I've been a big fan of Sarah Dessen since my friend convinced me to read This Lullaby back in ninth grade (and it remains as my favourite novel by Sarah Dessen). There's always something real about the characters that's hard to find in other books. The Moon and More was no different~! Although the first 50 (?) pages were a little slow, in my opinion, I REALLY enjoyed this book ! Especially the way it all wraps up, leaving the characters with a world of potential and open doors (:

Emaline is spending her summer working at her family's house rental company, whilst having a lot some guy problems, and worrying about college and moving away from home for the first time. This was me last summer (minus the job... and the guy problems (anyone out there want to hire me ?)), and I really related to Emaline's constant worry-and-avoid mind set. I also loved Emaline's friends, my favourite being Morris, because of his epic slowness, as well as his character development throughout the novel. I love that her characters have such mundane, real world problems - like parental divorce, awkward relations with ex-boyfriends, or not so there fathers - as well as simple everyday joys - like taking your little brother out to play mini golf, or have fun at an arcade, and even just having a heart to heart with your best friends. Sarah Dessen's characters really pop out of the page to me, and I love how she builds up their world and their lives.
On another note, can I just mention how much I didn't like Theo (and Margo .. ish, ended up loving her by the end though). ERGH. Too bad, outside of fiction, annoying people exist too... If anything, I think Theo was what I like least about the book. Unfortunately, he's present for much of it. Fortunately, I love the way the story ended, in terms of his character.

Something else I absolutely LOVE about Sarah Dessen's books, is the fact that she connects them with her other novels. In this one, we get to see Auden and Heidi again, from Along for the Ride~ Wes and Bert, from The Truth About Forever, are also mentioned, as well as their game of Gotcha! which I was really excited about (like I literally hopped around and squealed excitedly at the fact that THEY STILL EXIST!). In reading all of her other books, you really see how everything's connected. Less philosophically, it makes you feel in the know, haha~

Overall, I really enjoyed this book~ A great summer read (:

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.83/5

-review by Between Printed Pages