Someone Like You

Halley and Scarlett have been best friends for most of their lives, with Halley being more shy and always reliant on Scarlett to be the strong one. But when Scarlett's boyfriend, Michael, is killed in a motorcycle accident, Halley has to be the strong one for Scarlett. This becomes even more difficult when Scarlett finds out she's pregnant. While Halley strives to support her friend, she is also drawn into a relationship with Michael's best friend, Macon Faulkner.

With this novel, I truly appreciated why Sarah Dessen is such a revered YA author. The issues she deals with including pregnancy, dating, and mother-daughter relationships are handled deftly and realistically. Halley, as the main character, is better developed than the other show more characters but the individuals that surround her do have sufficient depth and feel realistic. Halley's struggles with her issue of identity are highly believable as she tries to determine who she is, drawing away from her previously very close relationship with her mother and her developing relationship with Macon. In amongst all of these serious topics are bright slashes of humour and true caring between Halley and Scarlett that make the novel a worthwhile read. show less

Someone Like You is Dessen's second novel, and it is clear that she has gotten her feet firmly planted after her first novel and her first success. If That Summer suffered from FNS, Someone Like You is assured. Whereas I thought Dessen was afraid of pushing Haven in That Summer and possibly breaking her, in Someone Like You she not only pushes at Halley, she pushes and pushes and breaks and patches her up again, in a realistic way. The characters are better fleshed-out, from Halley's mother even to quiet but endearing Cameron. They are all obviously complex, and the problems and decisions they face are real, and the conclusions they reach are real too.

I love Scarlett. She is Halley's best friend since forever, and when her life gets show more turned upside-down she responds to the changes by growing to meet the challenges ahead. Unlike the best friend character in That Summer, whose name I can't even remember, Scarlett and Halley are separate but equal human beings with separate but tightly intertwined lives, and Scarlett does not seem so trope-y. I love Scarlett because instead of running from her life, she teaches it who's boss. She grows up fast and brings Halley with her, but safely.

The biggest difference between That Summer and Someone Like You is the inclusion of the third generation, Halley's grandmother, who brings the character of Halley's mother in to perspective and gives Halley an emotional touchstone just when she needs it most. It makes Halley seem just that much less adrift.

Maybe part of the reason why I enjoyed Someone Like You so much incredibly more than That Summer is that for this read, I really do have a clear idea of the author's voice, and the first few paragraphs were in her gentle accents until Halley's persona clearly asserted itself.

In short: Well-written, smoothly progressing, great characterization, clear senses of people and places. Dessen seems to be shaking off her fear of breaking her characters, pushing both their limits and hers. show less

This author just has a way with character development – she writes characters so that you come away feeling like you know them well, giving the reader a full and complete sense of each personality, from the father’s quirky behavior to the mother’s tried and true reactions, to Halley’s crush, Macon Faulkner, slipping candy into her pockets to his routine evasion of details of where he’s been and what he's been doing.

I followed the story connecting easily to the unfolding drama of 15-turned-16 year-old Halley’s life: her bond with best friend, Scarlett, her discord with her mother, her need to strike out, and be her own person, her draw to bad boy Macon, and her anxieties about going all the way with him. Things progress with show more Macon, but she puts on the brakes as she considers if she wants to give away this important part of her to a boy who may or may not love her, and she, him. I felt torn along with Halley, her situation was all so tangible — the emotions and the feels. And, this is what I love most about Dessen’s books — her stories always feel so credible. Each story is crafted slowly and thoughtfully, putting important matters front and center, without feeling forced or contrived.

I read this book in 3, short sittings and enjoyed it immensely. This Lullaby still remains my favorite book by Dessen, but “Someone Like You” comes in a close second. show less

Dessen masterfully captures the complexity of teenage friendship, grief, and change with honesty and heart. While some plot points feel melodramatic, the characters are fully drawn and the emotional journey feels genuine.

Someone Like You was my first Sarah Dessen, and when I turned the last page, I knew it wouldn’t be the last. Dessen’s writing was great and created a vivid portrait of teenage years, and her characters were true to life.

What I loved about Dessen’s story was the balance between good and bad, happiness and sadness. Nothing is black or white. Scarlett’s pregnancy wasn’t described as a joy ride, nor was it as a completely horrible event. Instead, it offered a realistic view of the event through teenagers eyes. The same goes for the other storylines of the book, or its characters. They are all painted in shades of grays, some lighter and some darker, but none in a one-dimansional way. I did find most of the second characters more show more interesting than Halley, the narator, but her personnality offered a more neutral view of the events around her, so I thought she was a good narrator.

There were many things to like about this book, but what I really loved was Dessen’s use of words. Halley’s life and difficulties were more standard to teenage years than Scarlett’s, but they were also an occasion for some beautiful writing. Dessen uses the Grand Canyon as a metaphor to describe Halley’s relationship with her mother, and how she is suddenly pulling apart from her as she becomes her own person. This part of Halley’s story really hit home as it reminded me of my relationship with my mother at the same age, and I can’t remember the last time I read words that described growing up so well :

"When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a couloring book, with the inside not yet completed. All the standard features were there. But the colors, the zigzags and plaids, the bits and pieces that made up me, Halley, weren’t yet in place. Scarlett’s vibrant reds and golds helped some, but I was still waiting." show less

So today I picked up four different books, read three pages of each, and then put them all down in a huff. I HATE reading slumps. Nothing about the books I picked up seemed to interest me and that's how I get right before a particular brutal reading slump in which I can't read any book for days. What's the best way to curb a slump? Well, by picking up a Sarah Dessen novel, of course. Since Someone Like You is the only Sarah Dessen book I haven't read so far, it seemed like the obvious choice.

I love Sarah Dessen's novels because they're just straight-forward, simple, sweet love stories (whether it be boy-girl love, sisterly love, friendship love, she's pretty much done it all) and her books are all comfort reads. While I've gone through show more various degrees of like with all her novels, I've never really disliked one. Someone Like You is no exception. While I didn't dislike the book as a whole, I really did dislike Halley (more so than Auden from Along for the Ride whom was the first Dessen protagonist I disliked).

My main issue with Halley was that she was the kind of girl that would happily be known solely as someone's girlfriend; the type of girl who would happily ignore everything and everyone just for the guy. Also, the kind of girl who tries to hook a guy who is clearly not into her like she's into him. And that's one of my pet peeves in young-adult literature. I absolutely hate it when the girl is pathetic. Yeah, yeah, you can say "Well she's just a teenage girl in love and they're sometimes pathetic." I guess, but that doesn't mean I want to read about it because that's just not enjoyable for me. Halley did get better in the end, but by then I was just too annoyed with her as a whole. I also disliked her boyfriend in the book, but I think I was supposed to dislike him (which was a shock considering I usually fall right in love with the guys in Sarah Dessen's novels right along with the main characters), so I can give her a pass for that one.

Now the good: I loved and adored Scarlett and her relationship with Halley. I'm an absolute sucker for a good friendship story. There's nothing I can do about it (not that I would want to). That's one thing that I can say about Halley. She never left Scarlett in the dust for the guy (well there was that one time, but that's okay since it fit with everything else about Halley). I also loved Halley's relationship with her mother. I was enthralled with her inner struggle to break away from her mother's boundaries yet feeling guilty about it. In fact, I could've read a book solely about Halley's relationship with Scarlett and her mom without feeling like I missed anything.

Someone Like You was definitely not my favorite Dessen. I just really can't get pass an unlikeable heroine that I'm supposed to root for. However, I did like most of the novel and I adored the other characters. But most importantly, Someone Like You curbed my reading slump and just really assures me that when I feel one coming on, I need to grab a Sarah Dessen novel and quick! Then all will be right with the world. show less

I have been reading a lot of Sarah Dessen books the past couple of months. "Someone Like You" is Dessen's second book and maybe I should have been more careful to read these in order. I really did love this book. It is about two best friends (Halley and Scarlett) and them trying to get through their junior year of high school after Scarlett deals with losing the boy she loved in a motorcycle accident. If things were not complicated enough, Scarlett finds out she is pregnant, and Halley decides she is going to do whatever she can to be there for Scarlett. The book really is about Halley coming into her own and deciding what she feels comfortable with when it comes to her first serious relationship.

I liked Halley. The book starts off with show more her away at some "feel your feelings" summer camp that her therapist mother forced her off to. Unlike with most of Dessen's books, Halley's parents are happily married, though right now Halley and her mother are going through some growing pains. While Halley often thought of herself and her mother as best friends, she has started to grow apart from her. Whether it was Halley outgrowing the boy her mother thought was appropriate for her, or just not wanting to keep sharing everything with her mother, you can see that for both of these characters they want things to go back to the way that they were before.

When Halley gets a call from Scarlett telling her that Scarlett's secret boyfriend (red flags people) has been killed and she needs Halley there, Halley calls her family and demands to come home. Here I found Halley's mom a bit heartless about her coming home soon and asking about why does she need to be there. Um gee souless one, maybe to be there for her friend.

After that, things are fractured between Halley and her mother for most of the book and get worse when Halley finds herself drawn to Scarlett's dead boyfriend's friend Macon. Yeah try repeating that five times fast.

The book really is a push pull for Halley to understand her worth after she starts seeing Macon. She really does think she is lucky to have Macon in her life. It's a long slow realization for her though when you as a reader realize she has no clue that she's doing all the giving and he's doing all the taking. When things come to a head, I was proud of the way the book continued from there.

There were times in this book I just felt such pity for both Halley and Scarlett. Halley because she didn't realize what Scarlett ends up realizing with regards to the boy she fell in love with. That sex is important, and you should be absolutely sure before you have sex with someone that you could end up being connected to for the rest of your life.

The ending though felt unfinished. I wanted to read more about Scarlett and Halley. Without realizing it, the next book I finished this weekend had an appearance and update regarding Scarlett so that made me happy. Nothing else in that hot mess of a book did though. show less