Here she slowly becomes friends with a new group of people, including a brother and sister duo that work at their family pizza joint nearby. Worse, her mother seems unwilling to think Peyton is really to blame for all of this (she occasionally says things like, “Well, what was that teenager doing out so late at night ANYWAY?”), and Sydney feels like she’s the only one who recognizes what an enormous mistake Peyton made.īecause of the steep legal fees and programs associated with all of Peyton’s issues over the years and also because she can’t stand being the focus of so many pitying looks, Sydney drops out of her expensive prep school and transfers to the public high school. Now all her parents’ attention is REALLY focused on Peyton, even if it’s no longer because he’s the golden boy. She’s never minded because they were so close and she loved him as much everyone else did.īut then when he got into high school, he started getting in to trouble, with more and more run-ins with the law – shoplifting, drugs, reckless driving – until he’s in a drunk-driving accident and paralyzes another teenager.

He’s always been charming and handsome and smart. Sydney has grown up in the shadow of her brother Peyton. Remember how sometimes I don’t actually start writing about the book until fifty paragraphs into the post? Sorry ’bout that. (It also reminded me that, for all the books that claim “the next Sarah Dessen” or “in the spirit of Sarah Dessen,” nobody actually does it as well as she does. It’s just top-notch from start to finish.Īlso, Saint Anything reminded me of just how much I love a good YA novel. And then the latest three which I liked, but didn’t have quite the same delightful feel of the previous four.īut this one? It belongs in the middle category.

Then there is the next set which I think are the very best – This Lullaby, The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, Lock and Key – with great characters, terrific romances, and good writing. There are the first several which are fine and maybe a little bit heavier ( Dreamland, especially). I generally categorize her books into three sections. I packed it for our hospital stay, but ended up reading Upstairs at the White House instead.īut when we got home and my mom was around and I took a week or so off of working and I was nursing all the time, I zipped through Saint Anything in a couple of days. This week, her latest book, Saint Anything, finally came out.īack in January, when I discovered it was being released, I emailed the publicist and asked for a copy. Because she hasn’t written anything in a couple of years. When I first discovered her during my library school days, I read every book she’d written, which I rarely rarely do, and then kept up with every book she continued to release.īut I haven’t written about her in a couple of years. If you are a long-time reader (and I mean LONG), you know that I love Sarah Dessen.

Saint anything by sarah dessen