In Sarah Dessen’s 1st novel, Haven, a tall, 15-year old girl tries to deal with her life altering summer, while recalling about a special one that stood out in her reminiscence. The summer where everything was accurate and perfect and happy. The summer that her older sister Ashley was dating Sumner lee, and her parents were happy and together.

Back in actuality though, this summer was crazy and weird–nothing was the same anymore. Her dad surfeit with “The Weather Pet” and her sister is getting married to a lackluster guy named Lewis. Her best friend returns from camp an entirely different girl, who smokes and has a long-distance boyfriend. Even Haven herself has reformed. She is almost 6 feet tall, itchy with herself and her looks. The boy who made everything right, Sumner Lee, makes a comeback after all those year during this summer, and Haven reflects he is the key to making everything go away and be normal again. By the end of this irrational summer, Haven finds herself and comprehends so many more things than she did before. Sarah Dessen is an exceptional author, who writes with a cool, detailed style that anyone can somehow relate to. Her characters are well settled, and memorable.

This is a book that you don’t want to put down, but after you’ve finished it, you wish you had enjoyed every page, not wanting it to end. It is sweet, straight, gloomy, and witty all at the same time. This was different from the other Dessen books I have read. And not in a negative way. Actually, I was so amazed on how different that I kept waiting for the romance. There wasn’t even once. This was purely a future of age novel. And it was a great story. Haven is a misjudged character in the book. She finds it difficult to get people to understand her and what she is feeling. There seems to be only one person. Sumner. But things don’t seem to be as good as she thought they were. It was a decent story. No romance, no relationship problems, but instead a narrative about the struggles and fights of just growing up. It is a great book worth reading, just don’t read it if you are just looking for love, passion and sex. You won’t find even a clue of it in the pages of this one. Occasionally, I hear people say they’re looking for tales that aren’t focused on romance, where the leading character isn’t just trying to get with a guy. This is one of those stories. It’s about family, amity, trust and sisters. It’s perfect, but then again, of course it is. It’s Sarah Dessen.

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