I’ll start by saying that I’m generally a fan of Dessen’s, and several over her titles have made their way to my Goodreads “favorites” shelf. See my previous write up for The Truth About Forever.

One thing I love about many of her books is the summery beachiness and good, clean, fun teenage romance. Many of her books take place in a fictional (though clearly Carolina) beach town called Colby. Seeing so many of the characters and stores and landmarks show up again and again is cool, but there were so many references to Colby residents from previous books that I feel like I need a Colby directory because I couldn’t remember everything.

I didn’t feel like The Moon and More was full of her best characters, either. I found Theo completely unlikable and thus super annoying, which hindered my ability to connect with Emaline when she didn’t agree. I did really enjoy the family relationships between Emaline and her mom, sisters, and Benji, but then I wanted to throw something at her over Luke (who I really did like, because who doesn’t like a shirtless beach house pool boy?). 

I mean, it was good as Dessen always is, but not my favorite of hers by a long shot.