When asked how she is coping with her father’s death, invariably seventeen year old Macy Queen’s answer is “fine,” when nothing could be further from the truth. In actuality, she is drowning in grief while maintaining a flawless façade of good grades and unblemished behavior. Though she feels lost when her boyfriend heads to “Brain Camp” for the summer, she finds herself a job with the quirky Wish Catering crew, and meets “sa-woon”-worthy Wes, whose chaotic lifestyle is in direct opposition to her own.
As the two share their stories over the summer, Macy realizes she can no longer keep her feelings on ice. Though it feels like her future ended with her dad’s death, Macy’s learns that forever is all about beginnings.
Ever since Macy’s dad died, her family has been strained and she’s been trying to achieve perfection – having the perfect boyfriend, keeping her grades up, and doing whatever she can to please her mom. But that has taken its toll on her, and when she decides on a whim to work with a catering company in addition to her library job (which is only temporary as she’s covering for her boyfriend while he’s away), Macy has to keep it a secret because her mom doesn’t approve.
Working for the catering company, which is a family business, has an affect on Macy. She’s relatively introverted and doesn’t get out of the house much since she’s normally doing schoolwork, but her new coworkers convince her to come out after a few tries and she finally starts to enjoy herself and breaking out of her mold. So the only question is will she like and embrace the new Macy?
There was a lot I liked about this book, a lot of it being the characters. The group from Wish Catering – Kristy, Wes, Monica, and Bert – were all super lovable and I personally loved how Kristy took on a big sister/best friend role for Macy. She pushed her to come out of her shell, but not in a pushy way and she let Macy do it in her own time. I loved Bert and his childish antics, but also trying to prove he’s old enough to be responsible, as well as Monica’s lack of talking and clumsiness. Then, of course, Wes with his artistic ways and past – he was a character that was complex and I just loved him.
Then of course there was Macy’s boyfriend, Jason, who’s just a little douche in his genius way, along with his girl-buddies from the library who ware outright rude to Macy when she starts covering for Jason. I work in a library and let me tell you, my coworkers and I wouldn’t have put up with their crap and how they treated another coworker. Especially considering they’re high school students… that wouldn’t fly at my library.
All in all, I enjoyed this book and it’s one of my top Sarah Dessen books that I’ve read so far. I still have a lot to go, but I think it’s just under Lock & Key (for me, anyway). I knocked off half a star because Macy didn’t clock those girls at the library, or Jason for that matter, because I sure as heck wanted to. Though her exit from the library was still fantastic. Definitely recommend this one.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Genie in a Novel 
It has been a while since I read this but I loved it when I read it. I have it 5 stars. I kind of want to reread it because I don’t remember all that much.
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I generally love all the books I’ve read by Sarah Dessen, with one exception. I want to reread a few though.
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I think I’ve only read the one book by her but several of her books are on my TBR.
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