Audiobook Review: The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Emma Saylor expected the three weeks following her father’s wedding to be filled with lazy days by the pool with one of her best friends, Gretchen, trying to catch the eye of cute twin-brother lifeguards. But a health emergency in Gretchen’s family leaves Emma and her father scrambling to find somewhere she can stay (their new house is under constructions and her Nana’s apartment is being renovated).

The last place Emma Saylor expected to land was North Lake, the area her mother grew up. Divorced from her father a decade ago and then overdose five years later, Emma has always felt a bit of a hole in her life when it comes to knowing who her mother was and where she came from.

Could three weeks give her some answers or possibly begin to fill in The Rest of the Story?

Review: Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Sydney’s older brother Peyton was the jewel of his parent’s and the community’s eyes. Outgoing, fun-loving and seemingly on a course to have anything he wanted out of life, Peyton and his family’s life came to a screeching halt one night when he got behind the wheel of a car while impaired and hit a young man riding home on his bicycle.

Now Peyton is serving his sentence and Sydney and her family are left to pick up the pieces. That includes Sydney having to sacrifice her last few years of high school at a private school with her friends and heading to public school this fall. It also means that Peyton is feeling a bit distant from her parents — particularly her mother who seems to be focused on how to reconnect with Peyton and making sure he doesn’t feel like his family has forgotten about him.

Sydney is also wracked with guilt over what Peyton did and the impact that it had on the young man and his family. Thanks to the power of the Internet, Sydney is able to see how the young man is doing and even to contemplate reaching out to him in some kind of gesture.