I'm extremely torn with this one. Extremely. On one hand, well, you'll see... 
 First of all, there is cause for celebration. Finals are done for me! Yay! And, no, that's not completely off topic. You see, after the pain of studying hard for my last math final (hopefully for life!) I needed to read something to get my mind ready for summer. While I think a high fantasy might have suited my mood a bit more, I opted for a light, fluffy, classic summer read by Sarah Dessen. 
 Like all of Sarah Dessen's books, my final response is torn. 
 As usual, the characters were realistic three dimensional. All of the her characters, even the minor ones, feel so true. They're the kind of people that I wouldn't be surprised to meet in daily life. And many of them are people that I would actually like to get to know. 
 An example of those sorts of characters would include Daisy, Morris, Benji, and Clyde. They're normal, in that typical idiosyncratic way that Dessen creates them. This is one main aspect of her writing that I love. 
 Another thing I appreciate is her settings. They're familiar, to me now. There's something welcoming about opening a Dessen book knowing that you've been there, in that town, before. It's cozy. 
 Unfortunately, I found this book less likable than some of Dessen's other works (This Lullaby, for example. Though it's kind of unfair to compare any of her books with that one. So good.) 
 The book felt slow. Now, I know that you don't read Dessen for fast-paced action. That's not what I wanted. I'm perfectly comfortable with a slow, character based novel. I knew that reading this would not be an edge-of-the-seat experience. I didn't want one. 
 However, I did want to be invested in the story, and I found it hard to get into it. I'm not sure why I had a hard time, but I did. The whole conflict felt more contrived then in previous books, and it didn't have that ring of truth to it. I found myself getting annoyed with Emaline for making stupid choices. 
 The main issue for me was Theo, though. I couldn't stand him, and seeing as how he played a major part in this book, it made it hard for me. I was pleased with the ending, yes, but even that didn't really make up for the pages in the middle where I skimmed through the "Best Date Ever," or "Biggest Surprise Ever." 
 Truthfully, I think Theo was my main stumbling block. He was just cheesy and horrid. 
 This book disappointed me. There was Theo, there was the draggy-ness of it, and it just didn't evoke in me the emotion that her novels usually do. This is why, I must regretfully give this book two stars.