Review: Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Title: Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Released: May 1, 1998 by Penguin

Pages: 281

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by: Carey

Halley has always followed in the wake of her best friend, Scarlett. But when Scarlett learns that her boyfriend has been killed in a motorcycle accident, and that she's carrying his baby, she's devastated. For the first time ever, Scarlett really needs Halley. Their friendship may bend under the weight, but it'll never break--because a true friendship is a promise you keep forever.

***

If you didn't already know this, Sarah Dessen is my all time favorite author. I've met her, I've been tweeted by her, and I've read all of her books. This is actually the first one that I read by her, back in 2008. I, of course, just re-read it. 

Sarah Dessen books always seem sort of the same to me, honestly. There's a girl who falls in love with a guy who's way different than her and her parents usually don't like them, and so on. Dessen always seems to incorporate something different in each though. A divorce, a new baby, moving around so many times, etc. In Someone Like You, it was Halley's best friend getting pregnant. I'm more surprised that there aren't more books about teenage pregnancy.  I think this is the only one I've read ever, if not one other. That's what I love about Dessen.

The first time I read Someone Like You, I was in love with it. I was in love with the Macon/Halley relationship, and how Halley changed throughout the book. The second time, four years later, I couldn't really get that into it, or at least not as into it. Maybe it's because I've seen How to Deal, and the entire time I  was thinking about Ashley in That Summer and I momentarily forgot that those were two different books (my bad) , but I just kept thinking about How to Deal and how they acted different (at least to me) from they should have in the book. I hate how movies ruin books sometimes, but that's just what happens. Books > movies. Always. 

But anyways, I just feel like, and maybe it's because I'm not into the partying crowd, but I feel like I just couldn't relate to Someone Like You as much as I wanted to. The story line was so perfect though, it really was. This really happens in real life. Teenagers grow apart from their parents, teens get pregnant, teens fall in love with other teens who change them even more. And Dessen proves that perfectly with all of her books. Overall rating, 3.5.

PS: I just LOVE the new paperback cover design! I love all of them so much.