“Everything, in the end, comes down to timing. One second, one minute, one hour, could make all the difference. So much hanging on just these things, tiny increments that together build a life. Like words build a story, and what had Ted said? One word can change the entire world.”
― Sarah Dessen, This Lullaby
- Release Date: March 27th 2002
- Page Number: 345
- Genre: Contemporary
- Publisher: Speak
Synopsis: When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn’t mess around. After all, she’s learned all there is to know from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. But there’s something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy’s rules. He certainly doesn’t seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can’t seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy’s starting to understand what those love songs are all about?
Remy Starr is better, she swears.
She doesn’t sleep around anymore, she doesn’t smoke nearly as much and , most importantly her eyes are set on Stanford in the fall. The only thing standing in her way ? The summer. This will be the summer the girl who thinks she knows everything gets a lesson in love, the Potato Opus and what one summer can do.
Unlike Dessen’s previous novels Remy is not a “good girl”. Remy is not a quiet introspective character. She isn’t best friends with the screwed-up rebellious girl, she IS that girl.
The love interest Dexter, provides a nice foil to the extremely “Type A” Remy. He is the spastic, hyper lead singer in the band, Truth Squad. When this group of essentially “lost boys” rolls into town with nothing but a white van and Dexter’s dog, Monkey, things on Remy’s side of town is never the same.
After reading Dessen’s novels in publication order, I think This Lullaby is a turning point in Dessen’s novels. It combines the friendships, eccentric parents and quirky characters of her first three novels, with the summer time setting of Keeping The Moon. It also plays up romance and love much more than her previous novels…
