn’t even put him in my unforgettable male leads shelf because he was in it so little. Sigh.
Frankly, the same thing happened with her other book I read-it was going so well and then the author just veers the story completely away from what I would have done and, frankly, it’s obviously a case of ‘this author just isn’t for me’.
Pretty writing, albeit a bit stale, and fleshed out characters you want to know more about…I just couldn’t love this story. When things finally started to get interesting she ran away. And, hey, just not enough Owen (IE not for me).
Oh well. Better luck next time…though, it probably won’t be a book by this author.
I have never read a Sarah Dessen book before and I`m quite conflicted about it. I know she`s a well-loved writer in the YA community, but the stories did not catch my eye. It`s such a shame that the story started OK, but then it went downhill.
Georgiana recently posted…Book Review: “When Dimple Met Rishi” by Sandhya Menon
I know….every time I try out one of her novels, there is just something sooo flat about them, in the end. They have so much potential, but fail to follow through, in my opinion. There are many tropes I’m obsessed with, and she has a few of them she has written about-and even though I ALWAYS love those tropes in books, she somehow makes them boring. I just don’t think she’s the author for me-but many people adore her. I am in the minority here. I hope you find one you can enjoy! 🙂
Sorry this wasn’t for you. I liked the couple of books by her that I’ve read so far. So I’d probably try this one eventually. I hope the next book you read is better for you! 😀
AngelErin recently posted…The Breakdown By: B.A. Paris ARC Review
Thanks!! It wasn’t too bad.