This Lullaby

Sarah Dessen

Mar 2004 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

A New York Times bestseller
 
She’s got it all figured out.
 
Or does she? When it comes to relationships, Remy’s got a whole set of rules.
 
Never get too serious. Never let him break your heart. And never, ever date a musician.
 
But then Remy meets Dexter, and the rules don’t seem to apply anymore.
 
Could it be that she’s starting to understand what all those love songs are about?
 
“Remy and Dexter jump off the pages into the hearts of readers, who will wish for a romance like this of their own.” —Booklist
 
Also by Sarah Dessen:
Along for the Ride
Dreamland
Just Listen
Keeping the Moon
Lock and Key
The Moon and More
Someone Like You
That Summer
The Truth About Forever
What Happened to Goodbye

Ratings and reviews

The novel, This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen is about a teen girl named Remy Starr who begins her last summer in her home town before she leaves to college in California. As summer first started for her, she had not wanted to fall in love or let any boy come into her life because she believed to stay single and have fun for her last summer with her three best friends, Lissa, Chloe, and Jess. But that had all changed when she met Dexter. He was the complete opposite of how she believed her future boyfriend would be. But, Dexter was only one of the many distractions during the summer, her mother Barbra, who had put all the wedding planning on Remy to figure out. She had been frustrated and furious with her mother marrying numerous amount of times and not being there for Remy when she wanted her to be. From seeing true love as not true, Remy did not believe in a happy ending or spending your whole life with someone forever due to her mother. Although, she believed Dexter and her relationship would just be temporary, changed Dexter's view point on Remy. He had broke up with Remy, and Remy had moved on working at the nail salon only for the summer. But, that summer had soon started to change when her brother Chris was engaged to Jennifer Anne Baker. He had also not believed in true love and from that Remy began to see how people do change when falling in love with someone. In her last month of summer, she had met a boy named Paul who she had believed was the perfect boyfriend anyone could have. Of a few weeks dating, things began to turn downhill when she had broken up with Paul because she had thought that since she was leaving to California she did not want a long distance relationship. Although she broke up with Paul, her mother had comforted her and told her that love was not something to think about, but was a symbol that showed how much you love someone even through thick and thin. That was when she had knew her and Dexter were meant to be and for that reason began to fall in love and dated. The author's purpose in writing this book was to show love could really affect someone in just a matter of a few months. Sarah Dessen wanted to also demonstrate the importance of opening to yourself to the goods and bads of a relationship. Her viewpoint for writing this novel was to express and let go of your fears and to take a risk, even though it may hurt in the end. For example, Remy and her brother Chris had always seen love as temporary, never lasting, and hurtful in the end of a relationship. Remy could never believe that she would fall in love with someone due to her mother's divorces and re marriages. But seeing her brother open up to his fiancé and letting someone come into his life had changed Remy's perspective when she began to fall in love with Dexter. Sarah Dessen's main point in understanding this book was to write about a situation that any young girl could relate to and grasp the concept of learning how to love someone. The author's thesis in this novel is to never give up, let your heart and soul lead you, and that love is a chance to accept and to take. Sarah Dessen also uses evidence to support her claims to why she had wrote this novel. A quote that shows evidence to back up her point of view is when Remy's mother says, "No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater...The love we have for each other is bigger than these small differences. And that's the key. It's like a big pie chart, and the love in a relationship has to be the biggest piece. Love can make up for a lot" (Dessen, 232). This quote is significant because her point is that although you take a risk into loving that person and open up to them, is worth a try because in the end you will never know until you try. Another quote that explains how love is a chance to accept and to take is when Dexter tells Remy, " Holding people away from you, and denying

This Lullaby was amazing. Sarah Dessen, herself, is amazing. I'd ordered Along for the Ride first and loved it, so I ordered Just Listen, This Lullaby, and The Truth About Forever. I'm currently reading The Truth About Forever, and it's amazing. I love writing, and Sarah has inspired me to push myself in my writing. I've recently written two sentences, a 48 word one, and a 56 word one, and this is mostly thanks to Sarah's amazing books. I feel she connects with the characters in her books, which make them even better. In This Lullaby, I absolutely loved Chloe, I could connect to her because I get my boobs made fun of, too. I loved Dexter, too. I loved his clumsiness, it reminds me of my boyfriend, Isaac. He has really messy, curly hair, just like I imagined Dexter with, and he's absolutely gorgeous. I could connect to Remy in her moments with Dexter, I have the same with Isaac, expect I don't deny loving him.(:<3

This is hands down my favorite book of all time. I sobbed continuously throughout this book- I literally felt like dying when Remy and Dexter "broke up". I'm almost finished (Just started August) and I love this book so much I'm pretty sure I'll reread it over and over again. I love all of the characters so so much and I wish with all my heart this was In a series. ❤

About the author

Sarah Dessen is the author of thirteen novels, which include the New York Times bestsellers The Moon and More, What Happened to Goodbye, Along for the Ride, Lock and Key, Just Listen, The Truth About Forever, and This Lullaby. Her first two books, That Summer and Someone Like You, were made into the movie How to Deal. 
 
Dessen’s books are frequently chosen for the Teens’ Top Ten list and the list of Best Fiction for Young Adults. They have been translated into twenty-five languages. Sarah Dessen is the recipient of the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the Young Adult division of the American Library Association.
 
Sarah Dessen graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with highest honors in creative writing. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Jay, and their daughter, Sasha Clementine.
 
Visit Sarah at sarahdessen.com.