Once and for All
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4.5 • 274 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From beloved author of The Truth About Forever comes a poignant story of a heartbroken teen who is thrust back into the world of wedding planning.
“Sarah Dessen is the queen of heartfelt YA.”—Cosmopolitan
“Romance, humor, kindhearted characters, and a touch of painful reality make this another sure bet for Dessen fans.”—Kirkus Review
Louna has seen every sort of wedding, from informal on the beach to elegant in historic mansions, all because of her mother’s wedding planning business. And working these events every summer means she has also seen every kind of outcome to that “perfect” day. Maybe that’s why she’s deeply cynical about happily-ever-after endings. Or is there something else that has caused her to lock away her heart? When handsome, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose enters her life, Louna doesn’t want to take him seriously. He is sure he can change; Louna is betting that he can’t. But Ambrose knows that Louna is the girl he’s always been waiting for—the question is, can he convince her to feel the same?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In her 13th book, Sarah Dessen weaves together a coming-of-age novel and a story about love … and comes up with something completely unexpected. Teenager Louna Barrett soaks up plenty of lessons about romantic ideals (not necessarily positive ones) while working for her mother’s wedding-planning business. But when she and charming, free-spirited Ambrose enter into a bet to test each other's relationship habits, she has to examine her personal beliefs about love and heartbreak. Written in Dessen’s detailed and relatable voice, this is another tender, honest, and questioning perspective on growing up.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seventeen-year-old Louna was in love once, but it ended in tragedy when her long-distance boyfriend, Ethan, was killed in a school shooting. Louna has since stopped believing she will find love again, though she is surrounded by constant reminders of it: she works for her mother's successful, high-end wedding-planning business. When Louna's mother temporarily hires Ambrose, the gorgeous but unpredictable son of a client, Louna is charged with making sure that Ambrose doesn't make their summer weddings any more difficult. Dessen's fans will revel in the familiarity of her steady, empathic writing, as well as her attention to detail particularly the painstaking care Louna and her mother devote to every aspect of a wedding, including their nervous and tightly wound clients and the emotionally layered characters that populate her story. Dessen (Saint Anything) include a hint of romance between Louna and Ambrose, but this novel is more about grief and recovery. Flashbacks of Louna's relationship with Ethan, interspersed among the present-day chapters, movingly juxtapose her loss with her tentative efforts to move forward from it. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Once & for all; a good read
Good characters and plot. very enjoyable young love novel
Cute
Very fluffy, I liked the character development! This story reminded me lightly of "This Lullaby"... loved it although I would have liked to see a deeper side to Ambrose than just his happy-go-lucky, carefree attitude.
loved it !!!
had me on the edge of my seat till the very end. well written as always ! waiting for more to come 😬