Re-Read Review: Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

Keeping the Moon is the perfect beach book.  I should know; I just re-read it in its entirety while on the beach.  Something about sitting in the sand with the sun beating down on me and listening to the waves really made me connect with Colby, the beach town that first appears in Keeping the Moon but makes appearances in much of Dessen's later fiction including her newest novel, The Moon and More, that is due out in June.  Colie is unwillingly deposited in Colby to live with her eccentric aunt in her beach front home populated with run-down furniture while her mother, the newly minted Kiki Sparks, is taking the weight-loss gospel transcontinental.  Colie's experience in Colby is defined by the people she meets, Isabel, Morgan, and Norman, all employees at the beach shack Last Chance Grill.  Through her interactions with these three, Colie tentatively begins to navigate the sometimes treacherous pathways of friendship and ultimately accept the person she has grown to become.  Isabel and Morgan are easily tied with Scarlett and Halley from Someone Like You in the race for best Dessen friendship.  Their easy give and take relationship of honesty and support is peppered with the rituals and inside jokes that are the envy of Colie and readers alike.  And then there is Norman.  Norman Norman (not to be confused with Cat Norman) is arty.  Norman is also incredibly sweet and quite possibly one of my favorite Dessen male leads.  There is something so unassuming but incredibly soulful about him.  Unlike Dreamland, Keeping the Moon is a fun, breezy read that will make you want to don your favorite sunglasses and hit the beach ASAP.  Be sure to stop in at your local beach dive, and leave a good tip!

Other Dessen Re-Read Reviews can be found below:

Just Listen
The Truth About Forever
This Lullaby
Someone Like You
Dreamland