*Actual Rating: 3.5 stars* 
 "It's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching and rarely discovered--so many locks not enough keys." 
 This is my first Sarah Dessen book ever and it certainly won't be my last. I didn't expect to like this book much; actually I thought that it would be one of those yucky-sappy boring-kind-of-cliche books. Thankfully, it didn't turn out that way. I absolutely loved this novel; the characters are realistic and relatable, the writing is beautiful, and the whole story is well written making you swoon at times. Lock and Key is so much more than a romantic novel; it goes beyond that. It sets out to answer a key question; "what is family?". 
 Ruby Cooper is used to living with her troubled alcoholic mother. Ever since her parents' divorce when she was five and when her big sister left to college never coming back, they've been constantly moving from one place to another. Now they have finally settled in the yellow house, and things seemed better to Ruby; only a few months till she turns 18 and she can at last leave to be on her own. Yet her plans are disrupted when her mother disappears. At first she thinks she can handle things but when the landlords discover her mother's absence, she is forced to leave and move in with her sister Cora, whom she hasn't seen in 10 years. Thrown in a new place with no clue of her future, Ruby is faced with the challenge of figuring out what family is, along with the prospect of finding love. But everything is not what is seems. 
 Lock and Key is a charming story of finding the right key, evolving, and learning to accept help from others. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a romantic novel that holds an important message within. 
 "What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn't just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn't expect them to be. You can't make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it."