Review: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

"Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything"—at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf's Department Store.This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen's help,maybe Annabel can face what happened
the night she and Sophie stopped being friends." (from goodreads.com) 

 371 pages

Published April 6th 2006 by Viking Juvenile 

9/10 

   Just Listen was a very heart warming story and I really liked it. Annabel is such a well developed character and it is sad to watch her struggle. The night Annabel and Sophie stop being friends something very tragic happens to Annabel, and for the most part you have a pretty good idea what it is but when it is explained it is sad and hard to read about. Also, Annabel is a very closed off person and does not like to talk about anything that has happened to her, but when she meets Owen she finds out very quickly that he is the opposite. I wanted Annabel to open up to Owen and tell him exactly what happen, and I would get angry with her when she wouldn't. I also really loved Owen, he was a very well developed character, and if there was a chapter or two where he was not present I found myself waiting for him to pop back up.

    If you have read other Sarah Dessen novels, you are probably fimilar with her very popular plot line. (Girl meets boy, they get closer, then fight, then make up and date.) Just Listen follows that same Sarah Dessen plot line, which I expect from Sarah Dessen, but I still wish she would stray away from that more often. In this book nothing very shocking happens and it's probably not going to be the best book you ever read. With that being said, it is still a good book. I think that Sarah Dessen deals with a lot of heavy topics, in a light easy to read way. I like that about this novel and her others. I felt like the topic of anorexia in this book is very real but I feel like the other main issue it has in it is not as real and is more sugarcoated. 

     Overall, I really liked this book and I still love Sarah Dessen even though she's not that original. I would recommend this book if you wanted a nice easy read that has some meaning. I will be reading more Sarah Dessen in the near future, and hopefully I will be surprised with a different plot line!