I am so happy to be back today with a book review. If you’re new around here, Rebecca Reads is where I share all things reading. I share book lists and, mostly, book reviews. Thanks for stopping by! Go ahead and pull up a chair and grab your mug of tea. Today is a review of The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen.
This was a very quick read for me. I finished the majority of this in one morning this past weekend. The kids were at the beach with family, so hubby and I had a weekend to ourselves. I had started The Rest of the Story earlier on in the week and we had plans to stop by the library the day I finished. I guess you could say that’s what spurred me on to finish it in one sitting!
The Rest of the Story is about Emma, a teenager whose mom died of an overdose when she was ten. Her dad has just remarried and is headed off to his honeymoon with his bride, Tracy. Emma unexpectedly has to stay with her maternal grandma at the lake where her mom grew up. Emma doesn’t know a lot of about her mom’s earlier life growing up at the lake. What she does know is that the lake is split into two sides, North Lake and Lake North. North Lake is where Emma’s mom is from, which is the ‘working’ side. Lake North is the resort side, where Emma’s mom met Emma’s dad one summer while he was a sailing instructor.
When she arrives at the lake, she is thrust into this family that is, technically, hers but about which she knows nothing. She has aunts, uncles, and cousins that she only met when she was little. Emma doesn’t remember much; however, everyone remembers her. Slowly she meets everyone and acclimates to their way of life, which is working at their family-run lake motel. She also meets Roo, a close family friend who was her best friend when she was little. He holds the key to her past, with the boxes and albums of pictures his mother saved from long ago.
As Emma learns more and more about her family, she finds it harder to leave North Lake to join her father, stepmother, and grandmother on the Lake North side. Her decision is revealed to her one fateful night during a hurricane.
And that’s all I can say! I am so scared of spoiling a story, I don’t want to go much further. This was such an engaging, enjoyable story that I (obviously) couldn’t put down. Since we’re nearing the end of the summer, it felt so appropriate for this time of year. I hope you read this and enjoy it! Make sure and let me know what you think of it!
Rebecca has been writing about style, beauty, and lifestyle topics since 2011. Thank you so much for reading this post! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. I love hearing from you!
