Lock and Key
-
-
4.6 • 32 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Truth About Forever, comes a heartwarming story of a young girl who has to learn how to unlock her heart and embrace her future.
“All the Dessen trademarks here”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Dessen’s best since This Lullaby. It will captivate all readers.”—VOYA, highlighted review
Ruby is used to taking care of herself.
But now that she’s living with her sister, she’s got her own room, she’s going to a good school, and her future looks bright.
Plus there’s the adorable boy next door.
Can Ruby learn to open her heart and let him in?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dessen (Just Listen; see Profile) inverts a familiar fairy tale: What if Cinderella got the prince, the castle and all its accoutrements, but wasn't remotely interested? After her mother abandons her, Ruby Cooper is flying below the radar of officialdom and trying to make it to her 18th birthday, when she's busted by the landlord and turned over to social services. Ruby is taken in by her estranged sister, Cora, who left for college a decade earlier and never looked back, and Cora's husband, Jamie, the wealthy founder of a popular social networking site. Resentful, suspicious and vulnerable, Ruby resists mightily, refusing the risky business of depending on anybody but herself, and wearing the key to her old house around her neck. All the Dessen trademarks are here the swoon-worthy boy next door who is not what he appears to be, and the supporting characters who force Ruby to rethink her cynical worldview, among them the frazzled owner of a jewelry kiosk at the mall. The author again defines characters primarily through dialogue, and although Ruby and her love interest, Nate, sound wiser than their years, they talk the way teens might want to from the heart. A must for Dessen fans, this will win her new readers, too. Ages 12-up.
