Novel Review: The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins)

Release Date: June 2019

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.

Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.

When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.

Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.

For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her will win out?

The Cover:

I do like this cover. It's simple and cute, looks rather light-hearted. I actually think the contents are a bit deeper than are portrayed here, and it might even be too simple? Which is a weird thing to say. I still like it, though.

Review:

I eagerly anticipate every new book by Dessen. About every other year, I get a new book to devour, which I usually do very quickly. Even though I haven't been reading very many YA novels lately, I still preordered this one immediately, and read it as soon as I could.

Emma lives a nice, rather comfortable life with her father, his wife and her grandmother. But then one summer, plans with her best friend fall through, and her father and stepmother have vacation plans, and suddenly she doesn't have anywhere to go. The crazy suggestion of staying with her mothers family for the summer is thrown out, and she gets the chance to discover a side of herself and her family that she never knew was there.

Emma was comfortable in herself and her life before this, and feels a bit out of place at first. There's this whole culture and family here that she never knew, and that have an impression of her from a time she doesn't even remember because she was so young. She gets to meet these new people, and experience new things. And, of course, there's Roo. The boy who remembers her, but she doesn't remember. Who she has more of a connection with than she realized, as she keeps getting drawn to him.

This was a really sweet story. I like how Emma grew during this, and how she pulled her family together through it; she comes from two very different sides, with different prejudices on both, and she forces them to meet in the middle at one point. Then there's Roo. I mean, come on. With a name like that? Of course he's the sweetest.

It's so easy to fall into Dessen-land, and I love getting to do it every so often. Still one of my favorite authors, and one I will always be following.