The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: June 4th 2013
Source: Bought

Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?

I decided to pick up The Moon and More much earlier than I'd planned because I'm still on a contemporary kick. The past couple of Sarah Dessen novels I've read haven't been amazing, and this one was exactly the same. Although I enjoyed it, I was forcing myself to read parts of it and I wasn't really a fan of the characters. 

Emaline and Luke have been together since they started high school but Emaline is starting to wonder about their relationship. Enter Theo, a New York boy assisting his boss on a documentary about a local artist. Emaline and Theo hit it off which then causes trouble for her and Luke. On top of that, Emaline is also dealing with an absentee father who is constantly letting her down. Emaline loves the idea of getting out of Colby, but she also loves being with her family, so it's up to Emaline to decide what her heart wants.

First off, Emaline was one of the very few characters I liked in this book. She was nice, genuine and incredibly smart. She worked her ass off the get into an Ivy League College, only to have her father let her down. She's also incredibly strong when it comes to dealing with her father. She manages to not let him show how hurt she is that he let her down. Emaline has a big family after her mother married her step-father when she was 2. She helps run the family business and I just loved how close her whole family were.

I didn't really like either of the love interests in this book. Luke seemed like a nice guy, but then he never listened to Emaline or let her explain and then went off and did something stupid. And then there's Theo. I started off loving Theo. He was so focused and driven and he cared about Emaline. But the further into the book I got, the more he started to piss me off. His personality just started to get on my nerves and I wanted to hit him.

Emaline's friends were brilliant though. Daisy and Morris were always looking out for her. I especially loved Morris. He was just really funny and a great friend. But I just felt like we didn't get to see enough of them or of their friendship with Emaline which was weird since Emaline always said they were close friends.

There was a lot of family drama in this book. Emaline was going away to college so her family wanted to spend time with her, but she was spending time with her boyfriend. Emaline was also dealing with her absentee father who showed up with his son for a couple of weeks. She was having to deal with him being overbearing and controlling while keeping her brother occupied and letting him have fun for once. 

I did really enjoy this book, but I have to say that it wasn't spectacular. I actually had to push myself through parts of this story because I found it pretty boring. There wasn't really anything major going on that kept my attention the whole way through the book. I mostly kept reading because I wanted to see how the family situation was going to work out and that was about it.

I was really disappointed with the ending. After all the build up and the focus on Emaline and Theo's relationship, the way everything ended was extremely disappointing for me. It felt like the whole thing was a waste of time and the only good thing that came of it was that Emaline got a summer job. But everything else seemed so pointless. I actually re-read the last chapter thinking I'd missed something, but I hadn't and I just didn't like the ending.

Overall, this was a great summer read but I don't think I'd ever re-read this one again. The story line was interesting but I just wasn't invested in the romantic relationships at all and that was a major part of the book.