I had seen this book all over the place on Goodreads awhile ago and when I saw it was an available audiobook on my library’s digital collection I jumped on the opportunity to finally see what the hype was about. This is my first Sarah Dessen book (even though I bought one years ago and haven’t read it yet) and I was pleasantly surprised!
Summary
Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.
Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.
When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.
Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.
For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her will win out?
My Thoughts
4/5 stars
I love books that focus on family dynamics and that’s 90% of what this book is about. It was really interesting to see “Emma” and “Saylor” become Emma Saylor as she learned about her mother’s side of the family and reconcile that with her years spent with only her dad’s side of the family.
Sarah Dessen did a great job of blending together family, friendship, and romance elements into an engaging story. I enjoyed that it didn’t feel like we were just in Saylor’s head throughout the book. There was a great balance between dialogue and Saylor’s thoughts, which I think helped make Saylor feel very realistic.
Saylor was a good main character; she was driven, curious, and funny. She felt like a realistic person and this really helped me stay engaged in the story. I cared about what Saylor was learning about her family and how she found herself growing during her time at North Lake. Her relationships with her different family members were each unique and contributed different things to the story.
Based on this book I would definitely read/listen to another Sarah Dessen book! Saylor was a likeable and realistic main character and the writing itself was engaging. It might finally be time to read the Sarah Dessen book I purchased all those years ago.
Have you read The Rest of the Story? What did you think of it?
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