Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Before I start this review, I feel like I have to say something up front. Like with Meg Cabot, I absolutely adore Sarah Dessen’s books. I’ve been reading them ever since I was in junior high and it started with Someone Like You. So I might be a little biased when it comes to reviewing her.

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way, let’s continue with this review. Someone Like You is a novel about Halley and her best friend Scarlett. They’ve been best friends forever, and have always been there for each other. That’s why when the book starts, with Halley at a summer camp receiving a call from Scarlett informing her that Michael Sherwood – the boy Scarlett had been dating all summer – is dead, Halley knows that she has to come home to be there for her friend. But as the book unfolds it turns out that Halley will have to be there for her friend more than she originally thought, Scarlett is pregnant and she keeps the baby.

Although this book mainly focuses on Scarlett going through the pregnancy, it also focuses on Halley’s first relationship. Michael’s friend – Macon – seems to always show up after Michael’s death (it helps that they have third period P.E. together) and eventually asks her out. The kind of boy though that Macon is, her mother wouldn’t approve of. Not that Halley really minds, her mother and her haven’t been close since early that summer. Her mother is a therapist who makes money over the fact that her and her teenaged daughter turn out to be so close.

You know I have stated my dislike for parents in YA literature, and this book was no exception. I get where Halley’s mom was coming from, but c’mon. She’s a therapist, she should know that teenagers eventually need some separation from their parents and a rebel phase. But honestly, she was so controlling! I was really excited when Halley told her off after the whole seeing Macon after the accident thing. It was fantastic.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. There were a lot of feels in this book, but not as many as in other later Dessen books. I didn’t like the character of Noah and I felt that the book ended too soon. There were still plot lines that needed to be completed. Like what were Elizabeth and Macon talking about in the truck outside the hospital? Why did Macon stick around?

Bookshelf worthy? Like with all my favorite authors, I would love to own everything that they come out with. And with Sarah Dessen I do – except for That Summer and Dreamland.