It's been a minute since I've seen any new books by Sarah Dessen, one of the consistent bright lights of YA fiction. So I was over the moon when I discovered her Change of Plans. It most definitely lives up to the complexity and emotional depth of her earlier works.
Right after her high school graduation narrator Finley gets some devastating news: Colin, her adoring and attentive boyfriend of two years drops her long distance (He's on a cruise) with no warning. Needless to say, she's devastated. And she has to deal with the heart break in a quite unfamiliar environment.
Finley and her mother have a rather unusual relationship. She lives with her father, stepmother, and half siblings. Her mother had taken off when she was only four. The occasional visits--"a week at Christmas, two in the summer, plus a handful of weekends she always claimed in January"--seem awkward for both of them. Finley doesn't really know the woman who gave birth to her.
Catherine has requested Finley for the week after graduation. The plan is to spend a celebratory week in New York City. But when Catherine picks her up there's been a change of plans. They're headed out to the old family home to help get it ready to sell.
Finley is not the only one to be to be shocked.
"You realize how incredibly selfish this is, don't you? To ignore us for ages and then decide oh, hey, I do want to sell the house, at the worst possible time?"
It seems that Finley isn't the only one Catherine has ditched. She's abandoned her whole large family.
Now Finley has to adjust to her heartbreak in a strange place where her mother and her kin are having to adjust to each other while carrying out the emotionally charged task of cleaning out the memory laden family home.
But wait. There's more drama.
Anne, Catherine's niece, is so resentful of her future mother-in-law making all the decisions about her upcoming wedding that she just might call the whole thing off...
...and the rotten cherry on top of the shitstorm sundae? Finley discovers a devastating diagnosis her mother has been hiding from them all.
But Finley is quite resourceful. She's working at the family diner and making friends. She just might be falling for Ben, an unabashedly awkward coworker and gifted musician.
Readers who enjoy fabulous but flawed characters in complex relationships and challenging situations will find a lot to like about Change of Plans, a beach read extraordinaire.
Hopefully Dessen is working on more simply irresistible narratives.
On a purrrsonal note, my mother-in-law has been in the hospital with pneumonia since Thursday. I frantically searched for a crafts project I could carry in when visiting her because I have basically no tolerance for sitting doing nothing. I can't start a scarf because I can't cast on and I don't remember how to crochet. Finally I picked a relatively easy cross stitch kit which now takes a great deal of concentration but is doable. That's fine motor progress.
A great big shout out goes out to my mother-in-law, Arlene Hathaway, with best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my Galaxy
