Great sneak peak for the next Sarah Dessen book! As a big fan of her work, this has me excited for her newest release! Can't wait!

So I was given a digital copy of sneak peak once for all by Sarah Dessen by netgalley for exchange honest review.
For the first 52 pages, I love it. Sarah Dessen has wrote lot of books but I have not read any of her book and it is my first one. I love it so far. It is page turner and the character are likeable. Can't wait for June to come so I can read rest of story. Thank you Netgalley for providing the sneak peak.

I only read the preview, but it's just a typical YA Romance book.

I always like this authors  writing style and will definitely buy this book when it comes out.

Fantastic sneak peek!  I am a huge fan of Sarah Dessen and her upcoming release is sure to exceed my expectations.  I can't wait to get my hands on a finished copy.

Great preview, excited to read the completed novel!!

I was given the opportunity to read a sneak peek of Once and for All via NetGalley.  This is my honest opinion of the 52 page treatment that I received.

As the daughter of a famous wedding planner, Louna has seen couples find their happy endings in all sorts of venues.  Not sure if she believes that true love actually exists, Louna ends up hopelessly entangled with a young man that she met at a wedding.  Will Louna's cautious approach to love keep her safe or doom her to heartache?

This sneak peek for Once and for All involves the cynical daughter of a woman whose job is to make people's dreams come true on their wedding day.  It is hard to get a clear picture of the characters from such a small snapshot of the book, but I have the feeling that there are layers to Louna that will be revealed later in the novel.  The premise does seem a little predictable, but I would still like the opportunity to finish the book and find out for myself.  I look forward to reading the rest of Once and for All, if nothing else than to determine whether my predictions for the ending will hold true.

It's more of a miss for me when it comes to Sarah Dessen's novels, but a lot of YA readers/book bloggers I follow love her work, so I thought I'd give it <i>another</i> go. (I've been saying this for a few times now.) However, I'm sad to report that this is yet again a miss for me. There's something about the writing style that doesn't sit well with me. I don't also particularly enjoy when there's a lot of 'tell' more than 'show' in the story, and this one, even at its first few pages, already has a lot of "Well, let me tell you about this... and that... and this is who and which, this is what happened, etc." Last, I wasn't very excited about the plot, or the characters, so I'll have to say that I'll put Sarah Dessen back into my Maybe Next Time Again list.

The sneak peak of this book was good. I cannot wait to read the rest of it. I didn't really identify with the main character yet, but as it is a sneak peak, you only get a glimpse. So, of course, when you are finally finding out the backstory, the sneak peak ends. :(

Can't wait to read the rest!!

I received a free copy of this sneak peak in exchange for a fair review from NetGalley.

Can't wait to read this full book!! I love Sarah Dessen!!

Though I picked this sample for the cover and for the reputation of Sarah Dessen, who has been recommended to me many times, what made me stay was the very first page. I previously worked at a destination wedding hotel, and have seen hundreds and hundreds of brides with all of their quirks, tears, joy, stress, love and outbursts. It is one of the most intimate moments of anyone's life, and yet everything that goes right and wrong highlights a bride's personality in ways that are unpredictable. I was immediately swept into the story, the ease of the dialogue, and the promise of a sweet, unfolding story. Really looking forward to reading the rest in June when it releases!

I loved this sneak peak and cannot wait for the book!

I am so excited for this book!! I am so happy to have been able to see a sneak peak of this. I can't wait to read the whole thing on June 6th. One of my most anticipated reads of the year!

Dessen's books are always fun to read and the sneak peak for Once and For All does not disappoint. In this novel Louna is the daughter of a wedding planner and in this role she has seen a lot of train wreck romances. There is an allusion to a failed romance in Louna's past and a set up of a quirky best friend. The sneak peek promises another delightful book by Dessen.

Thank you, Penguin Random House, for sending me a physical ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'd had no idea I might be where I was now, on the edge of something with the last person I'd ever expect. —Louna

Once and for All was my second encounter with Sarah Dessen, who's known as the queen of YA contemporary. Now, I already understand why many people love her books so much. Much like Saint Anything, this book is sweet, light, and pleasantly insightful. I really enjoyed it because it gave me epiphanies about the essence of love, family, and friendship. 

Like most of the YA community, I was intrigued by the premise of this book. Louna, the only daughter of a successful wedding planner, harbors a cynical attitude towards true love. For reasons temporarily unknown to readers, she doesn't believe that it lasts forever. Ambrose, a superficially typical playboy, hopes that he can break down her walls. You might already assume that Louna and Ambrose are endgame. However, there are plot points in this novel that will make you think otherwise. You have been warned. ^^

This book actually caught me off guard because it hit me in the feels so many times. Half of the novel is dedicated to recounting the events that made Louna so reserved and cynical. The said events made my stomach churn with a deep feeling of sympathy. These flashbacks were saddening, but I loved them nonetheless because they really helped me connect with Louna.

I also liked how this book explored the world of wedding planning, which is apparently both fun and stressful. Come to think of it, this book is quite satirical, in a sense that it cleverly depicts how people can be so obsessed with having a perfect and ostentatious wedding, as if it would ensure the success of their marriage. Even in real life, there are couples who spend so much money on wedding planning, only to end up divorced, annulled, or separated after a few weeks, months, or years. Such a high price to pay for a ceremony that affirms a potentially shallow relationship. :( Told ya this book is insightful! :D

Ironically, the last strength of this book is its lack of romance. Essentially, Once and for All has some cheesy scenes, but it is more focused on character development. especially Louna's. It was inspiring to witness her embrace a new outlook on life and love. 

Honestly, the only thing I didn't like about this book was the rather rushed ending. Louna hurt the feelings of a certain character, and she got away with it so easily. I didn't want her to suffer, exactly, but I expected that she would experience a more serious consequence.

Overall, I can objectively say that Once and for All is not your typical YA contemporary book. I was pleased by its touching story, as well as its flawed yet well-developed characters. Personally, I will always remember this book because it made me reflect upon society's misconceptions about weddings/marriage.

3.3 stars This is an excerpt from Dessen's latest YA romance to be published in June. I enjoyed the drama of the protagonist's job assisting her mom as a wedding planner, but the out of sequence backstory was confusing. The focus on weddings with well developed adult characters might appeal more to 20-somethings than to teens. Her earlier novels had stronger openings so I'm not sure if I'll read more. I usually love the way Dessen writes YA. Thanks for allowing me to preview this title!

I can't even begin to express how good this was. I was hanging  on every word and by the end of this sneak peek, I was hooked. I can't wait to get my hands on the full book.

A link will be provided on Monday May 8th, 2017 for a compilation wrap up of recent sneak peeks I've read through here. But I vastly enjoyed this sneak peek. It was my first Dessen novel and I can't wait for the full novel to come out :)

From the Publishers:
From Sarah Dessen, the beloved New York Times bestselling author of SAINT ANYTHING and JUST LISTEN, comes a new novel set in the world of wedding planning!
Is it really better to have loved and lost?  Louna's summer job is to help brides plan their perfect day, even though she stopped believing in happily-ever-after when her first love ended tragically.  But charming girl-magnet Ambrose isn't about to be discouraged now that he's met the one he really  wants.  Maybe Louna's second chance is standing right in front of her.

 Sarah Dessen’s many fans will adore this latest novel, a richly satisfying, enormously entertaining story with humor, romance, and an ending that is so much more than happily-ever-after.

My Thoughts:
This is just a sneak peek so know that I am just providing my thoughts on the excerpt provided, but before I say that, let me tell  you a little bit about why I am even willing to read excerpts.

1. I have read Dessen before and think that she is an easy airplane read. Those kinds of reads are great to give my students who like to read fast and dirty, immerse quickly and then go searching hungrily for the next "ride." In other words, Author Recognition.

2. I live here:

Not literally homeless on the beach at Makena on Maui, but I live in Hawaiʻi. In fact, I live on the outer islands (outer islands just mean any of the islands that are not Oahu). What we lack on the outer islands are chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble. We had a Borders in Hilo, but you know how that story ends. Yes, we have multiple public libraries that offer both e-books and book books, but do you know how we get to live here? We work all the time. Availability.

3. Don't you miss the days when you could read for pleasure, under a tree or a large red umbrella and no one would look for you or bother you? Yeah, I don't have those days anymore and you would think that after my doctorate I could read for pleasure because my formal education is done, but no. That is not how it works. No one told me that being a lifelong learner and reader does not mean that you actually are given time to read what you want to read. What I have learned, though, is that the flight from Honolulu (Oahu) to my home in Hilo (Big Island) is 40 minutes long. With the new regulations that allow passengers to keep their electronics on as long as they are on airplane mode, I find that I can actually finish an excerpt on one leg of a trip. Instead of playing games on my iPad, I now read.  Effective Use of Captive Time.

Back to my thoughts. The main character, Louna, has a summer job working for her mother and her mother's partner as part of a three person wedding planner team. Something happened to Louna's first love but it's not in the excerpt. The result is she acts young, as in not confident and she acts old, as in bitter towards love. This is the biggest issue I have with a story that I really want to get into except for this one flaw. I don't know if I was reading too fast and missed it but I cannot settle on an age for this character. She is both immature or girlish and old and jaded at the same time. If she is right out of high school, is this first love tragedy really a tragedy? Even if she is in college, is this first love tragedy really a tragedy? I am not sure and of course the excerpt ends before anything gets revealed.

What is going for this book though is that it will suck readers in. Dessen has a writing style that is easy on the eyes (and the brain) so the immersion into these people's lives are swift. 

Would I read it when it comes out? Probably. I wouldn't write about it if I did not think I would continue reading. 

Publication date: June 6, 2017

Excerpt provided by Net Galley and the publisher Penguin Young Readers Group

I like most of Sarah Dessen's books, and I think I'm going to like this one. However, her long winded backstory detail at the beginning just really annoyed me, for some reason. Can you not spread all that info out during the story itself? But whatever. I hope Louna and William - or at least one of them - starts to believe in love again. And that whatever happened to Louna is actually a legit, life-altering "I'm never dating again" thing, not some stupid bitter and cynical teenager thing. But maybe I'm just being bitter and cynical. Several of Dessen's books have made me believe in love in the best way possible though, and maybe this one will too. 

Although it kind of annoys me that I have no idea if I'm pronouncing 'Louna' correctly. Loo-nah? Lao-nah? I just don't know.