Once and for All

April 24, 2017
Seventeen-year-old Louna was in love once, but it ended in tragedy when her long-distance boyfriend, Ethan, was killed in a school shooting. Louna has since stopped believing she will find love again, though she is surrounded by constant reminders of it: she works for her mother’s successful, high-end wedding-planning business. When Louna’s mother temporarily hires Ambrose, the gorgeous but unpredictable son of a client, Louna is charged with making sure that Ambrose doesn’t make their summer weddings any more difficult. Dessen’s fans will revel in the familiarity of her steady, empathic writing, as well as her attention to detail—particularly the painstaking care Louna and her mother devote to every aspect of a wedding, including their nervous and tightly wound clients—and the emotionally layered characters that populate her story. Dessen (Saint Anything) include a hint of romance between Louna and Ambrose, but this novel is more about grief and recovery. Flashbacks of Louna’s relationship with Ethan, interspersed among the present-day chapters, movingly juxtapose her loss with her tentative efforts to move forward from it. Ages 12–up. Agent: Leigh Feldman, Leigh Feldman Literary.

April 15, 2017
Louna finds her cynicism about romance challenged when her family's wedding business hires Ambrose.After years facing brides with cold feet and badly behaved wedding guests, Louna has become skeptical about romance and plans on remaining single during her last summer before college. Luckily, the busy wedding schedule provides plenty of legitimate excuses for Louna to avoid opportunities to meet potential dates. That changes when satisfying a particularly fussy bridal party requires hiring the bride's brother, Ambrose. He's a lady's man who typically charms more than one potential date during every social gathering. But he professes honesty about his dating motivations, expresses genuine interest in his dates, and displays a sort of oddly enchanting "aw, shucks" dismissal of his ability to reel in girls. Louna's outwardly dismayed by his antics, but his cliched (but adorable) gestures, such as impulsively adopting a rescue dog, begin to win her over. However, Louna's still tormented by the unexpected death of her first love. Flashbacks to their relationship combined with the way she reluctantly accepts the need to move forward too provide a bittersweet counterpoint to the traditional rom-com storyline. Louna's lovingly depicted gay godfather provides a bit of diversity in the otherwise apparently straight, white cast. Romance, humor, kindhearted characters, and a touch of painful reality make this another sure bet for Dessen fans. (Romance. 12-16)

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May 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Louna's broken heart and her mother's cynical views on love and marriage have soured her on the idea of everlasting love. While working at her mother's wedding planning business, she meets Ambrose, whom she had to drag away from a girl so that he could escort his mother down the aisle. Louna is not thrilled when her mother hires Ambrose for the summer, but he is charming and spices up her usual summer routine. Louna prefers to date only when forced to by her best friend Jilly, while Ambrose plays the field nightly. Louna's disdain for Ambrose's escapades leads to a friendly wager-for the next seven weeks she will date around and he will commit to one person; the winner will choose the loser's next date. As the story unfolds, the truth of Louna's heartbreak is revealed one piece at a time, just as she admits her real feelings for Ambrose. Can she open her heart to love again? The answer is obvious, but nevertheless it is an enjoyable journey getting there. Secondary characters, such as Louna's mother, Jilly, and William, her mother's best friend and business partner, are well developed and add depth to the protagonist's past and present. However, an attempt at racial diversity falls flat with three separate descriptions of peripheral characters as black, while there is no other mention of race or ethnicity for any other character. VERDICT There is no question that this title will be popular with Dessen fans and romance lovers.-Kefira Phillipe, Nichols Middle School, Evanston, IL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 For Louna, weddings are a science: she can handle out-of-control bridesmaids, nervous brides, and missing ring bearers, and she knows exactly what to do with fresh flowers, fairy lights, and mason jars (they're so in right now). Louna's mom, Natalie, is a sought-after wedding planner, and for Natalie (divorced) and her business partner, William (chronically single), romance is a science, too: they're scarily accurate when it comes to betting on how long a marriage will last. Louna, though, believes she's already had her romancea summer-fling-turned-real that ended tragically. So when no-strings serial dater Ambrose barrels into her life, Louna is immune to his charms. But life, it seems, doesn't always go as planned. Dessen, the newest recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award, offers up her thirteenth novel, and it's everything readers have come to love about her work. It's a familiar rompfans of Dexter, the erstwhile hero of Dessen's This Lullaby (2002), will undoubtedly fall for Ambrose. Wedding bells or not, no one else does summer love like Dessen. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Dessen's been on a career-long winning streak. She's practically synonymous with summer, and a massive marketing campaign will get this into waiting hands.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 4, 2017
Actor Vacker captures both humor and tragedy in Dessen’s latest YA novel, about a 17-year-old whose summer job is assisting her mother in her high-end wedding-planning business. Surrounded by a clientele of couples in love at work, Louna is constantly reminded of the love she lost when her long-distance boyfriend, Ethan, was killed in a school shooting. Over the years, she has become increasingly skeptical about the nature of love after seeing several extravagant weddings end in divorce. Enter Ambrose, the handsome-but-unpredictable son of a client whom Louna’s mother has hired to help out for the summer as well. At first, Louna and Ambrose clash on the job, but their thorny relationship slowly evolves to friendship with a hint of romance over the course of the novel, which includes intermittent flashbacks to Louna’s relationship with Ethan. Reader Vacker convincingly enacts the range of emotions and array of attitudes experienced by the teenage protagonist, including love, heartbreak, grief, cynicism, longing, and admiration for her mother. She provides unique voices for the other characters. The adolescent boys—Ethan and Ambrose—are consistently distinguishable, and Louna’s mother gets the mature air of a successful business owner, who, like her daughter, is steeled against love after a brief first marriage to Louna’s father but is nevertheless dedicated her work. Vacker’s skilled performance draws attention to the changes in the characters and their relationships in this satisfying audiobook. Ages 12–up. A Viking hardcover.

January 1, 2018
Louna helps her wedding-planner mother Natalie every summer. Louna's own special romance--revealed in interspersed flashbacks--ends in tragedy; she's bereft until Natalie hires Ambrose, whose carefree attitude disrupts Louna's cautious avoidance of love. With her signature narrative tone--quiet, confident, and steady--Dessen delivers a contemplative and satisfying pleasure-read that speaks to the power of opening oneself up to love.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2017
Every summer Louna, her wedding-planner mother Natalie, and Natalie's business partner William become a matrimonial dream team, expertly orchestrating celebration after celebration: each, as Louna sees it, "a series of special moments, strung together like beads on a chain." (Behind closed doors, Natalie and William are cynics who enjoy guessing how quickly their clients will divorce.) Louna experiences a special moment of her own--a starlit beach encounter revealed in interspersed flashbacks--but then her brief romance ends, not in garden-variety heartbreak, but in a shocking and heart-breaking tragedy. Louna, bereft, feels safer casting her lot with the cynics until Natalie hires Ambrose, a guileless ladies' man whose carefree attitude disrupts both the dream-team's professional groove and Louna's cautious avoidance of love. Guarded girl meets perceptive boy: miscommunications, soul-searching, and, yes, romance ensue. Dessen fans will recognize the formula and savor meeting yet another set of well-drawn teens searching for connection. A dating wager between Louna and Ambrose feels wedged into the otherwise pleasantly bustling story line, but with her signature narrative tone--quiet, confident, and steady--Dessen delivers a contemplative and satisfying pleasure-read that speaks to the power of opening oneself up to love, perfect or otherwise. jessica tackett macdonald

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)