Monday, August 4, 2008

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen


Ruby and her mother have moved over and over again. And, it turns out that Ruby's mom has decided to move on without her this time. But Ruby is doing "just fine" on her own; until the nosy landlords get wind of what is going on and turn her into the authorities. Now Ruby has been sent off to live with her sister and her new brother-in-law in a cush neighborhood. Not only that but she has to go to a brand new private school where she has to do a project on what "family" means to her. Well, what does family mean to a girl who feels she's been abandoned by everyone she's ever depended on?

Sarah Dessen is a strong story teller with a subtle writing style, but this isn't my favorite book of hers. Ruby is likable enough, but sometimes you kind of want to smack her. Also, some secondary characters are a little weak. That said, I still enjoyed the book and by the end I was reading it whenever I got a chance. For me this is a maybe, as I said, it started slowly and I did not related to Ruby like I have Dessen's other characters, but it is still a strong book on it's own once you get into it.

4 comments:

Deb Motley said...

I agree that this was not my favorite by Dessen, but I liked it. I'm giving it a YAY for now. Likely to change as read other stuff.

Librarykat said...

I kind of look at it this way, a weak Dessen book is still better than many other YA books I read.

Anna said...

I liked this book . . . but I kept setting it down and not bothering to pick it back up. I also skimmed through a lot of it because I was bored with the pace. So I vote NAY.

Julie Beukema said...

This is a tough one. It was good but can it compare to titles like Graceling and Hunger Games? Based on the competition, I just don't think it measures up. I vote nay.