I missed me some Sarah Dessen!! ( )

It's a cute book with a teen pregnancy. Predictable and just not my favorite of Sarah Dessen's work ( )

Not my cup of tea ( )

Rating: 2.5 stars

Halley has always been on the sidelines, while her best friend Scarlett is the one who has interesting things happen to her. But what happens when Scarlett's boyfriend, Michael, is killed in an accident, and she finds out she's pregnant with his baby? Halley now has to be the stronger of the two and support her best friend through this time of tragedy and uncertainty.

I had high expectations for this book and I was sadly disappointed by it. I mean, the synopsis of the book sounded very interesting to me because it's about the relationship between two best friends during a hard time. Unfortunately, that seems to only be a minor part of the story because it's more focused on Halley's new relationship with Macon, who was the best friend of Scarlett's deceased boyfriend, as well as Halley's family and her growing apart from her mother. The friendship between Scarlett and Halley has its cute moments, but it really seemed like it was more of a side-plot than the real drive behind the book.

The parts that do focus on the friendship and Scarlett's pregnancy were good though. It was raw in showing that Scarlett was scared and Halley was there to support her and back her up when people found out about it. I was just expecting the story to be more about this, rather than Halley's relationship and rebellion. That, and Macon was just annoying and had no depth to him.

I don't have much else to say about this book, other than that I did still enjoy Dessen's writing style (I always do), which is why I finished the book and am not completely disappointed with it. I just felt like there was too much going on for it to have a real story to be following and none of the characters stood out to me. And to be completely honest, I'm mostly disappointed that I was looking to read a good story that really focused on friendship during hard times... this was not the book for that. ( )

I have been reading a lot of Sarah Dessen books the past couple of months. "Someone Like You" is Dessen's second book and maybe I should have been more careful to read these in order. I really did love this book. It is about two best friends (Halley and Scarlett) and them trying to get through their junior year of high school after Scarlett deals with losing the boy she loved in a motorcycle accident. If things were not complicated enough, Scarlett finds out she is pregnant, and Halley decides she is going to do whatever she can to be there for Scarlett. The book really is about Halley coming into her own and deciding what she feels comfortable with when it comes to her first serious relationship.

I liked Halley. The book starts off with her away at some "feel your feelings" summer camp that her therapist mother forced her off to. Unlike with most of Dessen's books, Halley's parents are happily married, though right now Halley and her mother are going through some growing pains. While Halley often thought of herself and her mother as best friends, she has started to grow apart from her. Whether it was Halley outgrowing the boy her mother thought was appropriate for her, or just not wanting to keep sharing everything with her mother, you can see that for both of these characters they want things to go back to the way that they were before.

When Halley gets a call from Scarlett telling her that Scarlett's secret boyfriend (red flags people) has been killed and she needs Halley there, Halley calls her family and demands to come home. Here I found Halley's mom a bit heartless about her coming home soon and asking about why does she need to be there. Um gee souless one, maybe to be there for her friend.

After that, things are fractured between Halley and her mother for most of the book and get worse when Halley finds herself drawn to Scarlett's dead boyfriend's friend Macon. Yeah try repeating that five times fast.

The book really is a push pull for Halley to understand her worth after she starts seeing Macon. She really does think she is lucky to have Macon in her life. It's a long slow realization for her though when you as a reader realize she has no clue that she's doing all the giving and he's doing all the taking. When things come to a head, I was proud of the way the book continued from there.

There were times in this book I just felt such pity for both Halley and Scarlett. Halley because she didn't realize what Scarlett ends up realizing with regards to the boy she fell in love with. That sex is important, and you should be absolutely sure before you have sex with someone that you could end up being connected to for the rest of your life.

The ending though felt unfinished. I wanted to read more about Scarlett and Halley. Without realizing it, the next book I finished this weekend had an appearance and update regarding Scarlett so that made me happy. Nothing else in that hot mess of a book did though. ( )