What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen
Paperback Release Date: April 9, 2013
Publisher: Speak
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
ISBN: 9780142423837
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Since her parents’ bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother’s new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out.

I’ve been reading books by Sarah Dessen since her first book, That Summer. When I got the opportunity to review What Happened to Goodbye, I jumped on it. As much as I love Dessen, I will try to make this review as unbiased as possible. Dessen’s real life love of basketball and the beach are prominent in this book. McLean and her father are avid fans of Defriese University basketball (Dessen is a hard-core UNC Tarheels fan.), up until the point where her mother has an affair with the new head coach. Following the affair McLean’s parents get divorced. Before the affair, McLean and her mother were close, taking spur-of-the-moment beach trips. After the affair, everything is different including her mother. The former Katie Sweet morphs into Katherine Hamilton, becoming someone McLean thinks she barely knows. McLean feels betrayed by her mother and decided to move around the country with her father as he fixes failing restaurants.

With each new location, McLean takes on a new persona. Each move provides her with a blank canvas to create whatever personality she desires. With these new personas she is not trying to figure out who she is but rather run away from the hurt and pain of her family falling apart. Instead of being the girl whose parents had a very ugly divorce and a public family scandal, she can be anyone she chooses to be. McLean is such a real character. If I were in the same situation as McLean I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same thing. At one time in their lives, everyone has wished for a fresh start.

At her next new start in Lakeview, she plans on being Liz. Her plans go awry and she winds up being the real McLean by just a way of chance. The real McLean has both positive qualities and flaws, which makes her so believeable as a character. She is very kind person. She befriend the girl in school (Deb) whom no one will give a chance to get to know. She is also a quite responsible teenager. She helps her father with all the moving set up in each new town. However, she overly blameful of her mother for the divorce and overly protective of her father. (She goes as far as to remove the sports section from the newspaper every morning.) The girl clearly has trust issues stemming from her parent’s divorce; not letting anyone close to her until she has a clear moving date and not informing friends or love interests that she has left.

In Lakeview McLean meets Dave. As with all Dessen boys, he too makes me swoon. He is super smart, down to earth, laidback, sweet, and a bit socially awkward. He is a great match for McLean, not too clingy or needy, which allows him to get close to her and not have her push him away. Think – trust issues. Dave understands McLean in a quiet way. In my opinion, he helps her to understand that she needs to be able to trust and confide in someone. He is the silent catalyst of McLean dealing with her family issues.

This book really centers around family and the complications that come with it. The issues and characters in this book resonate as genuine. This is one of those novels that shows you what is most important in life. If you have read Dessen’s work before, you will be able to tell that this is certainly one of her stories. This is a great story that has a wonderful plot, believable characters, and a subtle love interest. Whether you have read Sarah Dessen or not, I would definitely recommend that you read What Happened to Goodbye.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen is available now.

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This review was written by Sarah Jameson.

Sarah Jameson is from New Jersey. Currently a college student, she is pursuing degrees in Psychology and Business Management at Rutgers University. She is a book and television enthusiast.