Ok, Sarah dessen is one of my favorite authors, so I'm always up for a new book by her, and let me just say: I cried at least once. 
 This was very standard Sarah Dessen, but in a different way, if that makes sense...It was really good. It was a very heartfelt book. 
 I loved the characters. I kinda wanted to punch her mom a few times, but I guess you would understand if you read the book. I loved Dave, he's kind of adorable. Mclean seemed easy enough to like, but the dad annoyed me a little bit. Deb and Riley and Heather were also all nice, and were fun to read about. 
 One thing I also love about Sarah Dessen, is that there are references to her other books. So i'm reading along and all of a sudden I'm just like "hey that's fun that one book." Or "She's from that one book!!" Or "Wow they're at the same school that they are in AAALLL her books, and the same beach as that one book." I just thought that was kind of fun. 
 It's not really the love story that's the main point in this story. It's more of her becoming...herself....just read it and you'll see what I'm talking about, because it really is a good book.