Just Listen

Love this book so much

This book will always be special. All of Sarah Dessen’s book hold such a special place in my heart. They’re the books that made me fall in love with reading.

For it being about high school kids I did enjoy it! There was a lot of drama, laugh out loud moments and a lot of hard ones to read! Overall really well written! The only thing was the chapters were just SOOO long!

Sarah Dessen has long since been one of my all time favorite authors and I adore her books. Just Listen is my favorite of them all. I've been reading her books since I was a preteen and am now in my mid-thirties and still get so many feels every single time I read her work. I connect with Annabel on so many regular and painful levels and I also connect with Owen on one or two as well. Just Listen is full of phrases I still think of and use on a near daily basis. I truly suggest if this book sounds at all interesting to you to give it a try I think you'll enjoy it.

Sarah Dessen has done it again. She has created a world of realistic characters in a genre where often times the protagonists are silly, vapid, and vain. As an English teacher of middle school students I constantly recommend Dessen's books to my female students because she writes such strong women. From Keeping the Moon to The Truth About Forever to Just Listen Dessen has not missed a step. Her characters have depth, they grow, and are sincere. She also creates solid secondary characters. In Just Listen, the heroine, Annabel has a hard time telling the truth. Or more correctly, she has a hard time telling everyone around her, including her family and herself, how she feels. She holds tight to some dark secrets and puts her life on hold while her family deals with her mother's depression and her sister's bout with anorexia. Annabel, like many young women of today, feels that to make everyone happy she needs to keep her mouth shut. She loses herself in the noise of the every day world. It isn't until she meets Owen, a loner like herself, that she is finally able to stop, and just listen...finally to herself and her inner voice.

Wonderful read! This was exactly what I have been looking for and I loved it. Coming of age or getting to know who you are. Seeing yourself through the eyes of other people. Falling in love. This is how a true YA novel should be done. I kept smiling and frowning through the whole book. Thouroughly enjoying every wird, every page. So refreshing, so right. Thank you! I've said this before but adult books really should take note on how to tell a story in the right pace, with enough depth to the characters lika book like this actually does. The romance is very subtle, but you can FEEL it so much. And then everythingelse besides the romance. I'm so content right now!

The first Dessen book I read was about four years ago (in high school) when I picked up The Truth About Forever. It instantly became my favorite book of all time. However, I didn't feel like picking up another Dessen book because they were all about teenagers in high school and I already started reading more "mature" books about 20-30 year olds that just seemed more interesting than reading about teen angst and insecurity issues. Now, four years later, I'm in college, and I've decided to put this book on my summer reading list. Let me just say, I am so glad I did because it certainly touched me in more ways than one. I didn't think I would even enjoy it as much because it's a bit weird reading about people who are at younger stages than you in their lives (there's a lot of revisiting familiar feelings when your hormones are at its craziest). However, I will admit that it didn't "wow" me as much as The Truth About Forever. There are some parts of the book that dragged on a little bit longer than it should have, and unfortunately I also have to admit that there were points in the story when I became annoyed with the main character (which is the worst thing that can happen in my book). But overall, it was a good book, and I would definitely recommend it if asked. (BUT I WOULD RECOMMEND THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER FIRST! AND YOU WOULDNT EVEN HAVE TO ASK!! SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!)

I loved this book so much. It took me a while to actually get into the story at first because it was kind of boring and confusing but it was so worth it because the story was amazing and the characters are very lovable. It introduced me to one of my now favorite authors who's characters i always fall in love with and i never want to return the books once I've checked them out from the library. I'm so glad i bought this book because had i not i wouldn't have been exposed to Dessen's amazing work and perfect characters and settings that keep popping up from one story to the next. This novel is perfect for any person who enjoys reading teen novels and i can assure you you will love the characters as much as i do.