Book Review - This Lullaby

This Lullaby
Author: Sarah Dessen
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: 24th July 2008
Publishers: Hodder Childrens
No. Pages: 379
Source: Purchased
Rating: 
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All Remy has to remember her father by is a song, This Lullaby, with the memorable line, 'I will let you down'. Having seen her mother go through four failed marriages, she's pretty sure that's what most men do. So she's determined to keep the men in her life at arms' length.

But then Dexter comes crashing into her world. He's everything she hates: messy, disorganised, impulsive, and worst of all, a musician like her father... So why is it suddenly so hard for her to stick to her own rules?

"The fate of your heart is your choice and no one else gets a vote"

It's a well known fact that I usually do my reviews the day after I finish a book, just so that my review can be as thought out and thorough as possible, but not this one, oh no, this one, must be done now. I could physically cuddle, hold, and spend every waking moment being with this book if it meant I could read it again and again, for the first time, every time. I completely adored it.

As with many YA books, specific authors or titles get, overly talked about on Book-tube or Goodreads and 90% of the time, I try to avoid the books that get the 'hype' until the hype is gone, in this case, Sarah Dessen is quite a favourite with the ladies of YA. But after a Book-tuber mentioned she was a fan of Sarah Dessen, I thought I'd put a title to the test and give her work a go, and after finding This Lullaby for £1.20 in a charity store, there was no saying no.

I've never been a 'character development' reader, I tend to feel the plot of a story, is much more important than the characters in it, much like the lyrics to a song, than the person singing it. I realise I may be a small minority in this case, but bare with, it will make sense in the end. I loved each character in their own right, and each character had a trait, something about them that meant I could remember them throughout the book and throughout the story, but I felt the plot, a plot surrounding every possible wave of love, was what made the characters mature.

Of every character in This Lullaby, I feel my favourite, was Monkey. This could also be in the minority, but I feel Monkey's character, was what the story was all about. Animals are much more, adaptable to people, and let new people into their lives, with not much thought of the repercussions, or how it may end, or what may happen inbetween all of those things, and I feel that this is what our main character, Remy, learnt in her summer months. I feel that Monkey, although a minor character, may have been Sarah's inspiration for the entire plot.

In a short summary, I just have a lot of feelings towards this book, and although it took me some time to read, I would definitely have this on my read again pile, read forever pile, and introduce people to pile. I may even be brave enough to say, I loved this book as much as The Fault in Our Stars, if not, a tiny bit more.