Once and for All, Sarah Dessen

Once and for All by Sarah Dessen 

I have read three Sarah Dessen novels and I am not her biggest fan, although I am aware of the fact that many people adore her novels, I have never really liked them that much. I have read this one, The Lullaby and Along for the Ride. Along for the Ride is probably my favorite one out of those three and I will admit that it is a pretty good book, hopefully, I will be able to post a review of that one sometime soon. When I tell people that I am not Dessen´s biggest fan, people immediately ask me if I even like YA novels or summer romances, and I absolutely love those two, but it´s just that her stories have never really stayed with me and I had a similar experience with Once and for All because I was unsure that I was going to like it, but I adore weddings, so I thought that I needed to at least give it a try. I think weddings are special and that they are beautiful. In fact, I live them so much  that at some point when I was growing up I honestly thought about becoming a wedding planner but discovered that I am not that patient, therefore, not really qualified for that business, yet I still have the right to enjoy them, so after reading how many people were actually enjoying Once and for All and how it was set inside the world of wedding planning, I thought that I should give it a go. I mean, there wasn´t really anything to lose. 
Once and for All narrated the story of Louna, a teenager that lives only with her mother, Natalie, who owns a very successful wedding planning company with William, Natalie´s best friend and basically Louna´s father figure. Our main character has to be running around the town running errands and helping the family business as much as she can before she goes to college. Louna´s summer seems to be going exactly like she predicted, with horrible dates organized by Jilly, her best friend, who is trying to make her be back in the dating field after a past relationship. Well, that is until Ambrose starts working with Louna. Ambrose is exactly what Louna HATES. He is very unprofessional, flirts with all the girls, has a hard time focusing on a relationship and takes the poorest decisions (in Louna´s point of view). Louna continues trying to forget her first love and continue with her life, even when it seems impossible to find someone after Ethan. 
I want to start this review by talking about how my favorite character is William! I loved his personality and honestly, I would love to have someone like him by my side because he is funny and caring, which I think was something that Louna needed. Also, he probably made every scene better. 
I liked Ethan because he had a very "magical" story with him, plus he was adorable and just like the type of boyfriend you read about in every summer romance book. 
Surprisingly, Ambrose didn´t really catch my attention that much. I mean, yes, I like him because he is funny and he has different ideas that are very interesting, but I feel like he didn´t get enough recognition for his self, Louna always seemed to like his physical appearance more than himself. But I did enjoy reading about him.
On the other hand, Louna was a character that I found just okay. I really liked her point of view in true love and weddings because she saw so many people that fell apart because of a relationship, yet she held tight her dream of meeting the right person, and I would like to admit that this was probably the first time that someone actually put into words what I think about marriage. But I also found her a little bit annoying from time to time because she acted a little immature with certain people like Ambrose or Jilly, and she was so immature around those that cared about her. 
Jilly is a character that I liked, but she is just the most typical best friend you can think of in a YA novel, she is the opposite of our main character, she likes going out all the time, she sets Louna with weird guys and stuff, but the one thing that made her special and more likeable was the fact that she was always taking care of the family business and her siblings. I think that it showed how there are people that prefer to be more outgoing because they are tired of being stuck with their family all the time. 
Another character that I think is worth mentioning is Natalie, Louna´s mother because I liked her and she is not even one of the important characters, but I hated her character development. Sometimes she appeared and sometimes she didn´t, and her ending is something that I didn´t like at all because it made you feel like all those 300 pages were wasted.
I want to talk about Ethan´s story because I found the whole summer romance thing adorable because when you read it, it is described as your ideal summer romance, yes, one of those that lasts at least a week. Well, Ethan´s summer romance only lasted a night and guess what? They started dating! I mean, I loved the night they passed together and everything, but dating and kind of making all these promises seemed a little too fictional, even when I am one of those hopeless romantics at heart! I liked Ethan and everything, but it felt a little unreal, that´s all. 
Also, I felt like Ambrose wasn´t even one of the main characters because he never really had a story with Louna, I think they never really fell in love, they were trying to be friends while he kept flirting with the bridesmaids. In my opinion, the novel´s pace was just too slow for me.
I disliked all the sub-plots that were added to the story because it made the story SO messy because at some point we had so many things going on at the same time that it started to confuse me! I mean, I liked that there were many diverse stories in a novel, but in this novel, they were just added out of the blue that it confused me. 
I think the one good thing that I want to mention is that the whole wedding planning industry kept me reading because as I mentioned, I love weddings and I think that if this novel was centered in another business, I would´ve probably stopped reading it. 
But like I said, Dessen is just not usually my style, but if she is, you should enjoy this one too, I just happened to not find the right theme on this one. Yet, I will admit that it made me continue reading it, so even though it is confusing and messy, Dessen´s writing still has the factor that pulls you in and makes you read more. 

3 1/2 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

I carried this 500-pages book for a week, which is the time that it took me to finish it, and people laughed a lot because of the title, I think that it was funnier since I am Asian, so this book is definitely an eye-catcher and the story it tells is eye-opening because it gives you an insight of a private world that you know for sure that you will never be part of.
I came across this book by accident like I did with Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren, and I think that it helped me enjoy the story even more since I didn´t really have high expectations for the story.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan tells the story of Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young, the couple lives in New York and they are both professors at NYU. Nick invites Rachel to go to Singapore to attend his best friend´s wedding, and after thinking about it for a while, Rachel accepts and they are soon off to Singapore. As soon as they get there, Rachel realizes that Nick´s world isn´t like the one she knew of, his life is full of expensive things and exclusive treatment, and his family and friends are made out money. His grandmother lives in a house that is more of a palace rather than a humble home, as he mentions it; they have spectacular celebrations that look more like high-society gatherings; they have servants that want to prepare them showers and at least wash their hair; among other amenities that Rachel never thought about. While Rachel is discovering a side of the world that she never knew of Nick, she also finds out that Nick is the most wanted bachelor in the whole country, especially in the high-class society, and girls(including Nick´s family) are willing to do anything to get rid of Rachel because they believe that Nick deserves to get married to a girl from a wealthy family.
Like I said before, I didn´t think that I would like this story as much as I did, I mean, I am Asian and I grew up knowing that there are very wealthy families in those countries, so it is a world that I knew of, but didn´t really think about until I came across with this novel that opened the door for me to visit one of the most extravagant and luxurious societies in the world and I found the journey very fun and I just loved it, which has made me buy the two books that follow this novel.
I loved everything about this story, I loved the characters, the plot, the relationships and the writing.
There are many characters and it can get confusing from time to time, but the many characters create a very complete story and fill the scene entirely making it a very realistic story.
I really liked Rachel because she has a very normal and natural reaction to the environment and she is a very approachable character, she is like the ordinary woman and many could identify with her. Also, what made me really like Rachel is that she wasn´t annoying and she really tried to accept the life that she faced, she tried to make the best out of everything because she truly loves Nick.
On the other hand, Nick is the ideal man that every girl wants. He is smart, good-looking, funny and caring. when I started reading this novel, I wasn´t really looking forward to Nick because I thought that the story would make me focus more on the main characters, but honestly, there were so many sides to the story that it was hard to concentrate on them and it made me like Nick much more because the little bits that we got were the most special.
I liked Peik Lin because she is like the fairy godmother of this story, she buys Rachel a new closet and helps her throughout the journey, she is the best friend that everyone deserves to have. 
As much as I liked Peik Lin, I found a certain charm in Colin, Nick´s best friend, because they shared a lifetime together, they have a different friendship that stood out and I loved reading about their friendship. Also, who wouldn´t love Colin?
My favorite part of each character was that they all react and treat wealth differently and the way they treat it shows their personality a lot.
Although the story wouldn´t be the same without the characters, I just loved the plot because it has the ideal amount of romance, drama, gossip, and laughter. So, the plot really is something else because it is just AMAZING and you won´t be able to put the book down. 
Now, the relationships that each couple has was very fun to read about because they all have different relationships with each other, and therefore, bring different topics to the story that make it stand out from other books. 
There were three couples that I really liked: Nick and Rachel, Astrid and Michael, and Alistair and Kitty. 
I liked Nick and Rachel´s relationship because it is the ideal cute relationship that everyone dreams of, it is sweet and heart-warming. While Astrid and Michael´s relationship is the relationship that needs work, their story is like the typical contemporary novel that I read a lot about, their relationship gave the sense of stories like After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close. On the other hand, I only liked Alistair and Kitty´s relationship because it was super fun to read about them, Kitty wears a freaking see-through dress to meet the whole family! I think that I just laughed too much in that scene. 
I think that the one thing that I loved about the most of Kwan´s writing was the way he mixes Cantonese with English to write the character´s expressions, which makes them super special and unique, making you enter completely into the story and feel comfortable with the characters. Also, the small comments he added for the definitions of words were funny and seemed like he was introducing us the story directly, which created a closer author-reader relationship.
I think that the only thing that I didn´t like about this book was that the pages were too thin in my paperback edition, but that is totally okay because the story it delivered was amazing!
Overall, Crazy Rich Asians is a funny and dramatic reading that will guide you through a luxurious world that you would´ve never thought of, you will experience characters that seem to have come out from movies, and you won´t be able to put it down because you will not want to leave this world that seems to be very far from our reality. 
Also, I cannot wait for the movie! I am really excited!

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua 

I See London, I See France, Sarah Mlynowsky

I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowsky

I know this is something
that I shouldn´t
 say as a super big reader, but I really think that
the cover of this book
is beautiful! I think that this is
one of my favorite covers
of all times!

I am a really big fan of summer adventures and summer romances because they are simple, sweet, fun and they always include an adorable male character that will make me fall in love with him since the first time that I get to know him, I even think that I fall in love with this characters ever since the first time that they described in the novel. So, yes, I was very excited for I See London, I See France, but there was also something that was holding me back from reading this novel, I am not sure if it was the plot itself or the fact that I had started to read too many YA novels that had the same plot or the fact that I once started reading Ten Things We Did and Probably Shouldn´t Have by the same author in Spanish, yet I never really finished it because I wasn´t feeling the story, but at the end I actually decided to buy it and once I had it in my hands, I started getting really excited to read this novel that was claiming to be full of fun adventures and a super cute male character named Jackson, and I´ve got to say is that I loved it! I think that I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowsky is probably one of my favorite YA summer adventure novels and I was really close to never reading it! 

This adventure-packed novel tells the story of Sydney and her best friend Leela in their fun adventure around Europe. So, Sydney and Leela have been best friends since they were little kids and they have always dreamed of going to Europe together and get to see the best sights, but after they go to college, Leela meets Matt and she completely falls in love with him, which makes her decision to go to Europe with him, but before the trip ever happens, Leela finds out that Matt has kissed another girl, so they break up and their vacation to Europe is completely out of question, but since she can´t get a refund for her expensive ticket, she decides to beg to Sydney to join her and she does. 
The two friends are very excited about visiting the continent, but their excitement seems to go away when they spot Matt in the same plane, but what catches Sydney´s attention is his best friend, Jackson, a total hottie! 
Now Sydney will have to travel Europe knowing that there is a super cute guy that is willing to spend time with her while getting to know new people and while trying to balance her family and friends with her adventure. 
As always, I will start by talking about the characters. I really liked all of the characters in this novel because they all seemed to be created for a purpose because they all shaped Sydney, our main character, in her adventure. 
I enjoyed reading the novel in Sydney´s point of view because she is a very funny narrator and made the adventure, even more, fun with her little comments, I think that I felt very identified with the way she expressed herself throughout the novel. Also, something that made me like her more were the books that she talks about, I remember she mentions One Day by David Nicholls, Daughter of Smoke and Daughter by Laini Taylor, Étienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and she talks about Marie Antoinette, probably one of my favorite historical figures. So, yes, I deeply connected with Sydney.
As always, I loved the male character, in this case, Jackson because he was funny, charming and just GORGEOUS! I think that I liked Jackson the way that I liked Carter from Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren, which means that I was completely obsessed with this character and I just couldn´t stop thinking about him. He was the perfect mixture of sweet, cute, funny, adventurous, romantic and charming. Also, he had a backstory that made him a much more human-like character and made the story much more complete, although Sydney never really gets to know him completely, both characters are aware of this and work on their relationship from there, which I really liked.
On the other hand, I really liked the supporting characters in this novel, there was Kat, Sydney´s friend from college, and she meets different people during her adventure, some from Australia and some from back home, and they made her the trip extra fun and different. I think my favorite part of the whole novel was when Sydney met the group of friends that would change her summer adventure completely!
Now, I have so many things to say about the story in general because I really enjoyed it. 
First, I would like to mention that for me, this novel really reminded me of Wanderlost by Jenn Malone, which is one of my favorite YA novels as well, so I was excited to read this. 
I really liked the adventures they lived in every city, I think my favorite was the Monte Carlo adventure because every character was there and it was very fun to read about, it was like the ideal getaway for any college student. I See London, I See France is definitely like the ideal college summer vacation because it is filled with adventure and the main character surrounds herself with people that like her and she has a great time. 
I also liked Sydney´s family story, although I am not really going to talk about it because I believe that it is better to read it off from the novel directly. 
The friendship Leela and Sydney share was something that I found very beautiful because they know the type of person the other is and the way they act around each other was very natural and they seemed to find a home in the other person. Also, speaking of Leela, I really liked the way her story with Matt was included in this novel because it is a very different love story and the beautiful thing about this tragic love story is that the two people that they care about the most fall in love when their own relationship is falling apart, so I found a certain beauty in the starting of something new from something heartbreaking for both of them.
Another thing that I really liked about the story is the way that Jackson and Sydney´s relationship progresses because they are aware that they could easily consider their relationship just a summer fling and they do until they start realizing that there might be much more to their feelings, so, in a sense I really liked the uncertainty they had in their relationship because it made their story progress in a much more natural way. 
On the other hand, I really liked Mlynowsky´s writing because it perfectly balances romance, adventure, fun, and drama, she did a great job narrating an ideal getaway with people that are human and that have things going on in their lives other than the summer vacation that they are taking. Also, I just loved the chapter/cities introductions that she included throughout the novel with the small tips because they were so much fun to read and I looked forward to those the whole time!
At the end, I felt very satisfied with the novel and the way the story progressed, and I loved the story so much that I felt empty once I finished I See London, I See France, which demonstrates how much I loved this story. 
I would like to remind everyone that this book may seem too mature to many people, it includes visiting places that may not be ideal for younger people and it portrays college adventures, which are very different from high school and middle school as many YA novels do. 
I See London, I See France tells the perfect summer getaway adventure that every teenager dreams of, their adventure includes everything that you may want to experience from sex clubs and coffee shops in Amsterdam, meeting a hot French man, staying in a luxurious villa in Tuscany, gambling with your friends in Monte Carlo, and the most important, having fun in every city you visit because you only get to live once! 

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua