This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

As I sit here freezing because I’m too lazy to get up to turn my fan off and too lazy to fetch a blanket.

Okay. So I’m going to assume that you guys have read at least one book by Sarah Dessen. Or if not, one of her books is one your to-be-read list. And if neither of those are two…Well, it shouldn’t be for long.

If you know me, you’ll know that I lean towards fantasy and historical fiction. Occasionally, I enjoy a good chick lit. But quality contemporary stuff? That’s not fluff? I don’t read too much of it. I mean, I love Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, but usually, if it’s set in modern day and does not contain magic, chances are it’s some fun, cute book that serves no purpose but to entertain.

You also may know that I don’t really care for the first person past tense. It’s true. I totally prefer third person past tense. Because sometimes, the first person just gets sort of tell-y, not show-y. So can the third person, but for some reason, I don’t mind it in the third person as much. But if the first person is done right…

So This Lullaby is one of the first books I’ve read in a long time that focuses on real people and real problems. (Okay, so that’s not true. Saving Zoe is pretty serious.) And in recent memory, it’s one of the only first person past tense books that did not have any passages that were grating to my ears.

A brief summary: Remy Starr does not believe in love. No one’s ever given her a good reason to, especially not her mother–a famous romance novelist–, who’s on her fifth marriage. Remy dates, but she knows exactly when and how to break up. And so begins the summer after her high school graduation, the last summer before she heads off to college. And so enters Dexter, who crashes–literally–into Remy and declares that they’re meant to be together. Yeah. So not cool with Remy, who has a strict no-musicians policy. Yet…Dexter’s different, and Remy’s relationship with him is different. And could be different, if she’d just let it.

What I loved about this book. Dexter. ‘Kay, I love him. Like, I want one of my own. Mainly because I’ve decided that it totally rocks to date someone who’ll sing to you. Silly Remy, not to want to date a musician. And he’s just so goofy. How can you not love him? I may even love him more than Finn, but I’m not sure yet, and anyway, it doesn’t matter, because I call both of them, for all you LRRH-ers out there reading this.

I also really liked Remy’s character. It’s nice to read about a girl who’s tough and cynical and refuses to let anyone get too close to her.

And I liked how the characters weren’t really moral but not in a trashy way. Does that make sense? Like sometimes, characters will swear or drink or whatever, and it just seems like it’s because “It’s cool” in the book world but doesn’t add to character development or anything. But in This Lullaby, the characters needed to because otherwise they wouldn’t have been nearly so believable.

Anyway. Strongly recommended.

And I shall have ramblings on In the Serpent’s Coils and Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Family Affairs coming soon. Promise.

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