Keeping the Moon

Book Name: Last Chance

Author/s: Sarah Dessen

Language English

Original Title: Keeping The Moon

Publisher, year: Hodder Children's Books, 2009

Page total: 260

Date Read: August 10th-11th

Genre/s: YA, Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction

First line of Book:My name is Nicole Sparks.

Synopsis: "Never in one place long enough to make friends or put down roots, Colie doesn't expect her trip to the North Carolina coast to change a thing. Always the outcast, she's resigned to a holiday with only her eccentric aunt Mira for company. But when she finds a job waitressing at the Last Chance cafe, she also finds acceptance, new friends, and the beginnings of romance..."

Review:

I have this huge love-hate long-distance relationship with Sarah Dessen, you know? Love, because her books are unique and all set in the same world, which means there are references to other books' characters and sometimes they even appear briefly on other stories, which kills me, but I love it. It makes a book so much more interesting, don't you think? Hate, because it's never healthy to love someone's stories so much (though I must be crazy too because I don't actually care!) and long-distance because I've never actually met her *huge theatrical sigh*, but i have hopes!!

But back to the review, I have to admit that the first thing I though when I read the name Nicole Sparks was "What? Poor Nicholas!" (really!) but then I obviously stopped thinking that.

Colie is a very relatable character, who hasn't been bullied one time or another? And her growth throughout the book was not miraculous, it was very realistic and I could actually picture it happening.

I love the idea of Kiki Sparks, and all her inspirational phrases, like, if it were someone else saying it, it'd sound like a bunch of crap, but when Kiki said it, it actually made sense (creepy, huh?).

Morgan and Isabel were two people I just LOVED. They've so much fun together, and when they let Colie be a part of it, it's an important step towards confidence. And as BFFs, they were awesome, they even bickered! Of course the next minute they'd be all over each other again, but that's part of it. Also, I could understand both Morgan's and Isabel's attitudes to Colie in the beginning. Isabel's actions are not really explained but the reader understands them anyway-I did, at least.

Aunt Mira was fantastic, I loved her eccentricity and originality. She got me hooked by the time I read about the nude mailman (Yeah, I'm serious; No, I won't tell) and things only got better and better. She has a unique personality. <3

Rating:

Quotes from book:

"You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it."

"All the bitchy girls in the world are just a training ground for what men can do to you."

"As Isabel acted out her date, both of them laughing, I stayed in the kitchen, out of sight, and pretended she was telling me, too. And that, for once, I was part of this hidden language of laughter and silliness and girls that was, somehow, friendship."