Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen {2.5}

Title: This Lullaby

Author: Sarah Dessen

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Viking Book for Young Readers

Publication Date: May 27th, 2002

Pages: Paperback, 345

My Rating: 2.5 Stars

When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn’t mess around. After all, she’s learned all there is to know from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. But there’s something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy’s rules. He certainly doesn’t seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can’t seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy’s starting to understand what those love songs are all about?

I don’t know if it’s because of my reading slump, or because I have outgrown romances like these, but I found this book to be lackluster and just simply boring. This is my first Sarah Dessen book (shameful, I know), and I have heard many great things about her books, so maybe it’s because I expected too much. Needless to say, I am pretty disappointed in this one.

This Lullaby seemed like a book that I would enjoy, since I have enjoyed similar books in the past. However, for a romance novel, I felt like this one lacks in the romance department. The book fast forwards how Remy and Dexter got together, and it doesn’t show romance while they were together. The only time that I actually felt the romance was towards the last part of the novel, and even that was subpar. What, Remy just suddenly thought that she should go talk to Dexter, and that was it? Honestly, I just didn’t care for the romance aspect of this novel, which is problematic because it’s a pretty great chunk of the novel.

I really liked the friendship aspect of this book for their camaraderie, but I didn’t like how it felt like they were fine at times and at other times trying to upstage each other or something. It felt like they were more like frenemies rather than friends who truly want to support each other. I didn’t get their dynamics, and it felt awkward to me.

I really like the family aspects, especially Remy’s relationship with her brother. However, I found it weird when they fought over Jennifer Anne and then just suddenly returned to normal. This whole novel just feels like a lot of things are in fast-forward mode, and I felt like I didn’t catch up well enough. I also really liked how Remy’s relationship with her mother became towards the end. It’s not far-fetched, but there definitely was some improvement.

Overall, I just didn’t really connect with Remy, the friendship, nor the romance. I also didn’t care for Dexter very much. I guess the only thing I liked about this novel is the family aspect, that’s why I gave it 2.5 stars.

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