lizarodz
Louna has worked with her mom and her partner on their wedding planing business every summer of her life and this is the last summer as she's getting ready to go to college. She's getting over a very traumatic and painful experience and she's kind of putting her life on hold. She's lost faith that anyone can love as deeply more than once on their lifetime so, why try? Louna is strong, outgoing, organized, but she's also very stubborn and very sad.
I have to confess that at first I found Ambrose as annoying as everyone else did. However, he quickly grew on me. He is hyper, but he also has a heart of gold. One thing that I didn't understand is how he went from a womanizer to 'quitting' so fast. His good nature, attention, compassion, and his kind thoughts wan Louna's heart at the end. Their relationship grew into friendship and then to something more, even if Louna kept denying herself any meaningful relationship.
“Everything seemed bright and different after so long in the darkness. Even though most of the businesses were closed, there was one neon sign lit in the window of a narrow storefront. COFFEE AND PIE, it read. Two bikes were parked just outside."
I loved Louna's mom and William, her business partner and father figure for Louna. Her mom is neurotic, extremely organized, attentive to detail, and she has dedicated her life to her daughter and to her business. William is funny, easygoing, a great cook and people person. They both love Louna and have her best interest at heart. Other characters worth mentioning are Jilly and all her siblings and Ian, the dog :)
“It's about the courage to go for what you want, not just what you think you need. Sometimes we don't even know what that is.”
I loved the behind the scenes world of wedding planning! It was a lot of fun, and stress for all involved, but very nice to read. We also get to read small cameos from other Dessen characters and from our favorite beach town of Colby. Her writing is insightful, and she never shies away from the tough subjects. The pace was a bit slow, especially the flashbacks to Louna and Ethan's story.
Overall, although I enjoyed Once and for All, it's not my favorite Dessen book (for a list of those, look at the first paragraph). It's a story of lost, love, fear of both and the strength to overcome the pain and live for more.
Once and for All is the first book that I've listen to narrated by Karissa Vacker and I enjoyed it. She has a gentle tone of voice and I was grateful for how distinctive the voice were from each other and for the nice pace of her reading.This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea
