From Sarah Dessen, the beloved New York Times bestselling author of SAINT ANYTHING and JUST LISTEN, comes a new novel set in the world of wedding planning!Is it really better to have loved and lost? Louna’s summer job is to help brides plan their perfect day, even though she stopped believing in happily-ever-after when her first love ended tragically. But charming girl-magnet Ambrose isn’t … charming girl-magnet Ambrose isn’t about to be discouraged now that he’s met the one he really wants. Maybe Louna’s second chance is standing right in front of her.
Sarah Dessen’s many fans will adore this latest novel, a richly satisfying, enormously entertaining story with humor, romance, and an ending that is so much more than happily-ever-after.
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I love Sarah Dessen books. This is my second Sarah Dessen book I have read and it pulled me into these wonderful characters from the beginning. Louna is a great character and Ambrose is so fun. I actually may have cried just a little a time or two while reading this book. I am excited to find more Sarah Dessen books.
Review of audiobook, which is my second go-round with this novel
It is odd to me that the publisher of this book has chosen to include several very significant spoilers in the blurb for this book:
>> Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that’s why she’s cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm’s length. But Ambrose isn’t about to be discouraged, now that he’s met the one girl he really wants.<< First, we do not find out that Louna’s first love ended tragically until it is fully revealed quite late in the book. We also do not find out that Ambrose has decided Louna is the one girl he really wants until almost the very end of the book. There is zero indication of that fact until then because the whole book is told entirely from Louna’s first-person point of view. I first read this book in Kindle format a year ago, in June, 2019, and at that time it was a five-star read for me. This is what I wrote then: >>This is a stunning book. The best one that Sarah Dessen has ever written, in my humble opinion. It includes her trademark social drama, played out intensely in the heroine’s life, but there is also a huge amount of witty, laugh-out-loud humor. All of the characters are amazing, and there is an adorable little dog too.<< This past week I had a chance to experience this book again, this time as an audiobook. Unfortunately, given that listening to someone narrate a book takes about four or five times as long as reading it silently to oneself, it of necessity allows a whole lot more opportunity to notice every flaw in the book. And in the process, sadly, I wasn’t feeling nearly as delighted with this novel during my return trip. My complaints are these: There are many, many, many scenes of Louna working as an employee of the wedding planning business jointly owned by her mother, Natalie, and Louna’s adorable, gay, godfather, William. Early on in the book, Natalie hires Ambrose, Louna’s primary romantic interest, as a temporary, summer employee. After a while, the wedding scenes felt redundant and became less and less interesting to me. I've noticed a dismaying tendency in far too many YA novels, including especially this one, in which Louna is grieving over a tragic loss the entire book, that the most horrendous social and/or family traumas, which have caused the heroine untold angst for 150-200 pages, are suddenly declared, "solved," in order to provide a requisite YA version of an HEA. And a few pages after that, the story simply stops. I have multiple issues with Ambrose. First, though he is never officially labeled as such, Ambrose is initially portrayed in this book as having many of the hallmarks of someone with a diagnosis of ADHD. But later on, that aspect of his personality seems to disappear from the story. Second, I thought Ambrose and Louna, who are both 17 years old, have no real chemistry, which is a major problem in a novel marketed as a romance. I also did not like the rushed resolution of their romance at the end of the book, which is based on a rather unrealistic personality turnaround for Ambrose. Handsome, charming and from a wealthy family, Ambrose has spent years endlessly dating, girl after girl, sometimes several girls at once, but he has never dated any of these girls more than one or two nights. Even so, he proudly informs Louna, when she confronts him about the dubious ethics of his serial dating practices, that he offers an important emotional gift to the girls he favors with his short-term company. He states that he has the ability to provide girls with intensely focused attention, which is something that every human being, not just girls, needs and craves. Unfortunately, as Louna and the reader can clearly see, the truth is, he is playing the part of a perfect boyfriend for 24-48 hours for his own entertainment, not the emotional betterment of the girls he dates. And when any of these poor girls falls for him, and is understandably hurt and angry when he blithely walks away without a backward glance, he doesn’t care then, whatsoever, about their emotional needs. He informs Louna that he has no reason to feel any guilt or responsibility toward them. As far as he is concerned, because he has not overtly, in very clear words, promised to stick around, they have no right to expect anything but what he chooses to give. He refuses to admit that he has acted the part of a very convincing Jekyll who cares deeply, only to flip on a dime and turn into an indifferent Mr. Hyde, who doesn’t give a darn. Ouch! The one thing mitigating the level of shock readers might feel toward Ambrose’s casually callous behavior toward girls is that we can never be quire sure if Ambrose has gone as far as having sex with all or most of the girls he romances, seducing them physically as well as emotionally, since we are never privy to his thoughts or witness to his behavior on his dates. I personally presumed, both the first time and the second time I experienced this book, that Ambrose has not been promiscuous, because he is never presented anywhere in this novel as a sexual being. He is never shown kissing any of the girls he romances, and there are quite a few hanging around him, during the course of this novel. And in one specific instance where it is clear to Louna that he spent the night with one of his many girls, he makes a big point of asserting to Louna that he slept on the girl’s couch. These are the things I continued to enjoy about this book: The bantering between Ambrose and Louna was fun for me. I laughed out loud at it many times. I also liked their gradual progression from Louna finding him nothing but irritating to forming a pleasant, platonic friendship. Louna’s relationship with her mother and her godfather, William, was a welcome change for me from all the many uncaring, uninvolved parents in YA fiction. They are both kind, compassionate, and very supportive of Louna. I really liked their long-term friendship as well. The two of them are both intelligent and witty, and their clever banter provides many moments of humor. I liked the cute dog as, of course, all of us readers are meant to. It is very clear that Ambrose’s ability to commit to the dog is presented as a mitigating factor so we won’t entirely despair of his ethics due to his inability to commit to a romantic relationship. And though using cute animals this way is a huge cliché in romance novels, for the most part it worked. I enjoyed the audiobook narrator. Unlike the vast majority of actresses narrating YA novels, Karissa Vacker does not, thank heaven, whine her way through her reading of this book. So many female narrators of YA novels make that mistake, apparently assuming that all teenage girls are inevitably pathetic whiners. I rate this book as follows: Heroine: 3 stars Hero: 3 stars Subcharacters: 4 stars Romance Plot: 3 stars Coming of Age Plot: 3 stars Tragic Flashbacks: 4 stars Dog Plot: 4 stars Writing: 4 stars Narration: 4 stars Previous opinion overall: 5 stars Current opinion overall: 3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars
Once and For All is a true Sarah Dessen romance. This coming of age story is an emotional story that will have you believing in second-chances before the last page. Ambrose’s eternal optimism is a stark contrast to Louna’s heartbroken cynicism and exactly what she needed. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I will simply state that Once and For All is sadly relevant to today’s society, but hopefully it won’t always be that way.
Sarah Dessen has long been one of my go-to authors. Once and For All is a good read, but it wasn’t my favorite of hers. This book is just as emotional as her others, but there isn’t quite as much romance throughout. The lack of undeniable romance throughout is the only thing that kept this from being a 5-Star read for me. If you enjoy heartfelt, clean, coming of age romances, then I recommend Once and For All as one of your next reads.
I believe this is Dessen’s greatest book yet. I could read this over and over again.
Wonderful and original story about a girl standing between high school and college who works for the wedding planner business her mother owns and runs. Very unique and enjoyable story from start to finish.
A friend had started to read this one and I realized it was one I hadn’t read yet! Loving Dessen so much, I had to run to the library to get it! I’m so glad I did…it may have been a little slow to get into, but I think that was just because of the alternating chapters. One chapter would be current and the next would be a memory. I think if the chapters were a bit more clearly labeled it might have made a difference. In the end though, it didn’t really matter to me because the story was SO great. Emotional and powerful, the loss experienced and the struggle to move on or decide if moving on was even possible. All of these things led to a story that I’m sure will stick with me and one that brought me to tears. I highly recommend this book to any contemporary romance reader, but especially fans of Sarah Dessen.
Louna is working her final summer before she goes off to college as an assistant in her mothers bridal planning business. Growing up in the midst of bridal madness has given her a rather jaded view of true love and the one relationship she’d had ended tragically. When she spots Ambrose, the gorgeous son of a client, she distantly notes his looks but is disgusted with his laissez faire attitude towards life as she has to reign him in to walk his mother down the aisle. He is a fly in the ointment of her life, and she is the challenge he is determined to win. When her mother hires him for the summer, Louna’s animosity towards Ambrose disappears but she is still afraid to let go and live.
Once and for All took me on a journey into a world of love, loss and friendship. Louna’s one and only love ended abruptly and because she never had the chance to conclude this teenage love she doesn’t know how to move on. When she meets Ambrose she is just disgusted by his good looks, charm, and easy goingness (is that a word?). However, she soon begins to admire that same casual charm. The same things that aggravate her day to day he seems to deal with effortlessly and with a smile on his face. Finally, of course, women LOVE him. He dates multiple women at a time and Louna only goes out when dragged and set up by her best friend. Then one day, standing in line to get coffee, they make a bet. She needs to become a serial dater and he needs to have a relationship for seven weeks. Winner gets to pick the next date for the loser.
I liked so many things about this story! We take a parallel journey with Louna as she remembers her previous boyfriend and as she starts to live her life again dating. The use of flashbacks effectively delivered the color of Louna’s emotions in the past as a direct contrast to the dull gray emotional world she is living in now. As she learns to move on her world slowly builds in color until Bam! she realizes how she truly feels about Ambrose and how wonderful life is while living it fully. It was very deftly done, and a really enjoyable novel to read.
I want to talk Ambrose for a minute. Did anyone else really dislike him for the first two thirds of the book? I’ll admit, when I started reading I didn’t read the synopsis so I wasn’t sure he was her love interest. It took me a long while to see through that persona into the depths of him. Once I looked hard, I understood where the book was going and then read the synopsis to make sure I was right. Yep! But, I’ll admit I was worried! There were some other great characters in this book. I loved William, the gay father figure with a spine of steel, her best friend Jilly the oldest sister and wrangler to a million little brothers and sisters, and her mom who went through her own metamorphosis right along with her daughter. I understand why this book touched the hearts of so many people and received great reviews.
Louna is the daughter of a single mother, Natalie Barrett. Natalie runs a famous wedding planning business with her friend William. Together–often with Louna’s assistance–they help frantic brides have the perfect day. But Louna, Natalie, and William are a cynical trio: so much that they even take bets on the success of each wedding after every affair is over and they’re cleaning up. Louna has another reason to be cynical: she met her true love the previous summer, but it ended tragically. After graduating high school, she’s just trying to get through her last summer and head off to college. Standing in her way: charming Ambrose, the brother of one of her mother’s clients. Natalie takes on Ambrose as an employee to appease her client, so Louna is stuck with cheery, serial-dater Ambrose. But the more time she spends with him, the less he starts to bother her…
I was surprisingly charmed by this novel. It’s predictable, but in a good way. You know what you get with a Dessen novel, and this book came along at a good time for me. It’s more serious than expected (I won’t spoil that plot twist for you) but also breezy and sweet at times. Louna is a likeable heroine–flawed, complicated, real. The supporting cast of characters is humorous and realistic: Louna’s best friend Jilly, whose parents have a food truck business and saddle Jilly with her many younger siblings; William, with his bride-whisperer tendencies; Natalie, and her rigid obsession with her business; and girl-crazy Ambrose, who verges on stereotype, but manages not to. The book also gives you a fun look into the wedding business, which is sort of enjoyable and lets you see how most of our characters deal with stress.
Overall, this is an engaging novel, with serious undertones. It’s a quick read, powered by an enjoyable cast of characters. While there are some dark moments that may surprise you, the romance probably won’t. But there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that sometimes. 🙂
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