The Book Addict Reviews: What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Social Issues
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Website | Goodreads
Rating: 3 stars
Book picked up in a Paperbackswap game.

In A Nutshell:
I liked the story a lot. As someone who lived through a similar situation, I found Sarah Dessen’s portrayal honest and realistic. I wanted to be a part of this group of friends in the thick of it working on the model and having dinner at Riley’s house.

Review:
As a child of divorce, Mclean’s story tugged at my heartstrings. After watching her family fall apart, she struggles. What is her place? Does she belong with her mother and her mother’s new family? Does she belong with her father who almost seems married to his work?

While Mclean struggles with her family, she is also a teen who is trying to learn who she is. With each move, she tries on a new name and a new persona. When she arrives in Lakeview, she tries to follow this same pattern but that ends up being foiled. She has to be Mclean. She has to confront who she really is.

The key to the book is that Mclean has to learn to trust again. After the divorce, she feels that relationships and entanglements lead to heartbreak. They are not lasting. If her parents’ love could turn to infidelity and anger than nothing else has a chance of lasting. But Mclean meets people who want to be her friends and work their way around her defenses. She becomes entangled and finds she actually likes it.

This was my first Sarah Dessen novel, and I cannot wait to read more. Her characters are real. I remember being a child of divorce, and Sarah Dessen brought out the feelings and emotions with clarity and honesty. The only thing that left me unsatisfied that the some of the other characters’ stories were not fully explained, particularly Deb.

Recommendations:
After reading What Happened to Goodbye, I asked my friend's which Sarah Dessen novels they recommend.  Now I want to read these books: